Spotlight on Metaio CreatorThe Difficulties of being DroidAR in the Construction Industry

The Augmented Reality Magazine No. 3 | February 2013

in this issueforumThe World’s First AR Processing Unit 3

focusThe Metaio AREngine 4

featuresThe Metaio Creator 6AR in Minutes 7AR Excitement for 2013 8Global Mobile Awards 2013 9AR in Construction 10Android Fragmentation 12

fragmentsLEGO Digital Box 13Metaio Enterprise Solutions 14

eventsInsideAR: The Augmented Reality Conference 15CeBIT 15ISMAR 15

The Metaio AREngine

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The Metaio Creator

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Augmented Reality in Construction

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Enterprise Solutions

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LEGO Digital Box

13Android Fragmentation

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insideAR TeamEditor:Daniel Gelder

Creative Director:Christopher Zak

Communications Director:Trak Lord

Copy Editors:Matthias GreinerNikoleta Notova

Design and Layouts:María Barrena

metaio GmbHInfanteriestrasse 19, Haus 4B80797 München, Germany+49 89 5480 198 0

metaio, Inc.375 Alabama StreetSan Francisco, CA 94110+1 415 814 3376

www.metaio.com

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The Augmented Reality Magazine No. 3 | February 2013

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Press Release

Metaio brings world’s first Augmented Reality Accelerated chipset to market, signs agreement with ST-Ericsson to integrate future mobile platformsSAN FRANCISCO – FEBRUARY 21, 2013: Metaio today announces an agreement with ST-Ericsson, a leader in wireless platforms and semiconductors. Under the terms of the agreement, ST-Ericsson will integrate Metaio’s Augmented Reality hardware IP, the so-called “AREngine,” into the next generation of ST-Ericsson mobile platforms resulting in the first application processor accelerating Augmented Reality performance on mobile devices.

Metaio’s cutting-edge technology inserts nearly any 3-D and virtual content into the real world by recognizing im-ages, objects and entire environments. In a mobile future that clearly requires smart devices to be ‘always on’ and connected, the Metaio AREngine drastically reduces power consumption making all-day AR experiences possible.

This first-of-its-kind collaboration will improve nearly all aspects of an Augmented Reality experience, yielding per-formance increases in speed, precision and power consumption, with up to 60 times faster initialization, more than an AR app running on existing platforms – the highest to date in the mobile industry. Both Metaio and ST-Ericsson strongly believe that working together will accelerate the adoption of Augmented Reality as a consumer technology.

“The AREngine will do for Augmented Reality what the GPU did years ago for the gaming industry,” said Metaio CTO Peter Meier. “This is a great leap in the AR space, and we strongly believe that the AR Engine working with ST-Ericsson platforms will help realize the Augmented City - the idea of a completely connected environment powered by Augmented Reality and made possible with next-gen, optimized mobile platforms.”

“Working together, this will be the first ever integration of dedicated AR hardware IP on silicon,” said Björn Ekelund, head of Ecosystem Research and Innovation for ST-Ericsson. “By continuing our relationship with Metaio, this agreement will provide a competitive advantage to both companies and our customers in the smartphone and AR space, where people are looking for differentiating factors when making their purchase decisions. AR will no longer be limited to simple 2-D images - with Metaio’s AREngine, the future possibilities are endless.”

Visitors to the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will be treated to live demonstrations of Metaio’s technol-ogy and the benefits of Augmented Reality hardware integration. For more information, visit www.metaio.com/mwc

Watch the AREngine video: http://youtu.be/6br7NreTwD4

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About MetaioThe worldwide leader in Augmented Reality (AR) research and technology, Metaio develops software products for visually interactive solutions between the real and the virtual world. Based on the Metaio Augmented Reality platform, digital and 3-D content can be integrated seamlessly into the user’s camera view looking upon the real world. Powering over 1,000 apps for enterprise, marketing, retail, publishing and industrial cases, over 30 Million consumers use Metaio’s AR software. Learn more at www.metaio.com

