Physical Objects in AR Games – Offering a Tangible Experience

Most AR games focus primarily on static augmentation, leaving out the potential for rich and tangible interactions. Recently, with the creation of the Superhuman Sports genre, new AR games emerged with the goal to extend the sports experience by utilizing technology. With the understanding of various related projects towards physical object interaction in AR and with the rich selection of sensors in mobile devices, we want to present two innovative visions in the direction of AR Sports Games: 1.Floating Ball: A ball shaped object is augmented and while flying in a circular pattern, two players are competing against each other by interacting with it. 2.Augmented Drone: Resulting out of the experiences with the Floating Ball, a competitive game concept with a drone as a versatile augmented game ball will be presented. We want to utilize the results as a step towards a competitive multi-player AR Sports Game based on mobile devices. In both concepts, one device is functioning as a Tangible AR Interface with the task to let the player manipulate the flying path of the physical ball. For this purpose, the ball is incorporated into the augmented world to create a realistic, perceivable playing experience.