Augmented Reality News: Toymakers Are The First To Push AR Into The Mainstream
Jomst C.Augmented reality is considered as one of the emerging leaders in the battle of greater consumer adoption, due to its adoption by a key consumer market. Augmented reality draws strength from its capacity to make subjects come to life, by conjuring digital apparitions on our devices.
That power to create the wonder provides a clue for why augmented reality adoption has been faster. An indicator of how the market is evidently comfortable with AR is its adoption by Toymakers. In fact, augmented reality and anything related to it was named the top toy trend of 2016 by the Toy Industry Association.
Catherine Allen, an AR/VR specialist and kid's app producer, who has worked on titles like "Barefoot World Atlas" and "Elmer's Photo Patchwork" mentioned that there are many possibilities that AR can bring, from drama, dance, fine art and even sculpture. A possibility of how would a sculpture made digitally, would look like in the real world.
Osmo, an AR startup which creates board games, puzzles, and other products that interact with mobile games and tablets, raised $24 million recently. Over 20 thousand schools have adopted AR products from them, a 500 percent increase compared to last year.
A lot of parents are not sure to expose kids to virtual reality experiences due to the lack of safety research. On the other hand, AR is not immersive and is just a digital layer that enhances or enables what is possible in reality.
Jay Wright, President and General Manager of Vuforia at PTC, the company behind the platforms that are the basic foundation of many AR toys and games, said that the great thing about AR is its relationship with toys and games. Some products are for entertainment but most of them are for educational purposes. A lot of the titles are beginning to support STEM education.
Reach Robotics is a UK based startup that combines AR with robotics in the gaming space. The company's CEO and co-founder, Silas Adenkule, believes that when it comes to STEM or just plain teaching, the most significant thing is to capture the imagination and curiosity of the students. He also said that AR has so much potential to make traditional classes more interactive and engaging by showing new ways to visualise information.
ToyTrends' CEO, Reyne Rice, told BBC last September that the successful manufacturers and products use technology that adds play value to their products that they bring to the market. The new wave of digitised games and toys gives an additional value to the business propositions beneath for toymakers.
The combination of the physical toy and the digital "soul" allows the toy industry to create a stronger relationship with children who play the games and in return strengthens the way how toymakers can market, engage and sell their toys. Instead of making their other product lines compete with one another, AR gave them the way to expand and enhance it.
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