Qualcomm Incorporated has joined forces with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) to establish the Qualcomm Augmented Reality Game Studio, a research and design center aimed at pioneering new advancements in
mobile gaming and interactive media.
Located on Georgia
Tech's Atlanta campus, the game studio will build upon
Qualcomm's newly announced augmented reality platform and
related graphics technologies to produce new application
concepts and prototypes.
"Georgia Tech continues to be at the forefront of augmented
reality innovation," said Matt Grob, senior vice president
of engineering and head of corporate research and
development at Qualcomm. "For more than 12 years, the
university's Augmented Environments Lab has been
researching ways to enhance a user's senses by creating
interactive computing environments. Now, with Qualcomm's
new augmented reality platform, we are working together to
further advance the user experience by extending virtual
gaming experiences into the real world."
The Qualcomm Augmented Reality Game Studio will be led by
augmented reality researcher and Associate
Professor of Interactive Computing Dr. Blair MacIntyre,
director of Georgia Tech's Augmented Environments Lab. The
lab is part of Georgia Tech's GVU Center, a world-renowned
research center that brings together students and faculty
from across the university to study problems at the
intersection of people and technology. In collaboration
with students and faculty from the Savannah College of Art
and Design, MacIntyre will combine the skills and creative
insight of students with expertise in augmented reality
technology, game development and the arts.
"Powerful processors and sophisticated graphics engines in
today's mobile devices have only recently reached the point
where they can meet the computing requirements for
augmented reality," said MacIntyre. "By collaborating with
Qualcomm, we'll have access to both the high-end hardware
and core augmented reality technology that will enable us
to push the envelope in game development. We are very
excited to work with Qualcomm as we explore new frontiers
in augmented reality gaming."
Qualcomm also announced the inaugural Augmented Reality Application Developer Challenge, an international competition to spotlight the best applications developed using Qualcomm's augmented reality platform and software development kit (SDK). Awards
totaling $200,000 are up for grabs and will be awarded to
individuals or companies demonstrating the most effective,
entertaining and functional new application products.
"Qualcomm is introducing a powerful platform to enable a
new class of mobile user interface ? one that has the
potential to change the way we experience and interact with
the environment around us," said Jay Wright, director of
business development for Qualcomm. "The Application
Developer Challenge is our way of spurring this next wave
of innovation, and we are excited to see what developers
will create."
Vision-based augmented reality enables mobile applications
that merge reality and cyberspace.
Qualcomm's Augmented Reality Application Developer
Challenge will commence in Fall 2010 when the SDK is made
available for public download. Detailed rules, eligibility
criteria and other applicable requirements/conditions for
the Challenge will be announced at a later date.
Application submissions are scheduled to commence in
November 2010 and be accepted through January 7, 2011. From
the pool of submitted applications, three winners will be
announced at Mobile World Congress 2011 to win cash prizes
of $125,000 for first place, $50,000 for second place, and
$25,000 for third place.
Additional details on Qualcomm's Augmented Reality
Application Developer Challenge, candidate eligibility and
submission guidelines are available at www.qdevnet.com/ar.