About ST-EricssonST-Ericsson is a world leader in developing and delivering a complete portfolio of innovative mobile platforms and cutting-edge wireless semiconductor solutions across the broad spectrum of mobile technologies. ST-Ericsson was established as a 50/50 joint venture by STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) in February 2009, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

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forum The World’s First AR Processing Unit

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Accelerating Augmented Reality: The Metaio AREngineThe AREngine and the journey to

the first AR-ready smartphone

Nearly a decade ago, to the day, Thomas Alt and Peter Meier founded Metaio with the intent of advancing Augmented Reality (AR) as the primary interface for experiencing the digital and online worlds. This was a time when the most popular mobile device’s (the Nokia 1100) features were limited to SMS and a calculator. The dawn of the era of the smartphone really did change everything for the Augmented Reality industry, as suddenly the average user could experience through mobile cameras the same visual elements formerly restricted to factory-floor AR installations running on offline high-powered PCs.

Back then it was clear that computer vision and Augmented Reality experiences would greatly benefit from optimizing the software for individual handsets and chipset platforms. It was then that Metaio embarked on developing relationships with OEMs, handset manufac-turers and chipset platforms in order to one day realize a fully optimized device, ready for Augmented Reality from the moment the consumer removes it from the shelf.

Despite hardware limitations, Metaio was able to make leaps and bounds with applied research and low-level optimizations. Their award-winning R&D team was responsible for the first commercial deployment of 3-D tracking and recognition on a mobile device. Metaio’s engineers were also the first to align a given

smartphone camera with gravity, educating the sensor on how to better perceive its surroundings like the hu-man eye. In fact, Metaio has made incredible software developments in 2012 alone.

In 2009, it was no less than a technological feat to get a top-of-the-line HD camera connected to an offline desktop PC to recognize a single pre-designed image and render a single 3-D model in real-time. With the latest low-level optimizations, Metaio has achieved recognizing 100 unique images and overlaying 100 unique 3-D models, all on a mobile device. If Metaio can accomplish these things without having any prior access to the processors and sensors inside these de-vices, imagine what mobile users could do with a fully AR-ready smartphone.

Whether it’s Google’s Project: Glass concept or popular movies like Minority Report or Terminator, nearly all of the popular references to Augmented Reality depict an “always on” interface. The camera is constantly scan-ning, detecting, recognizing and overlaying information and content onto the real world. In order to achieve this vision (something Metaio refers to as the “Augmented City”) of ubiquitous interaction, it is imperative that the groups developing the hardware are working with those developing the software.

For this reason, Metaio began developing a piece of hardware IP now known as the “AREngine”, an archi-tecture designed specifically to accelerate Augmented

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The Metaio AREnginefocus

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Reality performance in mobile hardware, and one of Metaio’s longstanding platform partners, ST-Ericsson, will be the first to adopt and deploy it on silicon. The AREngine will propel Augmented Reality into the future and will do for the industry what the addition of the GPU did for the gaming industry.

Before the populace sports head mounted displays that resemble eyeglasses; before society adopts wearable computing; before contact lenses come in 16, 32 and 64 gigabyte models; before we exist in an Augmented World – there must be the first step. The future of Augmented Reality starts now with the first ever intro-duction and implementation of the AREngine.

Always On. Always Augmented.

Metaio and Mobile World Congress a rich history of introducing the latest advances in AR

Throughout the years Metaio and its partners have served as Augmented Reality ambassadors at the Mobile World Congress, delivering insightful speaking sessions, appearing in multiple technology panels and showcasing the latest technology on the show floor.

2010Metaio works with Sony Ericsson to showcase the latest image recognition technology on Sony Ericsson’s newest Android device at the time.

2011Metaio demonstrates breakthroughs in mobile AR with Intel – including the first 3-D object recognition and tracking – and announces the first of many stra-tegic OEM partnerships to come with ST-Ericsson.

2012Metaio releases its Augmented City platform, complete with the first 3-D object recognition and tracking, to the entire mobile community, presenting its technology at the booths of multiple prominent OEMs, including ARM, Intel, Texas Instruments and, of course, ST-Ericsson.

