This Masters project centers on the agent of change within a given environment. Presently, the project has evolved into an investigation that uses Augmented Reality [AR] as a transmitter between systems in a given setting. In adopting Augmented Reality as a tool, the Master’s project must confront the issues of AR’s spatial application and the ethics behind the projected image. Necessary to the goals of the projects is this discussion of ethics. As the projection is inherently an application into space, an environment is not affected physically at all. Within an installation involving projections, the factors are the people, sound or movement within a space; leaving no impact upon the environment. Rather than contend with a superficial result, the use of Augmented Reality desires a more invasive result. Two avenues of possible architectural application currently under study are: spatial camouflage and either inducing or alleviating a Synesthetic condition.
Camouflage is promising because of its tactical approach to space; the desire of individuals to connect with their surroundings could lead to a blending of the physical and virtual. The intention here is to venture beyond the end result being an installation piece that relies on projections. In order to do so, an understanding of the limitations of Augmented Reality is essential in order to explore it as a tool. To properly understand Augmented Reality a comparison with Virtual Reality [VR] is necessary. The user in Virtual Reality undergoes a complete immersion into a virtual environment; whereas Augmented Reality is the superimposition of information or virtual objects over the real world. AR operates by recognizing prescribed symbols in a real-time video feed. Over these symbols a virtual object is then projected. Now imagine an object in a room with its own symbol, the Augmented Reality reads the space behind the object and superimposes it over the object. No longer visible within the virtual world, the object is now camouflaged or transformed. It would seem plausible that if what was on the screen was fed back via a projector into the real room the object would be camouflaged in reality. Since AR works with a live video feed, an object in motion would be hidden as long as the camera could capture the space behind it. Parallel to the Augmented Reality concept is the Wii Remote Head Tracking1 hack. Developed by Johnny Lee while at MIT, the Wii Remote is reversed in orientation and instead searches for the user’s position in space. This extroverted system then allows the display to become three dimensional within its frame. Further investigation will occur in order to combine this tool with the intention of spatial camouflage using Augmented Reality.
The alternative application is to use the overlay between virtual and real-time time is to enduce or alleviate the condition of synesthesia. Synesthesia is the neurological condition that occurs when one sensory element crosses paths with another sensory element involuntarily. In the case of induced synesthesia, the Augmented Reality tool can be used to create a sensory environment for the user that cross pollinates sound with vision and possibly smell. Instead of the brain triggering automatic reactions in other senses, a computer is programmed to respond to sound as a series of colors or movements. Induced Synesthesia can be applied on an individual basis to either alleviate mental or physical strain. By employing Augmented Reality, the user creates his/her own environment without affecting others.
Bibliography
Hisel, Dan. Camouflage: Or the Miscommunication of Space, http://temptationbyspace.blogspot.com/2009/01/camouflage-or-miscommunication-of.html, 2002.
Lee, Johnny Chung. Johnny Chung Lee: Projects, Carnegie Mellon University http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/, Redmond Washington, 2008.
The Synesthetic Experience, MIT, http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/, Oakbog Studios, 1997.
1 “As of June 2008, Nintendo has sold nearly 30 million Wii game consoles. This significantly exceeds the number of Tablet PCs in use today according to even the most generous estimates of Tablet PC sales. This makes the Wii Remote one of the most common computer input devices in the world. It also happens to be one of the most sophisticated. It contains a 1024x768 infrared camera with built-in hardware blob tracking of up to 4 points at 100Hz. This significantly out performs any PC "webcam" available today. It also contains a +/-3g 8-bit 3-axis accelerometer also operating at 100Hz and an expandsion port for even more capability. These projects are an effort to explore and demonstrate applications that the millions of Wii Remotes in world readily support.” Johnny Lee
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