Integrating Augmented Reality Experiences

AR faces a challenge that most developers never encounter… reality refuses to stay still. A storefront changes its display weekly. A stadium transforms from a baseball field to a concert venue overnight. Lighting shifts from harsh noon sun to soft evening glow. Crowds ebb and flow, creating constantly changing occlusion patterns. Traditional computer vision often expects consistency. It matches predefined patterns against stable environments. But real spaces are fluid, dynamic, and unpredictable. We learned this early in our journey while testing at major venues. Out-of-the-box visual positioning systems (VPS) often perform well in static, controlled conditions but struggle when confronted with even minor real-world changes…. like a sudden holiday decoration or unexpected weather shifts. This forced us to rethink AR from the ground up. Instead of trying to catalog every possible variation, we built systems that understand the fundamental structure of spaces. They recognize when change is meaningful versus superficial. Today, our AR experiences maintain accuracy even as environments evolve. They can adapt to seasonal transitions, temporary changes, and dynamic lighting conditions without requiring constant updates. Perfect isn't real. Real is what matters.

Looking to build spatial experiences for brands? Here’s one approach: Last week we launched an augmented reality re-creation of the “Walmart Discovered” Roblox experience. As the creative world begins building more 3D, spatialized versions of 2D games and platforms, it’s helpful to unpack the creative strategies that make these new experiences work. Imagine jumping into AR versions of your favorite 2D worlds or games (for me that would be FIFA ‘12)—how would you do it? Here’s a quick blueprint of the creative process I used while leading the project with the wonderful team at Sawhorse Productions: Create an Experiential Concept What will people do in this spatialized experience? This sounds like a no-brainer but it’s super important to orient your creativity around the experiences you want people to have in your spatial world. The temptation is to just define it by the technology in use (“a web-based AR portal with interactive elements” or similar yawn-inducing jargon), but if you focus on experiences over technology you’ll make better decisions as you go and people will enjoy it more. This concept will often be written in more human language, it’ll travel better (for clients and others who need to explain the concept up the org chart or to external audiences), and you can use the concept in your marketing efforts, etc (we used the same concept for our promotional video shoot for example). For this project, our concept was simply “Step Inside Walmart Discovered.” Invite Spatial Exploration Just like creating a real-world environment, we want people to feel like they’re inhabiting a 3D space while taking part in our experience. For “Step Inside” we made a couple creative decisions that made the AR experience feel as real and spatial as possible. We created an awesome “entryway” that animates and invites the user to step in. We created a virtual space that puts the user at the center: the map was built to pull the user into the middle of the space and every element was easily in reach from that point. We also made everything in 3D. Every button, every piece of wayfinding, every interactive element was a 3D object—just as if this was a real space. The hypothesis is that using a lot of 2D menus etc breaks the spell a little bit and makes things a little less fun and novel. Connect Across Platforms People love the Roblox experience Walmart built. Our AR version is cool, too, but the Roblox experience is way deeper and more functional than a Web AR version could ever be. So we made it really easy for people to jump from AR into the Roblox app. It just takes one tap to go from “Step Inside” to the Roblox mobile app and see your avatar trying on one of the exclusive pieces featured in AR. Taking people to the full Roblox experience to see their new items in action is a great experience for users. Thanks for reading! And thanks to my awesome creative partners Nic Hill, Dr. Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro جيجي كاسيميرو, Thomas van der Heiden, Ely Santos.

Picture this: you’re slicing vegetables for dinner, and instead of constantly checking recipes or measuring cups, an AR overlay appears on your cutting board - pinpointing exactly where to chop and how much to portion. No more juggling cookbooks or scrolling through your phone mid-prep. Now with AI included, as you move ingredients or swap them out, AI updates your on-screen instructions instantly, so you stay in perfect sync with the recipe, so there is no need to pause and check a tutorial - augmented markers and tips show up right in your field of view. Think about how else this could simplify everyday life: - DIY Home Projects: Step-by-step overlays for assembling furniture, fixing a leaky faucet, or painting a room. - Fitness Routines: AR could highlight proper form in yoga or strength training, reducing injury risk and boosting efficiency. - Car Maintenance: Imagine popping the hood and seeing labeled engine parts with guided steps for an oil change or minor repair. When AI and AR merge, they can transform complex tasks into intuitive experiences - removing guesswork, saving time, and enhancing learning in real-world settings. What routine tasks in your day-to-day life might benefit from this kind of seamless guidance? #innovation #technology #future #management #startups