Abstract
Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology in which digital content is overlaid onto the user’s field of view, providing content or contextual information based on the user’s surroundings, this can be done via elements on a screen acting as a viewfinder or, more recently specialised Augmented Reality headsets. AR is one of the fastest growing sectors in technology (Fact and figure inserted) with every major technology company developing platforms and products geared towards it. In Academia Research has been carried out into how AR can improve sectors like the automotive industry [Citation Needed], engineering [Citation Needed], education [Citation Needed] and healthcare [Citation Needed]. This report focuses on AR within the context of social media, more specifically how the technology can be used to allow users to more easily exchange information and connect at conferences and networking events. This removes the need for business cards, ensuring that the information cannot be misplaced. It also enables users to automatically connect through multiple channels at once.
One current issue with AR is that no industry standards have been established, this due to it being an emerging technology. As the marketplace exists now, there are numerous companies offering solutions, ranging from all in one hardware and software solutions [Citation Needed] to offerings of single API’s [Citation Needed], made to be used with another company’s SDK to then be run on a third companies’ hardware. Each solution offers various technologies and features for certain use-cases with varying degrees of platform support. This poses a problem for developers who are unsure of what solution is the most suitable for their use case [Citation Needed].
This report establishes a method of comparing and evaluating existing AR devices, their respective software development kits (SDK’s) and Facial Recognition Application programming interfaces (APIs) resulting in a comprehensive comparison of the various solutions.
The secondary objective will be the building of a social media augmented reality application. The application would use a camera to recognise another user, overlay the subjects contact information on either side of the subjects face in the viewfinder for the user to connect with through various means such as social media, email or phone number.
Introduction
This report will aim to provide a comparative study of the different Augmented reality solutions available, establishing a rubric used to compare underlying technologies and features of each offering, with the aim of finding the optimal solution to build an AR social media application. The comparative study will have three distinct sections, these are;
- Hardware Running the application
- Software development kit (SDK) used to develop the application
- Facial Recognition application programming interface (API)
This report will then find the optimal solution to build a social media augmented reality application that
AR Overview
Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows the user to see the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon, on or composited with the real world. [Augmented Reality: An Emerging Technologies Guide to AR]. Essentially it allows the user to see an overlay of, often contextual, media or information on their field of view. More recent advances in the technology in computer vision now enable the virtual overlay to interact with both the environment it is superimposed upon and by the user themselves using gestures.
The emerging technology can most easily be explained using Milgram’s Vitruality Continuum [Citation Needed][Figure Needed], where Milgram has categorised it under the Mixed Reality spectrum. It is important to note that while both technologies are in the continuum, AR is different to Virtual Reality (VR). VR, as explained by Milgram, is where the virtual reality completely immerses the user in a virtual environment wherein he/she cannot see the real world around them. This is different to AR where the virtual aspect is merely overlaid on top of the real one.
As with most computing systems the AR system is comprised of two main components: Hardware and Software. AR can currently be delivered to the user through two main methods. These are Mobile phones/ Tablets or through a specialised AR headset.
Augmented reality is delivered through Mobile Phones and Tablets by using the devices screen and camera together to act as a passthrough. The device then uses the camera in conjunction with the devices onboard components, such as GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer barometer to know the users position in the environment. The devices processors then generates the virtual graphics displayed on the viewfinder. This is currently the most common delivery method of AR by far, this is due to the fact that [statistic] already own the necessary hardware. The main drawback of this method is that it is not true AR, by using the using a passthrough screen as the viewfinder the user doesn’t overlay their field of view with virtual objects. This also means that the experience of Augmented reality is not seamless. The user would need to retrieve their phone, open the relevant application and point their device in the desired direction.
