If you haven’t already heard the news, we went and did something no one has ever done before- Metaio has successfully designed and released a chipset architecture for accelerating augmented reality experiences on semiconductor platforms (like the chips in smartphones).
To coincide with the 2013 Mobile World Congress, we released the third edition of the InsideAR Augmented Reality Magazine featuring the all-new AREngine. If you missed picking one up at MWC, you can download the full version at the previous link, but I thought I’d post our cover story right here. So without further ado, here is the story on the “shot-heard-round-the-world” of the entire Augmented Reality Industry:
Nearly a decade ago, to the day, Thomas Alt and Peter Meier founded Metaio with the intent of advancing Augmented Reality (AR) as the primary interface for experiencing the digital and online worlds. This was a time when the most popular mobile device’s (the Nokia 1100) features were limited to SMS and a calculator. The dawn of the era of the smartphone really did change everything for the Augmented Reality industry, as suddenly the average user could experience through mobile cameras the same visual elements formerly restricted to factory-floor AR installations running on offline high-powered PCs.
Back then it was clear that computer vision and Augmented Reality experiences would greatly benefit from optimizing the software for individual handsets and chipset platforms. It was then that Metaio embarked on developing relationships with OEMs, handset manufacturers and chipset platforms in order to one day realize a fully optimized device, ready for Augmented Reality from the moment the consumer removes it from the shelf.
Despite hardware limitations, Metaio was able to make leaps and bounds with applied research and lowlevel optimizations. Their award-winning R&D team was responsible for the first commercial deployment of 3-D tracking and recognition on a mobile device. Metaio’s engineers were also the first to align a given smartphone camera with gravity, educating the sensor on how to better perceive its surroundings like the human eye. In fact, Metaio has made incredible software developments in 2012 alone.
In 2009, it was no less than a technological feat to get a top-of-the-line HD camera connected to an offline desktop PC to recognize a single pre-designed image and render a single 3-D model in real-time. With the latest low-level optimizations, Metaio has achieved recognizing 100 unique images and overlaying 100 unique 3-D models, all on a mobile device. If Metaio can accomplish these things without having any prior access to the processors and sensors inside these devices, imagine what mobile users could do with a fully AR-ready smartphone.
Whether it’s Google’s Project: Glass concept or popular movies like Minority Report or Terminator, nearly all of the popular references to Augmented Reality depict an “always on” interface. The camera is constantly scanning, detecting, recognizing and overlaying information and content onto the real world. In order to achieve this vision (something Metaio refers to as the “Augmented City”) of ubiquitous interaction, it is imperative that the groups developing the hardware are working with those developing the software.
For this reason, Metaio began developing a piece of hardware IP now known as the “AREngine”, an architecture designed specifically to accelerate Augmented Reality performance in mobile hardware, and one of Metaio’s longstanding platform partners, ST-Ericsson, will be the first to adopt and deploy it on silicon. The AREngine will propel Augmented Reality into the future and will do for the industry what the addition of the GPU did for the gaming industry.
Before the populace sports head mounted displays that resemble eyeglasses; before society adopts wearable computing; before contact lenses come in 16, 32 and 64 gigabyte models; before we exist in an Augmented World – there must be the first step. The future of Augmented Reality starts now with the first ever introduction and implementation of the AREngine.
Welcome to always on, always augmented - powered by Metaio.
ITU Telecom World 2011 is a gathering of leading industry players, government heads, digital innovators and technological talents – focused on applying the power of connected technology to real-world issues.
Young start-ups, like metaio, are often responsible for some of the best innovative ideas and disruptive technologies, many of which can make the world better, smarter, safer and more productive. Invited to speak at the ITU Telecom World 2011, Peter Meier (CTO) presented some ideas of how Augmented Reality could help people in under-developed parts of the world, such as Africa, in their struggle to build viable economies.
One of the key issues is in fact equipment maintenance. While international economic aid occasionally provides new equipment for local factories, the ongoing maintenance of industrial installations, production equipment or fleets of trucks becomes a real problem. Production rates then drop after a while due to equipment failure simply because local workers have not been properly trained for maintenance or do not speak English and are thus unable to read the manuals.
In these countries mobile internet connections are often more reliable than landlines. This is where Augmented Reality could be of real help. With a mobile device, AR object recognition technology would identify the equipment to be maintained, and then integrate into the camera view easy to understand graphic overlays (like a virtual spanner) which would point out to the worker exactly which screws are to be loosened or which pipes are to be disconnected for proper servicing.