Junaio, the most advanced mobile Augmented Reality browser app is a fast and easy way to discover your world. Find local events, offers and listings; scan QR codes to get instant access to additional information; unlock augmented content on images and objects to play games or experience new virtual interactions.

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www.junaio.comfor iOS and Android

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focus The Metaio AR Engine

Metaio AREngine Features → Higher performance enables an increase in scale and volume

of Augmented Reality → Faster initialization on 3-D point clouds allows for an increase

in the volume and size of the 3-D point cloud → Dramatic reduction in power consumption will allow for All-

day AR experiences → “Always on” of Augmented Reality usage for current & future

devices requiring continuous AR visualization & search → AREngine modules can be customized to meet the

semiconductors requirements

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Spotlight on Metaio Creator, AR in MinutesThe Internet would be nothing

without content.

The same is true for the Augmented Reality industry. Though Metaio works regularly with industrial and auto-motive clients on internal projects that the public rarely sees, the consumer side of augmented reality benefits from creative and engaging content, often created by partners and developers in the mobile community.

The Metaio Creator had very humble beginnings as an online companion to Metaio’s mobile augmented reality browser, Junaio, to help new AR developers publish simple experiences. As the AR ecosystem evolved, so did the product. Metaio recognized that more than just developers needed to have access to development tools. Originally intended as a solution for the print in-dustry, it became clear to Metaio that the technology appealed to a broader audience.

Even today a still growing community of artists, design-ers and creative professionals involved with mixed and digital media want to use Augmented Reality as the next medium – and it was for that group of people that Metaio released the first iteration of the Creator tool, a simple drag & drop desktop publishing solution that removed the need for programming.

In October of 2012 Metaio announced at its annual InsideAR technology conference that it would intro-duce scalable augmented reality software and services

to the technology community in order to aid in the creation of compelling AR content. Following InsideAR 2012, Metaio heeded the requests of its burgeoning network and added better 3-D content support, native app creation capability, and cloud service offerings to the Creator, in addition to a version for OS X.

Now nearly anyone can create augmented reality expe-riences and applications in just a few minutes and the opportunities and potential uses increase exponentially. A creatively-minded person could simply augment his or her business card with a virtual resume or introduc-tion; family members could attach the latest videos or images of important events to holiday greetings; a publisher could bring the most featured editorial con-tent to life on the cover of a magazine or newspaper; a digital marketer could turn a print campaign into a fully integrated digital masterpiece, connecting the virtual assets with every physical aspect of the experience; or he or she could use the graphical user interface (GUI) designer to build a custom mobile AR application, all with just a few clicks.

Learn more at www.metaio.com/products/creator or stop by our booth at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in App Planet, Hall 8.1, booth 8.1E39 to talk to a member of our team.

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The Metaio Creatorfeatures

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Augmented Reality in just 3 steps with the Metaio CreatorThe creation of Augmented Reality experiences and scenarios has been, until recently, reserved for develop-ers and programmers. Thanks to the Metaio Creator, a new AR authoring tool, editors, designers, students, and marketing agencies can create and visualize their own Augmented Reality ideas, concepts and applications without any programming knowledge necessary.

Get started creating an Augmented Reality scenario in minutes with these 3 easy steps:

1. Upload your trackables and your digital content (videos, 3-D and/or 2-D assets, buttons, audio, etc.) by dragging & dropping them directly into the Metaio Creator. Files are automatically converted and optimized for the Augmented Reality scenario, and the trackables are evaluated and rated based on their quality for image recognition during the upload.

2. Create your experience with just a few clicks… Align digital elements like buttons, videos or 3-D models with the trackable by dropping elements from the Resources panel right onto the trackable image or 3-D map. The application logic creates itself!

