New smartphone AR app lets users hold and place virtual objects

Researchers have developed a new software system that turns smartphones into augmented reality (AR) portals with which users can place virtual building blocks, furniture, and other objects in real world backdrops using their hands as if they were really there.

The researchers from Brown University in the US said that the new software system, called Portal-ble, could be a tool for artists, designers, game developers, and others to experiment with AR.

"We wanted to make something that made AR portable so that people could use anywhere without any bulky headsets. We also wanted people to be able to interact with the virtual world in a natural way using their hands," said Jeff Huang, an assistant professor of computer science at Brown University, who developed the system with his students.

Unlike existing AR apps like Pokemon-GO, where users play with virtual objects and characters by swiping on their smartphone screens, Huang said that the interaction with objects in Portal-ble was more "hands-on."
"People try to grab in the wrong place, or they put their fingers through the objects. So we had to observe how people tried to interact with these objects and then make our system able accommodate those tendencies."