My Team's Augmented Reality YouTube Video

The following video demonstrates the depth buffering (occlusion) and interaction between virtual (tanks) and physical objects (boxes / terrain) objects of our augmented reality prototype.



The purpose of the turn-based game is to destroy the other tank. The following features were designed to enhance the gameplay:

• Players begin their turn by moving their tank within the blue circle. This allows players to move their tank and force their opponent to change their trajectory.
  
• Virtual and real objects are subject to full collision detection for all movements / shots.
  
• Players may adjust the tank barrel angles (about the Z axis and XY plane) for their shot.
  
• A light blue wind vector introduces a sense of randomness into each shot.
  
• Once satisfied with their positioning, the player must select power (distance) for their shot from an oscillating power bar.
  
• The physics engine calculates the trajectory of the shot using the barrel direction, power of the shot, gravity and the wind. Again, full collision detection is utilized for all virtual and all recognized physical objects.
  
• The projectile will explode upon hitting one of the real or virtual objects (table surface included).
  
• Each of the particles in the explosion will also be subject to the physics engine / wind.
  
• A tank will lose health for each particle of the explosion that hits the tank.
  

Augmented Reality 4th Year Design

Abstract:

The ART of WAR project uses Augmented Reality technology to create an environment where virtual objects can seamlessly interact with real objects in the form of a 3-Dimensional game. Users control virtual tanks in a turn-based fashion to fire at one another. The goal of the project was to create an environment where virtual and real objects could occlude one another and enhance the strategic elements of the game. The two-player, interactive system combined a desktop webcam with an open-source image processing engine, and OpenGL graphics. The ART of WAR game was a successful medium for demonstrating Augmented Reality and promoting the technology. However, applications are limited by supporting hardware and software. Future research and development is required before Augmented Reality technology is adopted commercially.

The following link provides the full two page summary of the project that was published in the Annual University of Waterloo Systems Design Engineering Fourth Year Project Spotlight.

Dynamic Shortest Path Java Applet

I created the Java Applet that determines the shortest path as part of my 2nd year data structures course.

This project went above and beyond the expectations of course by allowing shapes to be created dynamically. The Applet can find the shortest path around complicated shapes such as spirals. If you want to make the shortest path unreachable, place the starting vertex inside of a box.

The following figure demonstrates a simple example.