3. Publish your Augmented Reality experience with just one click to junaio or the metaio cloud and try it out immediately on your smartphone or tablet.

metaio Creator Features → Easy to use software and no developer background required → Options to share your videos, images, audio and 3-D

contents with millions of AR users → Publish to Metaio’s existing AR Browser App, Junaio, with no

app submission → Build your own Augmented Reality app, from beginning to

end, with the Metaio Creator → Instant content updates without app resubmission through the

Metaio Cloud → Integrated Analytics Manager for your AR campaigns → Connected with the newest Metaio Cloud service

Download Metaio Creator for FREE!Try for yourself, start creating AR scenarios using up to 2 tracking patterns and publish them for free on the junaio AR browser! Available for Mac OSX (version 10.7 & higher) and Windows.

Download the metaio Creator at: www.metaio.com/products/creator

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features AR in Minutes

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5 reasons to get excited about Augmented Reality in 2013Originally posted on venturebeat.com, December 23, 2012

Augmented reality (AR) may seem like a futuristic con-cept, but it will be a reality of our digital lives in 2013. AR is a new technology that blurs the line between what’s real and what’s computer generated by enhancing what we hear, see and feel. Next year, I predict that it will be everywhere. Here are my five reasons why:

The glasses are coming, the glasses are coming!Whether it’s Google’s Project Glass or concept vid-eos along the lines of “Sight”, the Internet can’t get enough of Terminator Vision. A few companies have however made some pretty impressive technological leaps this year: this fall, Vuzix debuted their monocular AR prototype for industrial use at the annual InsideAR conference; Innovega showcased their Augmented Reality contact lens prototype at the 2012 Consumer Electronic show, for which they’re currently seeking FDA approval; and researchers at the University of Washington successfully displayed a single pixel on an eye (albeit, that of a rabbit).

In the meantime, retails brands like Oakley and game favorite Valve were just as quick to throw their hats in the ring alongside patent applications from tech giants Apple and Microsoft. But don’t bother Santa with your letters – widely available (and affordable) wearable Augmented Reality devices probably won’t hit shelves until 2014.

Smartphones will be AR-equippedWe might not get Paul Smith AR goggles anytime soon, but expect OEMs, handset manufacturers and carriers to integrate

optimized Augmented Reality, visual display and cam-era performance into the next generation of smart-phones, because it’s basically already happening.

Premier-to-punchline-to-rising-star Nokia recently launched the City Lens app, exclusive to its Lumia suite of devices. UK-based chip designer ARM has

had its eye on AR for a while, powering and optimizing experiences for its architecture found in the Samsung Galaxy SII, SIII and Note devices. And let us not for-get Telefonica and their mad dash to serve mobile Augmented Reality advertisements to the entirety of their O2 network, alongside mobile coupons and loca-tion-based services.

Location, Location, LocationGPS and geodata were responsible early on for bring-ing Augmented Reality to the forefront. Applications like Junaio and Layar made a splash in the tech world, offering location-based navigational “channels” and “lay-ers” where UFO-like billboards bobbed on the horizon, displaying information about your surroundings. In 2013 expect to see the next generation of those GPS-based experiences, incorporating not only data from on-board sensors like the gyroscope and camera, but other niche mobile technologies that rely on proximity such as NFC.

Companies like Hover are already deeply embedded in generating and augmenting 3-D maps of urban areas, and my company (AR firm Metaio) has successfully developed “snapping algorithms” that pull this kind of data from the cloud and tightly align it to the real world. Expect your city to get a lot more augmented in 2013.

The death of the gimmicky appDisclaimer: there will al-ways be marketers that abuse useful technology for their own nefarious, poorly designed purposes (re: QR codes), but expect

to see brands move to better, faster and stronger apps that give their audience clear incentives for regular use. 3-D bunnies smiling at you from conference marketing material may have seemed novel at the time, but cre-ating a new app for each one-off experience is neither scalable nor tolerable from a user’s perspective.

