Augmented reality is a many-rendered thing, a buzz phrase augmented itself by an expanding definition. Some technology applications don’t really seem to fit the description as they jump on the bandwagon.
Take Mattel’s announcement of “augmented-reality technology” being included in its toys at this week’s Comic-Con show in San Diego.
Its new action figures are based on the upcoming 3D movie Avatar, which the director James Cameron told us about at the E3 video game show – Ubisoft is working on the industry’s first 3D title, complementing the film’s release later this year.
Mattel has a similar concept. Each creature and vehicle in the product line comes with a “3D web tag”, called an i-TAG.
“Scanning” this with a webcam reveals special content on your computer monitor, such as biographical information and animated 3D models of the figures.
Scanning two i-Tags together makes the different figures “interact” or presumably fight with one another.
Mattel describes it as an “entirely new level of innovation in toys”, while Total Immersion, which created the i-TAGs, says this is the first time augmented reality has been featured in a mainstream consumer product line.
Up to now, my idea of augmented reality was pointing a camera phone on the street and seeing places identified with superimposed text on the screen. Nokia talked about this at its research day last year.
Apple has also said it will enable augmented reality apps like Nearest Tube with a 3.1 update of its software for the iPhone, probably coming in September.
Mattel and Total Immersion seem to expand the concept, except that toys are only real in children’s imaginations and scanning them onto a screen transforms them rather than augments any imagined reality.
At least, I think that’s right, or was I wrong to stop believing in Santa Claus?
UPDATE 28/7: The uses of augmented reality are extending into areas you may not wish to explore. Proctor & Gamble are now using the technology to showcase the features of their latest panty-liners.