The second delivery method for AR is through specialised headsets. These differ in the way the they run but essentially
Developing software for these delivery methods requires the use of a software development kit (SDK). While some of the SDKs are cross platform (Vuforia) not one SDK is compatible with every delivery device and some SDKs are made purely for one operating system. There are benefits to each of them, cross platform, wider user base. Closed platform more tailored to one set of devices means greater utilisation of hardware and improved performance. Each SDK has advantages over the other in terms of features and performance. In the context of the social media application which relies on facial recognition there is often another layer to the implementation that is required. As a lot of SDKs do not have the ability to detect, recognise and track faces an additional piece of software is required. This addition is called an application programming interface (API) and it allows [definition], it essentially provides these features. APIs have the aim of being compatible with every system, while that is the aim, it is often not the case. There are still some compatibility issues with the APIs and features and performance among the APIs differ.
The primary aim of this report is to establish a method for comparing and evaluating each aspect of the AR system, i.e the hardware, SDK and APIs to establish the best solution to create the social media application.
The report will begin by analysing the current state of the art in AR, proceeding to review the current AR applications in Social media.
Following that the report will examine previous related works, explaining the
Review
AR is one of the fastest growing sectors in technology (Fact and figure inserted) with every major technology company developing platforms and products geared towards it. The technology has wide ranging uses from gaming [pokemon go] to healthcare [surgery].
Social media has also released many new features using the technology. Snapchat first introduced Lenses in 2015 which allowed users to overlay faces with filters and overlays. This enabled users to alter their appearances and express themselves and communicate in new ways. This feature was later adopted by Facebook and Instagram.
These applications have more recently allowed users to place virtual objects in their environment which they can interact with and make a part of their social media post.
Apple has also released animoji. Which relies on the iPhones front facing camera and facial recognition hardware to overlay the users face with a wide selection of avatars, ranging from user created profiles to a number of animals and emojis. By utilising the cameras other sensors, IR and dot projection, the animoji mirror facial movements made by the user, this includes raising eyebrows, blinking, smiling and more recently detecting when a user has stuck their tongue out.
While these implementations have allowed users to express themselves in new ways, the social media companies haven’t improved the user’s ability to socialise with others and meet new people.
Social media has become crucial in forming and maintaining connections with other people. There is a wide variety of different applications, with aims of connecting users in different ways and in different contexts.
Looking outside the field of AR. social media platforms such as LinkedIn are how people in the Business world connect to each other, business events such as Networking Events are a prime location where social media information is exchanged, however as exchanging and inputting this information on a device is laborious and time consuming attendees of these events carry business cards, which are exchange when meeting someone new. While a business card is easily exchangeable and provide basic relevant information, they are both bad for the environment, unengaging, and easily lost, attendees often find themselves leaving these events with a large quantity of these cards which they have to manually sort and find the owners of online, which is time consuming.
Job fairs are another example where this personal information is gathered en masse by companies attending them, the most common solution for them is to leave a device, such as a laptop or tablet, where attendees can manually input their contact information, this causes the booth to become overcrowded and hinders the effectiveness of the fair, reducing the number of business attendees are able to visit and the number of attendees the company can register interest from.
State of the Art augmented reality
Several commonplace applications of Augmented Reality already exist, with one of the largest being mobile games. Games such as Pokémon Go have enhanced the gaming experience by allowing the user to explore their environment, with the objective being to find creatures (called Pokémon) scattered around the world. Users then battle these, and other players Pokémon in augmented reality. This game has received critical acclaim and has been downloaded over 800 million times worldwide.[1]
An area augmented reality has also impacted is social media, Snapchat and more recently Facebook and Instagram have used the technology to allow users to apply dynamic face overlays, altering the users appearance and allowing them to express themselves and communicate in new ways. These applications also allow users to place virtual objects in their environment which they can interact with and make a part of their social media post.
Project objectives
The aim of this project is to development of an augmented reality application. The application would recognise a registered user from the applications database and overlay their contact information, including web pages of their social media/website, also making said information available to download.
The first objective would be to compile a comparison and analysis of the different possible solutions available to build this application, namely the different Augmented Reality SDKs (Software development kits) in terms of their accuracy and efficiency at performing the actions required to run the application.
The second objective would be building the application using the most appropriate platform. This requires me to learn to use the SDK and any additional libraries I may need to use in the coding language they run on.
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