The 2013 IKEA Catalog app featured an Augmented Reality viewer that visualized furniture in 3-D and served related video and digital content to readers. It was the most downloaded branded app of 2012, even after launching in July. With that kind of success as a benchmark, expect other companies to start managing entire product lifecycles with Augmented Reality solutions- not unlike Mitsubishi Electric with their enterprise MeViewAR app that visualizes heating and cooling units in the real world. Mitsubishi Electric has already moved to the next phase for 2013, in-tending to visualize 3-D maintenance instructions for service technicians.

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AR Excitement for 2013features

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The birth of the elusive killer appIt doesn’t exist, and it probably won’t. Augmented Reality is a horizontal technology, which means that the nigh-limitless applications make it a challenging en-deavor to develop the Evernote/YouTube/Wordpress/Instagram of Augmented Reality. We did however see the AR Angry Birds, and even if it isn’t official it’s still a pretty clear indication that a successful AR game could lead the way for massive adoption. There are already some good examples out there, like the new JengAR game that inserts the 3-D content into the environment itself rather than needing a printed image.

Expect more games to take this approach in 2013 as we move toward experiences that engage users in their actual surroundings. But the most amazing app for which the industry could possibly hope is only periph-erally related to AR. 3-D content is tough. it’s difficult, expensive and time-consuming to create, and may pres-ent the biggest barrier to producing AR experiences. Augmented Reality needs an app that easily generates 3-D content and exports it in major supported formats. Think “Draw Something” meets iMovie, in 3-D. That would be something!

Where to find Metaio @MWC 2013

metaio . . . . . . App Planet, Hall 8.1, Stand 8.1E39

Intel . . . . . . . . App Planet, Hall 8.1, Stand 8.1E20

Imagination . . Hall 7, Stand 7I110

ST-Ericsson . . Hall 7, Stand 7E111

NVIDIA. . . . . . Hall 7 Stand 7C110

ARM . . . . . . . Hall 6 Stand 6A31

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Metaio Nominated for 18th AnnualGlobal Mobile Awards

We’re pleased to announce that Metaio has been nominated for the prestigious 2013 Global Mobile Awards for the 2013 Mobile World Congress in the category of Best Mobile Service or Product for Automotive. As Metaio has strong roots in AR appli-cations for the car industry, we’re very proud to have the chance to present with our partner, Audi AG in Barcelona this year.

Metaio and Audi AG worked together to develop the Audi eKurzinfo Augmented Reality assistant app. New Audi A1 owners can download the app for iOS devices and get introduced to their car in just a few minutes, with no manual necessary. Through the app, the user can use Metaio’s visual search and recognition technology to identify insignia through-out the vehicle and receive immediate feedback on how to use that particular feature of the new Audi.

The first iteration of the Audi eKurzinfo app was based purely on image recognition. For 2013, Audi will release the brand new version of the app featuring real-time visual graphics and advanced Augmented Reality interactions. Audi intends to roll out this service beyond the A1, starting with the A3 but with the potential for future models as well.

If you’re attending the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, please come visit us! In addition the Awards Ceremony, Metaio will be in Hall 8.1 at the App Planet, showcasing the latest in Augmented Reality and 3-D technology. We are fortunate to also have amazing partners like Intel, Imagination Technology and ST-Ericsson, at whose booths you can see how Metaio’s technology works with some of the best chipset platforms and handsets out there.

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features Global Mobile Awards 2013

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Augmented Reality in the Construction IndustryAugmented Reality (AR) enhances the

environment by allowing human senses to interact with richer and more compelling

experiences through the addition of digital information to the real world.

Virtual content can now coexist with the tangible world. The origins of Augmented Reality take their root from Ivan Sutherland 1965’s piece: “The Ultimate Display”. Since then, the application and interest in AR has grown exponentially in various industries. While many have been quick to adopt Augmented Reality, the construction industry has been slow to embrace this new technology.

In order to draw a better picture of the state of AR in the construction industry we sent 345 surveys to con-struction companies and received 34 responses. The majority of respondents were European with the re-maining participants in North America, South America, Asia and Australia.

Of the 38% already familiar with AR, 23% note the technology is already implemented in the workplace, comprising only 9% of the responding companies. Surprisingly enough, nearly 90% said they could think of ways that Augmented Reality could be useful within their respective workplaces.

