MARS: mobile augmented reality script framework

Abstract

Augmented Reality has been successfully applied in training and maintenance scenarios. Previous work has been commonly targeted at industrial specific purposes, sometimes requiring hardware which is out of budget for small and micro enterprises, let alone the average user. Some systems are mobile based, and while these can be classified as accessible, the realm of application is determined by the authoring companies, the average user can only play the instructions, or scripts, provided by the software provider. We present a framework that provides the user with the ability to write their own scripts packages, upload these packages to mobile devices and play the scripts in an augmented reality setting. Besides requiring only widely available hardware, namely a PC and a mobile device, the framework does not require 3D models of the subject of intervention to define the scripts. Furthermore, this framework aims at being extensible, i.e. it allows new behaviours to be defined so it can theoretically adapt to a wide range of scenarios. In short, we provide an affordable and easy to use augmented reality based framework which is suitable for small and micro enterprises, and even hobbyists.