Aurasma


Aurasma is HP Autonomy's augmented reality platform. It is available as a software development kit or as a free app for iOS- and Android-based mobile devices. Aurasma's image recognition technology uses a smartphone's or tablet's camera to recognize real world images and then overlay media on top of them in the form of animations, videos, 3D models and web pages.

History

Aurasma's augmented reality technology was created in Cambridge, England by the software company Autonomy, and first demonstrated publicly by Matt Mills in early 2011 at the MipTV Media Market in Cannes, France. On May 5, 2011 "Aurasma Lite" was launched as an application for iPhone, and a version for Android followed on June 10, 2011.
In addition to Aurasma's own mobile app, the technology has also been integrated into thousands of other smartphone and tablet applications, the first being created for the 2011 J. J. Abrams film Super 8.
In December 2012, the Aurasma mobile app was updated and "Lite" was dropped from its name. The update included new features and an improved user interface. Users now "follow" content created by others, much like how Twitter works.
Since its launch, Aurasma has powered more than 2,000 apps and worked with 20,000 partners operating in over 100 countries. Among the many recognizable publishers and brands using Aurasma are Marvel Entertainment, Elizabeth Arden, Tesco, Forever 21, GQ, NBCUniversal, the Toronto Raptors, and Philadelphia Eagles.

Industry awards and views

In 2011, Aurasma presented by Matt Mills won DEMO's "DEMOgod" and "People's Choice" awards. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2012, Aurasma won CNET's "Best of CES Finalist" award. Aurasma also won two awards at the 2012 AR Summit Awards including "Best AR App" award and "Best Overall AR" award. At the 2012 International Brand Video Awards, Aurasma won the "Award for Technical Innovation". Aurasma-powered apps also earned some awards, including Marvel's win of the 2012 Mobile Excellence Award "Best App for Entertainment" for its Marvel AR mobile app.
In 2013 Jonathan Margolis of the Financial Times described Aurasma as "ambitious but staggeringly useless".