At this time, AR implementation seems to be restricted to a few large companies, while smaller building firms and architect offices are reluctant to adopt new

Survey: AR and ConstructionAre you familiar with AR

Does your company use AR?

Would AR solve problems at your company?

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AR in Constructionfeatures

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technology tools due to finite resources. In addition, it is of note that 40% of those aware of AR but not yet using it in the workplace say that the technology is currently being investigated and that it could be used in the near future.

A demonstration illustrating the advantages of AR in the construction industry was showcased last year at the InsideAR 2012 Augmented Reality conference in Munich, Germany. The aim of this demonstration was to visualize how the planning of a construction site, with the help of AR, provided significant improvements over traditional methods. The demo focused on the features of engi-neering and industrial based Augmented Reality and the benefits it is able to bring to the construction industry.

Features → Virtual elements are augmented into the real world in real time → Visualization of all devices and equipment involved in the project → Crane range of motion visible through visualization of its radius → See-through 3D radius of cranes models and range of motion → Visualization of the various connection required to utilities → Representation of the finished project → Visualization of any additional information possible → Visualization of the overall construction site’s structure and layout

Benefits → Planning takes place on site; no paper plan needed → Determine optimal orientation and disposal of each and every unit → Easily see how accessible the material storage and other

necessary areas are → Provides extensive feedback of crane interaction with

surroundings in order to prevent collisions → Base the layout of you construction site on the availability of

utilities and maximize efficiency → Instantly see how your construction project looks, interacts &

impacts on the surroundings → Superimpose the construction schedule to monitor the deadlines → Improved coordination between delivery services and

construction site logistics

Quick Facts - Metaio Engineer: → Advantages of AR for Construction & Planning → Reconstruct onsite virtual 3-D assets, materials, prototypes

and environments, in real-time → Insert and visualize objects obscured by real-world materials → Reduce costs, test processes and simulate project conditions

even in planning stages → Visualize completed project in a real-world environment

before it kicks off → Optimize a project’s delivery with more efficient prior planning

and design

Learn more about Metaio Engineer!Contact us at sales@metaio.com for more information on what you can achieve with Metaio Engineer and industrial AR.

www.metaio.com/products/engineer

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features AR in Construction

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The Difficulties of being DroidThe first smartphone running Google’s Android mobile operating system was released in October 2008. Today, 1.3 million android devices are activated

daily, 70,000 of which are tablets.Due to it’s nature as an open platform, Android can be installed on any kind of device, with any kind of hardware, including different graphic capabilities, completely different and non-homogeneous screen sizes, different user inputs, on both high and low end devices. Android has even been seen running on cars, ovens and refrigerators. There are seemingly no limits when it comes to the myriad of devices and electronics that can run Android.

This, however, presents a problem for companies and developers bringing applications, games, books, mov-ies, music and magazines to the Google Play store. This problem is called fragmentation and is a result of nearly unlimited device variations and configurations, in respect to both the hardware and software.

Developers want to take this fragmentation issue and make it work to their benefit, but clearly cannot be expected to make a single application for all Android devices and have it to work perfectly on every single one. For this reason, companies and developers are spending extra time and effort on their applications and optimizing the user interfaces to fit on every screen size or at the very least, the widest possible range of sizes, resolutions and combinations of screen orientations.

Imagine great-looking app optimized for a smartphone with a smaller screen. How will it look when running on a different phone with a larger screen, or on a tablet in landscape orientation? On a higher resolution dis-play, the interface components can be adjusted and positioned in a more visually engaging manner, or more information can be shown on the display. In regards to tablets, retaining the same layout may result in a waste of the usable screen real estate, resulting in the need to vary the user interface again or create a completely different version of the application.

Introduced alongside Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), the Fragments API has made it much easier to create an ap-plication, based on fragments, which is also backwards compatible with earlier Android devices. Fragments make it possible for developers to define sections of the user interface as individual units that can adjust

their location on screen depending on the screen size, resolution and orientation of the device. Now Android developers have the power to ensure that their appli-cations offer quality user-experiences with less worry about which device the user may have in their hands.

