Control lights with AR Glasses
Why
Imagine a day in the future when AR Glasses are as pervasive as smartphones. How would you control your smart lights with your glasses? This project is an experiment that explores one of the approaches of how can have simple interactions like turning our lights ON and OFF. This is by no means the final solution but a start of a long term UX experiment that will be improved over time considering feedback from users.
The main idea here is to explore how we can design a system where we can summon interfaces to do the things we want and get rid of them when the job is done in the easiest way possible. In this case the UI to control the lamp appears besides the lamp when the user approaches the lamp. The following demo shows that.
What
The prototype was built in iOS using ARKit and the Philips Hue API. When the user goes close to the lamp, the UI to control that lamp appears and the user can change the color or brightness of the lamp using the Color Picker UI. I am also using the center pixel of the camera frame as a color picker so the user can sample a color from any object from the surroundings and set it to the color of the lamp. Imagine a situation when you want to set the lights to match the color of your environment.
The prototype using ARKit's vertical plane detection to place the UI on the Walls close to the lamp. There is some initial setup involved to place the UI besides the lamp when you run the app for the first time, but after that because ARKit can remember the scene, it can render the UI roughly at the same spot.
Who
This app can be used by anyone who is wearing AR glasses. There are multiple ways to control the lights, for example, using Google assistant to control the lights with Voice commands, but then you don't have the precision. Yes, you can always use your phone, but then there are a few steps involved like taking your phone out of the pocket, opening the app, going to the right lights and then controlling them. This concept aims to bring back the simplicity of light control by showing the UI right by the light it controls. Because the UI is virtual, it can take any shape or form and is not restricted by physical form.