Brainstorming to determine feasible concepts

Figure 02: Sketch of possible information sources

In the early stages of the project even the most wild ideas were contemplated to tackle the issue of how to contribute to the demining process, first sketches tried to identify the most relevant pieces of information that were needed to provide users valuable tools for their needs. (see fig. 02: geo-located information,satelite imagery, information from GPR systems, among others) After this first phase of ideation and thanks to one of the classes from the IDM Master Program (Augmented Reality Studio) I started to develop a Mobile augmented reality app for military people, with the goal of provide them a tool able to add aditional layers to reality using a head device such as: Microsoft Hololens, Daqui Helmet or Epson moverio.

Figure 03: Story board for the experience of Augmented Reality Prototype

Low fidelity prototypes were developed, among them: drawings, 3D models and 3D printed pieces. Those prototypes allowed me to have a better sense of the complete demining process, while developing such pieces, I was putting the puzzle together to find a compelling solution. Story boards were fundamental during this stage to clarify how the proposed solution will achieve the suggested goals.(see fig. 03) In the mean time, I was gaining exposure to cutting edge technologies and being familiarized with data bases, Augmented Reality SDKs (Software Development Kits), and Computer Vision Algorithms.

The brainstorming phase determined the following steps to the research. After this stage I started to explore the possibility of having two different prototypes. Since, although the information to be delivered to military and civilian is similar, the way to deliver this information should be different.