Aug Reality CAD Scouting?

[Kartoffee]

Here's an idea I have been considering for a while. We've had QR code AR (Augmented Reality) cards for a while now. We have seen ideas for how to use them, but how about for CAD? What if, at every competition, teams handed out business cards with their robot's CAD loaded on it to view from all angles? This way, instead of taking pictures with your scouting tablets, to find a team you would shuffle through a small pile of business cards looking for a team number, and just pass it under your smartphone to see a robot? While this isn't as important for teams with good Tableau spreadsheets, it could be very useful for selecting a third team to join your alliance.

I would think the format is simple. Teams use Vuforia or some other software (would need to be standard) to make their CAD into a QR code, and anyone connected to the internet with a smartphone can view the robot. Each team could have a set of cards collected from other teams, that can be brought to match strategy if a third team isn't available. Cards could be customized to display a team's logo, name, number, etc. and would be cheap enough for most teams to print enough for a competition for about ten dollars.

I'm obviously all for the idea, but am welcoming to feedback, even the harshest, because I could be wrong and there might be a blatant issue I'm missing. I'd like feedback on this idea before promoting it.

[Bryce Clegg]

Personally, I feel that this would be an awesome idea, and I would love to see this implemented. However, I know many teams that don't use CAD, and would be at a huge disadvantage. On the flip-side, this might encourage more teams to use CAD. Also, many teams may not want to give away their CAD, as it could allow for teams to copy their design.

[anushad]

Some teams keep large QR codes in their pits that have information about their robots for pit scouts; if teams do not want to pay/deal with business cards, they could do this. Furthermore, the actual webpage of the CAD could also have information about robot functions for the teams who use pit scouting.

[dirtbikerxz]

Anyone have any idea how to actually do this? Making an AR card for CAD. I would totally want to do this.

[OccamzRazor]

Augmented reality using the eDrawings app on your smartphone will let you load your CAD model of your robot and project it using a QR code. I havent tried this for FRC but my clients love it when you can project a model onto the table using a mobile device such as a tablet.

Edit: I found the source for this tech here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVcIaBAQSE4

[RyanCahoon]

It'd be a fun thing to have to hand out at competitions, I'd love to see this done.

I don't see it replacing pictures of the actual robot though; I'd still have my scouts take them. CAD models aren't always kept up to date with developments on the physical robot (or things may have been designed but never built).

Also the infamous bumper quality metric wouldn't be well represented in a CAD model

[dirtbikerxz]

Several hours of googling later, I finally settled on augment.com. It simply requires you to convert the CAD file to a format that it likes. You can also do textures and colors on the cad model, I just didn't in this video, since i didn't know how yet at the time. You can also upload "custom trackers" which is basically custom "images" or etc and link that to your CAD file, so anyone that scans that image (potentially a spec sheet of the robot), will get the robot in Augmented reality. Another feature of the app: for people who don't want to do the whole "Augmented reality" thing, after scanning the "tracker" they can just hit the "3d model" button and just view the cad file straight.

Although the software is expensive, you can apply for an education license.

Here is a screen recording of the app: https://vid.me/vaz3 . (This recording has the "free trial viewer" watermark on it, because I recorded this last night, and didn't receive my education license till this morning. (if a person has a license, than anyone viewing their model will automatically have the free trial watermark removed)).

If anyone wants to try it out, download the Augment app from the play store or app store, and print out the image ("tracker") I attached to this post, and "scan" it with the app. (Make sure you print the image out in full color).