GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality!
Posted by admin | Posted in Fun & Games, Interactive Whiteboard, Middle/High School, Primary Elementary, Science, Secondary Elementary, Teacher Resources, Virtual Field Trips, Websites | Posted on 09-03-2009
Tags: amazing, augmented reality, energy, future, GE smart grid, hologram, solar energy, technology, tenkely, wind turbine
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What it is: Okay, sometimes I just have to share things because they are off the charts amazing. Augmented reality is something I was introduced to by my graphic artist husband. Until I found this GE Smart Grid site, I wasn’t able to share it with others and let students play with it. What is augmented reality? Basically you print off a sheet from the website that has a bold graphic on it. When you hold up this graphic to a web cam, a 3-D model is produced on screen, by moving the paper you can look at different views of the 3-D model, zoom in and out, and in some cases cause the model to react to other inputs (like blowing into the microphone). The GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality shows a digital hologram of smart grid technology in the form of wind turbines and solar energy.
How to integrate GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality into the classroom: I am introducing this site to my students as a discussion starter for where technology is going and brainstorming what augmented reality could be used for. The Smart Grid site can also be used when teaching students about alternative energy sources like wind turbines and solar energy. They can actually see 3-D models of each and interact with them. This would be a great introduction and attention grabber for an energy unit in science classes.
Tips: Augmented reality is still relatively new technology, it is starting to pop up in the advertising world and in baseball trading cards. Hopefully the education sector will jump on this technology, how amazing would it be to hold up a science worksheet to the computer and be able to see a 3-D model of a skeleton, or a beating heart?! (I’ll see if I can talk my husband into working on a few augmented reality education goodies). 
Mac users, if you can’t get it to pick up your camera, ctrl + click on the popup window and choose the USB camera option. Enjoy!
Leave a comment and tell us how you are using GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality in your classroom.
First, I have to tell you how much I love your blog.
I was able to do the augmented reality. It is so cool. I can’t wait to share it with my technology study group at school. I think the possiblilties for this technology are endless. I can wait to have my students give me ideas.
Thanks so much for sharing this new technology and thanks so much for the time you put into your blog.
Mary
I would love to know more about how this actually even works; it seems somewhat mind-boggling! If you, or your husband, or others could help us understand how this technolgy functions I would certainly like a mini-lesson. I tried exploring the idea of “digital holography” through Google, but couldn’t find too much that really helped me understand how it’s made. Thanks for the continued great work!
[...] A post in iLearnTechnology.com pointed me to GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality where after the time it took to print a sheet of paper and launch my web cam, I sat slack-jawed staring at the screen. If you haven’t seen it already – go! Follow the link. I’ll wait. Okay, if you didn’t want to go and would rather I try to not-possibly-do-it-justice, basically you hold a paper in front of your webcam and on screen you see yourself holding said paper and all of a sudden a 3-D image of land and wind turbines or solar panels (depending on which of the two links you use) unfolds out of the icon on your paper. And as you tilt your paper different angles, you see the hologram twist and rotate so that you can look around in a good 180 degrees. It’s amazing. [...]
[...] it is: Augmented Reality, how cool is that technology? Dialing up the awesome factor a couple of notches is AR Sights. [...]
I couldn’t get this to work – any tips?
Lois,
I used a Mac with built in camera using Firefox as my browser. You do need to allow pop ups for the site and when the pop up comes up that connects your camera, you may have to right click on the page and choose the camera source. I haven’t tried on a PC so I’m not sure if one browser works better than another.
I got this to work and it is so cool. My students loved it (the teachers too) and you are right – it is a great way to introduce new concepts and where we will be in a few years – if not sooner. I’d love to see more ways to show my students 3D based on their curriculum – K-5
Lois,
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So glad you got the Augmented Reality to work! I noticed in my school that the students reaction is “woah, thats cool”. With the staff, their jaws just drop and they think I am performing some sort of magic trick