Anders Henrysson, Mark Billinghurst, Mark Ollila Hitlab / 2006-2007 / New Zealand

The “AR Tennis” research project uses the format of the electronic tennis game to explore new ways of incorporating computer vision technology into mobile devices. In “AR Tennis” the phone becomes a racket that hits a ball on a virtual tennis court. The game is based on the technology known as “augmented reality”, which allows virtual representations of real-world images to be overlaid on the screen. The phone’s camera “sees” the game’s position indicator covering the table and, using a tracking system and computer vision software, plays a virtual ball on the table that can be seen through the phone’s screen. Bluetooth technology allows synchronisation of the ball’s movements between the phones. “Until now, Augmented Reality has only been used in research laboratories or in very expensive applications; however, if computer processors in mobile phones continue to progress and screens and cameras continue to improve, it is possible that the use of this technology will become increasingly common, enabling new types of mobile applications that make use of our physical environment.