Who needs a manual? A picture says more than a thousand words, after all.
metaio is pleased to announce that the latest version of our Design software is now available for download.
Once again, AR is neither a sci-fi fantasy nor something limited to gimmicky one-off applications. Our design software enables anyone with a Windows PC to produce rich, interactive content. Our clients and partners use Design in trade shows, integrated marketing campaigns, classrooms, commercial applications, internal demonstrations and much more.
If you’re not already familiar with Design, you may have heard about our wonderful project with LEGO, now deployed in every LEGO-branded store in the world.
For the new 2.5 update we’ve rolled out the following updates:
New features:
Facetracking: for tracking a users face and overlaying3D content (e.g. hats, glasses etc.)
Extensible tracking: for tracking in unknown environments the system automatically creates and updates an internal map of features for tracking based on the camera image. This allows you to move around freely with your camera and the system adjusts on the fly.
A Design license (post-activation) is bound to the user’s PC, so moving / transferring the license is not allowed. There are however cases where a user would need to transfer a license, such as when uploading to a new machine. Starting with Design 2.5, license holders will have the ability to transfer their licenses twice.
To send a request or purchase a license dongle, contact sales (at) metaio (dot) com.
To transfer your license, go here. Enter your activation key and click Get Licenses.
Hopefully by now you’ve all seen the teaser video and read about the very, very cool announcements we made at insideAR this year. I honestly wish that I could adequately describe insideAR. Maybe it’s because I helped assemble and move 15-20 very heavy table. Maybe watching these camera arrays and industrial prototyping demos come to life, piece by piece gives one more of an appreciation in seeing the finished product. Maybe it was just my first time in Germany, combined with the anticipation of Oktoberfest in Bavaria, combined with the excitement of meeting all of the people with whom I’ve only ever communicated via Skype or telephone or email. Luckily, we don’t have to rely on my floundering attempts at description- we have videos!
This is the first clip of many that we plan to roll out over the coming days and weeks, demonstrating the current and future technologies under the hood (sometimes literally) of metaio.
insideAR was divided into various exhibition segments- one of these was called “Augmented Living”, where we demonstrated some of the potential uses of AR in the household, including the new junaio 3.0 SCAN release that allows the user to get pricing and ingredient information from grocery item barcodes. In that same area, we were also showing our Bosch 3D studio app for iPad that allows people to practically redesign their kitchens with new appliances- without ever leaving their homes.
Many attendees played around with the Around Me Geo Trivia junaio game is a very creative example of how gaming, education and mobile AR can work together to shape an engaging user experience. Sensor fusion takes elements that we tend to take for granted — orientation, geographical relative position, radial distance — and translates them into usable information- in this case, a very fun trivia game.
Our company was built on out-of-the-box industrial solutions, so it should be no surprise to see those prototyping examples in the above video. The sub-millimeter tracking with a guided camera-arm would allow any manufacturer the highest digital scrutiny in examining a prototype on the factory floor; and with the “window-to-the-world”-type 3D mapping you can overlay the original wireframe to the real-word object itself, regardless of its size. With this kind of technology, metaio is naturally bridging the industrial gap between the digital creation and the physical construction of a given product.
Really cool stuff we’re talking about here. Really cool.
Once again, we’re going to be rolling out all sorts of video in the near future, so be sure to either subscribe to this blog or to our YouTube channel (or both!) in order to stay posted.
If you haven’t heard from TechCrunch, Dexigner, or Augmented.org, this year’s insideAR brought some very significant developments for metaio. To sum it up, we made three important announcements to over 450(!) attendees:
The release a free version of the Mobile SDK, soon to be integrated with a game engine
The release of an AR-publishing tool, junaio Creator, to enable virtually anybody to create AR content for junaio
Strategic partnerships with the leading chipset IP supplier ARM and mobile platform developer ST-Ericsson on joint R&D
What this means for the industry
Mobile SDK is now free
This is a big deal. AR is a young industry- we want to see it into adulthood. We want developers, researchers, students, newcomers etc to be able to test the limits of their imaginations and creativity with one of the most comprehensive and advanced mobile AR solutions out there. I can’t wait to watch these independent developers shape the future of AR applications in their endeavors.