This is great for app development in general, and es-pecially for Augmented Reality applications. With the flexibility of the devices that the Fragments API allows developers to target, less time is necessary for user interface adjustments and backwards compatibility issues, allowing more time to be spent enhancing, perfecting and delivering the best Augmented Reality experiences possible. Augmented Reality is great for tablets and devices with larger displays, but users with smaller devices should also be able to easily experi-ence all of the amazing AR content and applications being offered.

The Metaio SDK for Android is also the only available augmented reality software with which developers can create native Android apps. In conjunction with the Fragments API, developers not only have a much easier time optimizing applications for different devices, but can also rely on their creations to work as intended for the user or client. And one of the huge benefits of the so-called fragmentation of the Android OS is that the plentitude of devices running Android mean more users and more clients to reach in one of the largest mobile audiences in the world.

And with Android expanding to automobiles and maybe even connected home appliances, developers will have myriad opportunities to create new experiences and in-teractions for all aspects of our daily lives. Windshields, mirrors, refrigerator “desktops”- and of course, Glass. Either way, they can rely on the Metaio Augmented Reality SDK to get there.

Today, 1.3 million Android devices are activated daily

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Android Fragmentationfeatures

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The LEGO Digital Box Augmented Reality KioskAn eye-catching in-store AR solution for

the most iconic toy company in the world

Purchase decisions at the point of sale are mostly driven by the excitement of customers about a product. This certainly applies to the toy market.

Customers tend to want to examine and interact with products before purchasing them. Though LEGO is one of the world’s most renowned toy companies, con-sumers can only really interact with the product after purchasing, returning home and assembling it. LEGO wanted a way for potential consumers to engage with their toys ahead of time, so they opted for an Augmented Reality point-of-sale experience to show the customer product features and to stimulate customers’ emotions towards the product.

Metaio developed a custom AR application for LEGO based on the Metaio SDK - the LEGO Digital Box. The application relies on image detection and tracking to recognize the different LEGO boxes and visualize 3-D animations of the finished LEGO models directly on top of the product packaging, complete with sound effects.

The application was designed modularly so that con-tent updates can be performed painlessly. Furthermore, statistical evaluation has shown a positive impact on

the consumer experience and other targets of LEGO in regards to the DIGITAL BOX.

Children can now hold LEGO packaging up to the DIGITAL BOX and watch a 3-D animation of the prod-uct, from any angle and in every detail - all in their hands. The installation not only creates a fascinating technological experience, but also gives in-store retail-ers a unique positioning opportunity to educate and influence purchasing decisions.

“The DIGITAL BOX helps consumers get a better impression of our products,” says Torben Nielsen, Director of 3D technology from LEGO Group’s Digital Development Department, and adds: “We’ve had very positive feedback from our stores and customers. Thanks to Metaio’s technology, we can excite and in-form our customers on a new level.”

Quick Facts → Start of the initial evaluation phase in November 2008 → Worldwide brand store rollout began in April 2010 → Using the Metaio SDK → Bringing customer excitement to a new level → Most successful Augmented Reality application worldwide

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Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating Relies on Augmented Reality Enterprise Solutions from Metaio

To boost adoption of its ductless air conditioning and heating products, Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating needed to more effectively show consumers what an installed unit would look like in their home. As a result of deploying the metaio Enterprise Solution (MES), a mo-bile augmented reality app, to each of its sales channel representatives. Mitsubishi Electric has projected an increase of $30 million in revenue. They also forecast decreasing by millions the future costs for printing and distributing product catalogs.

The latest innovations in comfort technology and en-ergy-efficient ductless HVAC systems are provided by Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating, a division of Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. Ductless systems are 30% more energy-efficient than unitary HVAC and offer personalized comfort control in each room or zone.

