Inspiration
We noticed that many of our communication platforms fell short in more personal and interactive communication with our peers and with our teachers in many classes. We thought that including an ar element to communication would help users to better connect with each other in settings such as gatherings, meetings, fairs, or conferences.
What it does
It is a platform for users to interact with each other in a 3d space. The facial recognition component allows users to project their face into an AR world, making use of both the front and back cameras. Furthermore, using EchoAR, users can interact with objects such as a tic-tac-toe board to play board games with each other in AR.
How we built it
Implemented the interactive tic-tac-toe board using unity and echo AR’s platform, using QR codes in the real world to place the board. Then, implemented face tracking at first with echo AR face tracking, but found that apple’s face tracking application was more stable and offered a simpler implementation. The face tracking allows for a user to project his/her face onto an AR object, and then scan for the QR code to place the tic-tac-toe board.
Challenges we ran into
We had trouble building and troubleshooting our solution due to the difficulty of creating interactions between users and AR; however, we were able to resolve our difficulties with documentation and using our own code to seamlessly integrate the project.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We created a proof of concept for face-tracked AR avatars and for AR-based interaction structure for board games such as tic tac toe. This is a foundation for future iterations with more complex games or interactions. Given more time, an online component would be added to the program so that users could select and anchor other users' avatars in their own AR world while playing a board game or participating in a meeting (using EchoAR's cloud).
What we learned
Combining new software with non-compatible software is quite difficult, and requires a bit of creativity in regards to making it all work together. Furthermore, integrating face recognition into an AR world as a separate object (not on the face) was difficult as it requires the use of both the front and back-facing cameras.
What's next for AR Multiplayer connect
AR Multiplayer connect hopes to improve its online functionality and streamline the avatar selection process to greater numbers of users. Furthermore, the program could be specialized for meetings, club fairs, and other virtual board games in AR.
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