Augmented Reality: Lego

Lego will apparently be rolling out these new 'Digital Box' kiosks to selected toyshops around the world that allow you to see a 3D representation of what the LEGO model looks like when fully assembled. The kiosk uses a built-in video camera and custom augmented reality software developed by a German company called Metaio, and because the model exists in 3D, you're able to interactively turn and move it around to see it from all sides.

"Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.

At present, most AR research is concerned with the use of live video imagery which is digitally processed and "augmented" by the addition of computer-generated graphics." (Wikipedia, March 2009).

It seems like augmented reality is the new QR code, with Mini having already launched a campaign using the concept. It's a difficult idea to get your head around, but once you grasp it you can see how far the boundaries can pushed and that it's going to be everywhere in the future.