NCAR-SIA11Y

Term: 2019 - 2022

Funding source: UCAR, Smithsonian Institution

Partners: NCAR, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Website: coming soon

Augmented Reality (AR) technology has been predominantly used to develop applications that visually augment physical spaces. However, the enabling technologies of AR such as image detection and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping could be used to augment spaces using other sensory modalities such as audio and haptics. This project focuses on an application which utilizes this approach to serve low-vision and blind visitors, by allowing them to autonomously and safely explore exhibitions and galleries. The application enables museum administrators to add auditory virtual tags to real world objects/images that are triggered based on the proximity of the marked object to the visitor’s mobile device running the application.