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Augmented reality is a difficult proposition, both in the methods used to do it right and the resources required to do it at all. A new AR system from Gravity Jack makes some serious advances in the field, tracking real-world objects and their components in true 3D, not via tags or trickery. The company thinks it could figure prominently in industrial applications and spread from there.<\/p>\n
Like any other task, AR can be done in easy ways and hard ways. Sometimes the easy way is also the best way, like when you have a game that pops up 3D avatars for cards \u2014 you don\u2019t need to track the real world much, just enough to see a certain symbol and put a 3D model on top of it. There\u2019s no real benefit to adding hard tasks like tracking the table, dice, etc.<\/p>\n
But if you were, for example, using AR to help you find the spark plugs in your car, you can\u2019t put a little AR sticker on every component, and even if you did, they go in and out of view, the angles of the parts and viewer must be considered, and so on.<\/p>\n
If the AR software, however, knows the exact 3D shape of the engine and can match that to the real world image, it always knows from which angle you\u2019re viewing, what parts obscure other parts, and where those dang spark plugs are. That\u2019s the promise Gravity Jack is making with PoindextAR<\/a> (named after its CTO, Shawn Poindexter).<\/p>\n Armed with a 3D model of the object in question (created live or downloaded), the app tracks the position and of the real-life object down to a fraction of an inch, whether the user or the object itself is moving. No patterns, textures, or special lighting (for instance IR blasters) are needed.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>This lets the app highlight, for example, the location of a fastener that needs to be taken out, and superimpose the location, tool needed, orientation, and so on. A PCB could be labeled with the appropriate leads, or a battery system with polarities. Or perhaps you\u2019re learning your way around a new piece of industrial equipment; the app could show safety mechanisms, charging ports, disassembly instructions, all that stuff. Much better than a user manual when you\u2019re right there in front of the thing.<\/p>\n