AR games on an FPGA

Abstract

Image processing and computer vision techniques form the basis of augmented reality applications. AR is becoming a very pliable and versatile concept appearing in a vast range of products developed by both large companies and hobbyists alike. It follows the idea of superimposing computer-generated data on real-time imagery in order to submerse a user in an environment where the real world and a virtual one seamlessly blend together. This thesis aims to produce two sample augmented reality games and discuss some concepts that are enveloped in this expanding field. The first is a 2-player game, where user A is able to draw a maze "directly" into the game using a white board as the canvas. User B has to manipulate a ball object out of this maze in the fewest amount of moves possible. The concept revolves around a basic system of a camcorder-transducer that will extract the image off the white board, pass it through various filtering techniques, and display it onto the VGA monitor. In this way, a user is able to completely control the difficulty factor of the game and challenge fellow players in a new way every game. The second game is similar to the first but has an added twist - there is a limited number allowed collisions and once this value is reached the ball disappears and the game is over. The user that gets farthest through the maze and obtains the best time result is declared the winner.