The junaio Creator
User interface and workflow are two of the most important things that any software provider must consider- we want both of these aspects to be more streamlined, more convenient, more natural- and that’s why we announced the junaio Creator. It’s tool that takes all of the image recognition, the natural feature tracking, and the complex algorithms of junaio and reduces that magic to two simple words: point and click. Whether you’re creating a junaio channel or utilizing our junaio Plugin to add a feature to an existing app, the junaio Creator allows you to do this without a single line of code. Check out the demo in the TechCrunch article and see for yourself.
Formal Collaborations with ARM & ST-Ericsson
I’ve been saying this for years: the surest way to enable the smoothest most immersive AR experiences is to ensure the optimization of the hardware. Though we’ve already been optimizing our software for these wonderful mobile devices that pepper our lives, metaio can now work directly with these processing and chipset providers to find the best way to ensure that mobile devices are AR-ready before they hit the shelves.
In closing
We have a genuine passion for what we do. It may seem as though we ‘re making bold statements, but please understand that it comes from a shared excitement, an almost child-like fascination in its innocence at seeing dreams becoming reality, not just 3D and digital content (though we do that too).
Augmented Reality on Every Smartphone by 2014- It will be magic.
South by Southwest Interactive 2012 might seem far off, but the voting deadline for panels is quickly approaching. I am happy to say that metaio is participating in four different potential panels, and we’d really like to see them get a great response from our followers. We’ve got some very cool topics in the works, so we’d really appreciate your support! You can vote for as many panels as you like, so please be generous. Make sure to create an account, it only takes a few minutes- just click on the titles of the panels below to go straight to the voting page!
Augmented Reality promises the future, but who is actually building new things with it? How are they making any money? As new projects demand six-figure budgets, can privacy rights, humanistic design and fun coexist with user metrics, brand messaging and a lust for “k-factor”? We’ll take a look at what’s been built, why it did and how we might design better games for players and clients alike moving forward.
Every new project is defined by the business practices that enable them. So why do so many Augmented Reality experiences fall short of the expectations of both the buyer and end user? With dissatisfied clients and rumors of low ROI, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate how we sell AR. Roman Hasenbeck, Director of Sales and Business Development at metaio Inc., the nation’s leading AR Tech firm, explains the process of selling AR the right way. He shows us why the Hype Curve is just a crutch for lazy producers, and how the most crucial yet often-ignored components to ensuring a great project and closing a sale is taking the time to learn the tech, design a thoughtful experience and communicate it effectively to the client.
Using a variety of original source material, Chris Grayson will give an overview of the global network, as envisioned by thinkers at ARPA before the creation of the ARPAnet. Examples include J.C.R. Licklider’s “Man-Computer Symbiosis,” 1960; Douglas Engelbart’s “Augmenting Human Intellect,” 1962; and Ivan Sutherland’s “The Ultimate Display,” 1965. Some focus will also be given to the people and personalities involved. Lisa Murphy will provide the technical explanation for many milestones in the evolution of the internet, making the case that the human interface to the network has historically been limited by the available technology, and with Augmented Reality, we are now entering an era that truly begins to deliver on the original vision.
Our life styles are increasingly evolving into hybrid experiences that blend the physical with the cyberspatial and the virtual. Moreover, these interactions are creating new forms of communities for fun and commerce, where consumers and businesses increasingly use hyperlocal incentives to leverage our immediate surroundings. In this panel, we’ll explore how games, collaborative consumption, Augmented Reality, consumer to consumer brokerages, experience augmentation, visual discovery and local commerce are providing the glue for diverse hyper-local experiences and communities.
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Outside voting counts for 30% of the selection process! Help us get to SXSW so we can bring these great panels to life.
Last week, Mayors from around the United States gathered for the 79th United States Mayor Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Unlike the last 78 USCM’s, the mayors this year got to experience a device that is the first of its kind: Recyclable Planet‘s Augmented Reality Reverse Vending Machine, powered by metaio’s Unifeye Platform and with the help of German vending firm trautwein sb technik.
