Mission: Wildlife (Augmented Reality)

In the summer of 2016, we created and deployed Mission: Wildlife, the first augmented reality app in any zoo or aquarium.

Using a technique called image targeting, we augmented the signage of 30 endangered species with animations of the threats they face in the wild. Moving bulldozers demonstrated habitat destruction, cages illustrated wildlife trafficking, and other animations represented landscape fragmentation, poaching, and other issues.

To surprise and delight guests, animals also walked off several signs. For more information, please see our publication.

with P. Ho (MIT), M. Wang (U. Queensland), N. Haleftiras (Caltech), and E. Zuckerman (MIT).