Identities.AR

We at IdentitiesAR aim to replace old-school portfolios and resumes with less cumbersome and paperless technology.

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Inspiration

We came to the UB Hacking event with a lot of motivation but no idea. Looking at the people struggling with printing and carrying resumes to seek jobs was an enticing problem we decided to solve. In a world where there is consistent use of paper-based documentation, we wanted to revolutionize the idea of document sharing in a virtual 3D environment. By sharing documents such as resumes and cover letters while applying for different jobs, a simple QR code can provide access to multiple resources that can represent a candidate for a role, look into past projects and given them the opportunity to sell themselves to an employer and convince them to hire.

What it does

In this project, we have created a Unity-based Augmented Reality project which can scan a QR code anywhere like a keychain or a simple screen, and then project the portfolio items such as video projects, resumes, elevator pitch and external links such as GitHub and various social profiles. Not only that, instead of swiping between different applications on a 2D screen, you have everything right in front of you such as reading a document while listening to a video simultaneously, or even hear music play as a widget. A 3D version of an online portfolio saves paper, saves time and also more efficient!

How we built it

We incorporated the use of the Unity development environment which is based on C# language. Using Vuforia database, it derived features from the QR code and in turn scan the pattern to profile various projections needed. The two projects we implemented were the personal resume and the text to speech elevator pitch of the candidate. We added 3 virtual buttons below the QR code where we get to switch between the two projections and open external links such as personal portfolio and Linkedin. Ideally we wanted to have 3 projections right next to each other but due to time constraints we could manage just 2.

Challenges we ran into

As much as we are enthusiastic individuals trying a new and innovative projects, it wasn't an easy ride so let us share some of the challenges we had come across: 1) Obviously, for a project that is so new, the tools we are unfamiliar with and a novel domain like AR, this was something both of us did not have any experience in, never took courses on it and it was pure theoretical knowledge. So 24 hours wasn't enough. 2) The time spent tinkering with a new environment and a new programming language, we did have to refer a lot of material. 3) Writing scripts using logical state flow wasn't easy and required planning especially when multiple states were involved. 4) Drowziness, yawn! (Thank you Red Bull!) 5) Running into coordinate problems where it required consistent readjustments. 6) Imposter Syndrome!! So many talented people around us! 7) Ofcourse we would've loved to have more team members as it was a tedious task for just 2 people, didn't discourage us though! 8) On a more technical side, the implementation of button accuracies was quite challenging as it did raise unintentional touches.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Oh boy we could go on about this! 1) Just the fact that we explored a new domain in CS and something that has a bright scope in the future? We literally finished a project on it in just 24 hours! 2) We learned new tools such as Unity and C#, definitely a nice touch to our portfolios and resume! Just scan to find out more haha! 3) Staying up all night finishing a task so bad because of how much we like exploring new horizons? Takes serious effort and dedication so we are proud of our grit, efforts and capabilities! 4) There were times where we felt demotivated because things weren't going our way but in the end we made a product out of it and pretty happy with the results! 5) We are 2 people who have won prizing in UB Hacking before! So that inspiration from our past selves will always play a good role for future hackathons, including this one.

What we learned

We learned various lessons from our 24 hour experience, one is that always push yourselves out of the comfort zone! You never know what you could be capable of. Explore new tools and technologies, never get demotivated, take breaks, drink Red Bulls( I'm kidding its not really healthy!) and be proud of how far you have come. Apart from that we did learn how to design VR and AR applications, conceptual understanding of AR and new ideas it sprung up, a nice future scope for existing projects and how far it can go, once of the most interesting software domains in the 21st century!

What's next for Identities.AR

Whats next? Even if we don't win a prize at UB Hacking 2022, hopefully Meta can approach us and buy our project for a million? We ain't ruling it out because we know they are interesting in anything that is applicable to VR. But definitely we hoped for more to come out of our project. The mentors and the people we met did give us some really good ideas for the future of such a project. Of course we wanted parallel projections such as videos, websites and documents in different parts of the 3D space, we wanted to create a shared clipboard between different end users, we wanted to incorporate more AI into it such as text and character recognition. Given that the hackathon lasts only 24 hours, we could do what was possible with the lien time constraints, we can always add more to it! We will always push ourselves to explore this technology further and we are open to new ideas from whoever comes across this project!

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