Reverse vending machine? Yes! It rewards you for using it, and most importantly, for doing your part to help the environment. The concept is simple, much like redemption machines that already exist around the US where you can redeem recyclables for a small bonus, usually around 0.05 per item, depending on state regulations. This new “Green Machine” is universal- users can be rewarded with prizes and discounts at local retailers, just for recycling. Even better, these impressive devices come equipped with interactive augmented reality. Check out the video below to see how it works:
This is a major step for urban connectivity, commerce, and especially the environment. I’ve traveled through over 85% of the United States, and I can’t tell you how many places I came across where recycling was a foreign concept. I even stopped at cafeteria-style restaurants that sold bottled and canned beverages, only to be met with blank stares when I asked for the nearest recycling bin at the end of my meal. These machines could be a large move to educating people on the value of recycling through reward-based incentives and progressive-minded, interactive technology.
Attention Mayors of major US cities: Recycling just got gamified- let’s play “Save the Planet”.
Augmented Reality as a technology is often seen through utilitarian eyes. AR has many appropriate industry uses, such as improving mechanical safety inspections, interactive training procedures, mobile instruction manuals, and assembly-line safety. But over the past few months, we’ve seen developers use our technology more and more for personal, emotional, most importantly artistic expression.
XYZ Site Gallery AR experience
It’s difficult to try to comprehend the almost limitless design possibilities when you have the potential to take any digitally-designed or rendered object and place, overlay, or otherwise anchor it to the physical world. Imagine: a vast museum of virtual artifacts and objects occupying the same space as the Louvre- accessible only through your mobile device! The term “mixed media” is barely sufficient anymore- we’re beginning to see a real blending of the virtual and the physical, with a substantial emphasis on using metaio’s software, like junaio, to curate and design galleries, exhibits, art and space augmentations, and even use “basic” functionalities of junaio to guide and navigate around them.
Chris Hodson and Sarah Staton recently designed an experience for the Sheffield, UK Site Gallery in which they designed and implemented sculptures that were part virtual and part material, including marble, concrete, metal, wood, glass, wool and cork. The experience was triggered by a series of markers placed around and inside the museum- such a simple installation process for something so complex! Hodson and Staton even worked with physicist Dominic Hosler to design a “cuboid game of life and death”, in which “infinitely accumulating and dissipating cubes” loop themselves into eternity.
Anyone living or vacationing in Italy this year should already be familiar with the 54thVenice Biennale Art Exhibition. This year, we’re pleased to announce there will be a junaio channel running the duration of the event until 27 November 2011. The channel, “Venice Augmented”, was developed by San Francisco-based Certified Developer Vitamin AR under the direction of artist Amir Baradaran, and places examples of Baradaran’s work in POI’s around Venice and the Biennale, as part of his “FutARism” campaign:
I am interested in how small acts of resistance, particularly within so-called virtual domains, can create pockets of transformation. Seeking to generate much more than novel surprise, my art explores new ways of being.
These are just two ways in which artists are using junaio to design wonderfully interactive experiences. Below is a list of links to recent examples of junaio augmenting the art world. What kind of projects could you envision, knowing that what you design is not bound by the laws of nature? A Borgesian map, perhaps?
Wink.
-Trak
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Scope, Cabinet Exhibition, Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth, UK; Vladimir Geroimenko and Roberto Fraquelli
We held a conference, called “insideAR”, with focus on current practical applications in marketing and industry as well as on the future of this exciting field, which is being identified by many analysts as one of the most disruptive technologies of the years to come. 250 attendees from many countries and industries were able to follow insightful presentations by Intel, Nokia, Siemens and others about their company`s contributions and plans regarding AR. As the many money-earning practical applications on display during the conference demonstrated, Augmented Reality is definitely here to stay and has found its place in everyday life. metaio, as conference host, took opportunity to present its view of market opportunities, its vision of a seamless interconnection between the real and the digital world, and the kind of advanced technologies available already or being developed at the metaio labs at this point in time.
Attention, although you are enthusiastic about AR, here´s a perfect combination: living at the cutting edge of technology and earning money there. Doesn´t that sound fantastic? Well, let me quote the related metaio newsletter article here: “With junaio’s open API, developers can create state of the art augmented reality applications. You don’t need any experience in programming for embedded systems. Challenge your imagination and contribute to junaio’s exciting world with AR Mashups, multiplayer games and scavenger hunts, interactive, indoor and outdoor exhibitions, tours with animated 3D characters or location independent gaming. All you need to do as a developer is to register for an API key and start challenging your creativity.” In addition to money, fame, a visit at the Oktoberfest (create an app for that event!) and a new longterm business model for developers, of course the best ideas will also be featured here. I am looking forward to seeing what you are believing in. Below you will find some inspiration…
Posted by Trak 
