Top 5 Coolest Augmented Reality Projects

5. Mobile AR

Finally, augmented reality has hit Nokia cell phones. In these applications, players use their camera phone to interact with on screen objects. [Source]

4. Augmented Maps

Created by engineering students at the University of Cambridge, this “overall system centers around a table top environment where users work with maps” — “a camera mounted above the table tracks the maps’ locations on the surface and registers interaction devices placed on them”.

One or more maps are spread out on a table or any other planar surface. A projector augments the maps with projected information from overhead.

3. Mixed Reality Interface

KOMMERZ has developed an MRI (Mixed Reality Interface) system that can be used in a variety of applications – including presentations, games, architecture and landscape planning . This interface allows you to control virtual 3D models using real objects (such as toys, blocks, special characters, etc.).

2. D’Fusion Reality

Total Immersion’s D’Fusion technology allows “for real-time video capture and perfect merges between video streams and 3D objects.”

All you need is a camera, a few sensors, and a HUD. This turns your world into an immersive gaming experience, where you are IN the game…or where the game is all around you

1. Kick Ass Kung Fu

Put simply, Kick Ass Kung Fu is one of the coolest games we’ve come across — allowing full body interaction. Cameras record player movement and “superimpose a two-dimensional silhouette of them onto a computer screen”. It will make its debut in arcades and camera-equipped consoles soon.

And we’re not talking lame Kung Fu here. We’re talking Kick Ass Kung Fu. For his thesis, Hämäläinen used 46 martial arts experts to test the game. The next test will be in October during the 2006 Karate World Championships in Finland.

[Source]