Every parent wants to create the safest environment for his/her children, small mistakes can have large consequences. The living environment of children is in several places, outside in the garden, at home in the kitchen, living room, bedroom, and at daycare, it is important that safety is put first in these places. In order to prevent accidents, the living environment of small children must be made as safe as possible. Thereby, “safety education” should be started immediately when the child is old enough for it. The government of Flanders has therefore devised a challenge to come up with a proposal to use Augmented Reality (AR) to create the safest possible living environment for children (Government of Flanders, n.d.).
With AR, the user’s environment is integrated “in real life” with digital information. So, there is a real environment with generated perceptual information embedded in it. AR is therefore used to change the real environment or to provide users with additional information. AR manages to mix digital and 3D components with the perception of the real world. AR comes in different forms; it can be applied to smartphones, and tablets, or glasses. AR technology does require hardware components, such as sensors, processors, input devices, and a display. Smartphones often have all this hardware, cameras, fixed compass, Global Positioning System (GPS), and accelerometers. This makes usage more accessible. Apps have also already been developed with special 3D programs that present animations or digital information, for example, in Snapchat you can apply filters (Gilles, 2022).
To solve the challenge, the idea is to create an app with these AR features, combining the real environment with providing additional information (safety applications). Using a tablet or smartphone (with the required hardware components), the living environment of parents with children will be scanned. In the scanned environment, objects and elements must be recognized in the furnishings. AR then detects these objects and identifies hazards. Based on this, advice and tips should be given on how to make the living environment safer for children in order to prevent accidents (Government of Flanders, n.d.).
Gilles, A.S. (n.d.). Augmented Reality (AR). Retrieved 4 October https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/augmented-reality-AR
Government of Flanders. (n.d.). Challenge: Augmented Reality verhoogt veiligheid leefomgeving van het jonge kind. Retrieved 14 October https://overheid.vlaanderen.be/challenge-augmented-reality-verhoogt-veiligheid-leefomgeving-van-het-jonge-kind
Interesting article, I would be very curious to see how this plays out. It highlights a key example of integrating AR in our daily lives, beyond business applications. Moreover, it would be very interesting to see the long term impact on the children if implemented. Seems like a simple yet effective safety measure.
Hi! I find it super interesting how Artificial Reality is being implemented in all facets of life. Especially when it improves the quality of life. In your example, I really like how AR is being used to protect the safety of children. In the past, but also in the present, there are too many examples of children experiencing horrible accidents due to furniture having fallen on them. It is good that they developed a tool to help people organise their furniture in a better way. I do wonder, however, if only the living environment is being scanned, how does this app help when furniture is unstable (e.g., not assembled correctly). Do you think that AR can be improved to detect such mistakes?
Hi, I really like the idea of using AR to improve safety. Millions of people are already using AR functionalities for apps like Snapchat for entertainment purposes on a daily basis. It is nice to see that the capabilities of smart phones are also used for functional purposes like improving safety. Apps like this will not be able to prevent all kinds of accidents, but certainly will be able to ensure a safer living environment, when the technology is advanced enough. Is there already an application like this available?
Hi, thank you for your interesting take on the possibilities that exist for improving safety using AR. Building on that concept, AR/VR is used increasingly in other situations to improve safety as well, that I think are also very interesting. An example would be the behavioral assessment and research tool (BART), of which the primary purpose is to generate information about human behavior in case of fire (information that engineers need to design a safe building). BART has been used in behavioral research on evacuation behavior in the event of fire, and it turns out that people experience the use of BART more realistic and (emotionally) convincing, which leads them to be better prepared in case of emergency, decreasing the likelihood of casualties in dangerous situations. I am looking forward to more developments in this field of AR/VR and am curious what you think the future holds in this regard!