In-Situ Interactive Modeling Using a Single-Point Laser Rangefinder Coupled with a New Hybrid Orientation Tracker

International audienceWe present a method for in situ modeling of polygonal scenes, using a laser rangefinder, an IMU and a camera. The main contributions of this work are a well-founded calibration procedure, a new hybrid, driftless orientation tracking method and an easy-to-use interface based on natural interactions

Augmented reality persistent annotation

We present a novel augmented reality annotation system that can create persistent annotation in any environment. The environment is either meshed in real time or loaded from previously scanned model. The model remains invisible while providing reference to real world geometry. Annotations are persistent across multiple sessions and devices. Annotations can also be color-coded and filtered. Our interface has annotation indicators and a radar map to help users quickly locate annotations. Multiple devices can work under a synchronized network to facilitate collaborative annotation tasks. We also conducted a user study to evaluate our system. Results have shown both quantitatively and qualitatively that our system improves productivity for annotation tasks

Fast annotation and modeling with a single-point laser range finder

Figure 1: An example color panorama and semi-automatically generated depth map pair. Darker regions of the depth map are closer to the user. To generate both images the user simply has to look around the scene. Both images are composed of the four surrounding faces of a cube map, and are not warped to a cylindrical projection. This cube projection causes the strange peak on the roof line in the center of the images. This paper presents methodology for integrating a small, singlepoint laser range finder into a wearable augmented reality system. We first present a way of creating object-aligned annotations with very little user effort. Second, we describe techniques to segment and pop-up foreground objects. Finally, we introduce a method using the laser range finder to incrementally build 3D panoramas from a fixed observer’s location. To build a 3D panorama semiautomatically, we track the system’s orientation and use the sparse range data acquired as the user looks around in conjunction with real-time image processing to construct geometry around the user’s position. Using full 3D panoramic geometry, it is possible for ne

Desenvolvimento de recursos educativos em dispositivos móveis - RealHiBook

Nos últimos anos têm existido bastantes pesquisas e um grande investimento quer na área da educação à distância quer ao nível das tecnologias móveis. A dada altura percebeu-se que cada vez mais poderiam ser utilizados dispositivos móveis no contexto da educação e de que estes já seriam capazes de responder às exigências necessárias para que fosse possível criar ou melhorar cenários com recursos educativos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor um modelo que facilite a aprendizagem em dispositivos móveis. Nesse sentido, decidiu-se que seria uma mais-valia adicionar a este projeto, a utilização da Realidade Aumentada como potenciador de melhorias no processo de aprendizagem. A Realidade Aumentada, a par do que acontece com a educação à distância e com as tecnologias móveis, é uma área alvo de constantes investigações e inovação. Apresenta como principal capacidade a interação do utilizador com vários modelos virtuais incluídos numa cena real. Esta capacidade proporciona experiências que podem contribuir para o aumento da motivação e da perceção por parte dos alunos. A forma como o utilizador interage com as aplicações móveis é vista com extrema importância, principalmente na área da educação. Aliar uma boa interação à utilização da Realidade Aumentada, é parte integrante deste trabalho. Foram estudados exemplos de interações e formas como o utilizador vive a experiência durante a utilização de aplicações que partilham o mesmo tipo de tecnologias utilizadas neste projeto. O objetivo final foca-se na criação de uma aplicação, capaz de fornecer uma experiência enriquecedora no âmbito do ensino, ligado ao tema história e que consiga fundamentar a criação de um modelo que facilite a aprendizagem utilizando plataformas móveis. Os objetivos são corroborados por um conjunto de testes efetuados à aplicação e pelos resultados obtidos através de um questionário feito a um grupo de pessoas que testaram o protótipo.In recent years there have been plenty of research and a great investment both in the area of distance education and at the level of mobile technologies. At one point it was realized that more and more mobile devices could be used in the context of education and that these would already be able to meet the requirements necessary so that they could to create or improve scenarios with educational resources. This work aims to propose a model that facilitates learning on mobile devices. Accordingly, it was decided that it would be an asset to add to this project, the use of augmented reality as a potentiator of improvements in the learning process. Augmented reality, aware of what happens to the distance education with mobile technologies is an area subject to constant research and innovation. Presents the main capability of the user interaction with multiple virtual models included in a real scene. This capability provides experiences that can contribute to increase the motivation and the perception from students. The way the user interacts with mobile applications is seen as extremely important, especially in education. Ally a good interaction with the use of augmented reality, is an integral part of this work. Have been studied interactions and examples of ways in which the user is experiencing during use applications sharing the same type of technology used in this project. The final objective focuses on creating an application, able to provide an enriching experience in teaching, about the theme story, that can support the creation of a model that facilitates learning using mobile platforms. The objectives are supported by a set of tests performed on the application and the results obtained through a questionnaire to a group of people who tested the prototype

Ubiquitous Computing

The aim of this book is to give a treatment of the actively developed domain of Ubiquitous computing. Originally proposed by Mark D. Weiser, the concept of Ubiquitous computing enables a real-time global sensing, context-aware informational retrieval, multi-modal interaction with the user and enhanced visualization capabilities. In effect, Ubiquitous computing environments give extremely new and futuristic abilities to look at and interact with our habitat at any time and from anywhere. In that domain, researchers are confronted with many foundational, technological and engineering issues which were not known before. Detailed cross-disciplinary coverage of these issues is really needed today for further progress and widening of application range. This book collects twelve original works of researchers from eleven countries, which are clustered into four sections: Foundations, Security and Privacy, Integration and Middleware, Practical Applications