We hear all the time about how augmented reality is going to change our lives and bring the education experience to life. Everything from changing our printed books by including rich interactive multimedia to the way we experience a trip to the museum.

Proving education can be fun, New Zealand based company, MindSpace Solutions Limited have some really engaging marker based demos that are well worth a look. A couple of my favourites are: Explore a Human Heart which has some really nice effects. Using five markers, four of which represent a piece of the heart while the fifth provides information on what you see. As you combine 2 or more cards the augmented reality images interact with each other.

The other demo I really like is the Solar Explorer. Similar to the heart demo but this time each marker represents a planet, when you add two planets together they scale to reflect their comparable size.

It’s all really clever stuff.

Try the demo yourself here
Watch the Human heart video here
Watch the Solar Explorer video here

Away from markers, MindSpace Solutions also have a really Interesting approach to engaging museum visitors. The idea centres around their Digital Binoculars Stations. Digital binoculars are just like any other fix binocular station you find at tourist attractions around the world. You know the ones where you put in a few coins and you get several minutes looking at a distant object before they go dark. However these binoculars bring the world to life by playing movies or animating exhibits. The system contains rotation sensors which are able to tell the computer where the binocular station is pointing so it knows the exhibit you are looking and can play the relevant augmented reality experience. By placing the system in a strategic location in a museum it can cover many different exhibits engaging you as you look around the exhibit hall.

If you find yourself out in New Zealand, visit the Canterbury Museum where you can give the system a go.