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Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

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ARCube

ARCube

ARCube is an experimental game for young children using augmented reality technology. It enables children to construct a magical digital world using simple blocks and a playful and intuitive interface.

Different combinations and orientations of blocks create different 3D scenes in real-time through a phone or tablet, and ARCube supports the development of language and communication skills by prompting children to imagine, record and share their own audio stories based on the worlds they create.As more cubes are added, ARCube becomes a multi-player and collaborative world-generation game. Our approach is grounded in constructionist learning principles developed by Professor Seymour Papert at MIT.

The goal of our technology is to make human-computer interaction more intuitive through procedural content generation. We believe technologies like generative algorithms can help us understand machines, and also help machines better understand us.

Children’s interactions with computers today are becoming more frequent, but in most cases their behavior is limited by mouse, or keyboard or touchscreen. Furthermore, focusing only on screen-based interactions and not on the real world is like being trapped in a cage. We believe children should be supported in recognizing things in the world in order to better understand and engage with them.

 

 

 

Reference:

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