Mitsubishi Electric provides sales tools, technical support and training to contractors, distributors, engineers and architects on its award-winning line of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) and ductless systems for commercial and residential, respectively, installations. With over 25,000 contractors and 1,500 distributors nationwide, Mitsubishi Electric needed a solution to streamline the delivery of information and education of its sales channel.

Gabriel Weiss, head of Interactive Marketing Technologies for Mitsubishi Electric, recognized a number of issues with the company’s multi-faceted communication network. Weiss found redundancies and shortcomings, including marketing strategies that competed with each other.

For example, product and pricing information in print catalogs was becoming out of date before the next catalog was even drafted. They need a solution that could be updated year-round. And while product was pictured in these print catalogs, being able to show the product actually in the customer’s space would answer the most frequently asked question from customers, “What will it look like on my wall?”.

Weiss’ vision for Mitsubishi Electric is “Using technol-ogy to sell our technology,” so the value of having a custom-branded app through which products could be “seen” was invaluable.

“Using the metaio augmented reality technology we are able to give our customers a mobile product visu-alization tool that is completely unique to our industry. Giving them a competitive advantage and making the sales process more efficient for them.”

To visualize a unit exactly as it would appear installed in a customer’s home, Mitsubishi Electric sales represen-tatives simply place a 18-inch by 18-inch Post-It Note marker on the wall where the unit should appear and launch the meVIEW™ AR app on an iPad. When the user points the iPad’s camera towards the marker, the product is automatically displayed to scale where the marker is on the wall. The user can then tap to place any product on the same location and share of photo of it via email with family or project decision makers.

Using this technology, products can be visualized in any location throughout a customer’s home or office. Mitsubishi Electric also opted to include social features, so that photos taken of the augmented experience can be posted to Twitter and Facebook.

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Metaio Enterprise Solutionsfragments

Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and Heating is generating an additional $30 million in annual sales by visualizing products with the metaio Enterprise Solution

Learn more about Metaio AR Enterprise SolutionsContact sales@metaio.com for more information on how Metaio Enterprise Solutions can solve your Augmented Reality needs.

www.metaio.com/enterprise

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events

Meet Metaio all over the world

GPU Technology ConferenceMarch 18-21, 2013 – San Jose, Californiahttp://www.gputechconf.com/page/home.html

Game Developers ConferenceMarch 25-29, 2013 – San Francisco, CAhttp://www.gdconf.com/

Gartner CIO Leadership ForumMarch 17-19, 2013 - Huntington Beach, CAhttp://www.gartner.com/technology/summits/na/cio/

South By Southwest InteractiveMarch 8-12, 2013 - Austin, TXhttp://sxsw.com/

PAX EastMarch 22-24, 2103 – Boston, MAhttp://east.paxsite.com/

Augmented World ExpoJune 4-5, 2013 - Santa Clara, CAhttp://augmentedworldexpo.com/

October 1-4, 2013 - Adelaide, SA, AustraliaThe 2013 ISMAR (International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality) conference show-cases the diversity and quality of work in Mixed and Augmented Reality, with a top-quality collection of workshops, tutorials, panels, papers, posters, and late advances in Science & Technology and Art, Media and Humanities programs.

Learn More at http://ismar.vgtc.org/

March 5-9, 2013 - Hannover, GermanyCeBIT is the world’s largest trade fair showcasing digital IT (information technology) and telecommuni-cations solutions for home and work environments. The key target groups are users from industry, the wholesale and retail sectors, skilled trades, banks, the services sector, government agencies, science and all users passionate about technology.

Learn More at http://www.cebit.de/

October 2013 - Munich, GermanyDiscover the future of Augmented Reality at the annual InsideAR Augmented Reality Conference, hosted by Metaio. Visit the AR Live-expo and experience Augmented Reality hands-on with exhibits and demos presented by, Metaio, their partners and the growing community of certified developers. Keynotes and presen-tations from industry experts will take place during the conference, giving you insight into the numerous ways Augmented Reality is changing the world we know.

For more information visit www.metaio.com/insideAR

InsideAR: The Augmented Reality Conference

CeBIT ISMAR

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The Augmented Reality Magazine

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