My AR Pup

Snap up your workouts with My AR Pup!

Comment

Inspiration

My AR Pup is inspired by the concept of ‘Dog Yoga (Doga)’. ‘Doga’ is a special form of yoga that not only advocates for a stronger relationship between humans and dogs, but also acts as a health benefit by alleviating stress and anxiety. However, accessibility issues, allergies, and other limitations may limit dog lovers from engaging in this activity. In My AR Pup, users are introduced to an accessible and unique fitness environment.

What it does

My AR Pup is a lens within Snapchat’s Spectacles with the purpose of pushing the boundaries of technology and augmented reality. This lens demonstrates the technological advancements on AR glasses by playing a role in health and fitness benefits. My AR Pup leverages augmented reality technology to create a gamified experience for exercising, with the main motivator being an interactive virtual pet with various fitness settings. Inspired by the Tamagotchi handheld digital pets and the concept of dog yoga (yoga with dogs around), we wanted to elevate the experience of workout sessions and make them more beneficial to both physical health and mental health with gamifying fitness and virtual pets.

Upon putting on the Snapchat Spectacles, users are prompted to select from a list of 360° fitness instructor workout videos and/or fitness backgrounds, such as “yoga” or “meditation”. Upon beginning a session, users are greeted with their virtual pup that is integrated straight into the room they are in. Throughout the workout, the pup interacts with the animated themed objects that match the fitness background chosen. For example, the “gym” background will have animated workout equipment objects, such as dumbbells and squat racks, that the pup interacts with. The pup can then have increases in heart rate and HP and happiness along with the pace of the workout, ultimately earning accessories such as collars and hair dye to be able to customize the pup. As you attend more sessions within the AR environment, you will unlock customization features for your pup, such as clothing and kibbles.

How we built it

The production of My AR Pup implements various softwares. The journey began with Figma, where we created a Snapchat prototype and an AR Interface for the lens. To create 3D objects in the AR lens, we utilized Blender. For the creation of the user interface, the project heavily relied on Snapchat Lens Studio and Visual Studio Code (TypeScript and JavaScript).

Challenges we ran into

Snapchat Lenses has been through many generations of production, but Lens Studio is a new software that is still under development and has many bugs. Our team came into this hackathon with no hackathon experience and very little knowledge in the augmented reality development process. We encountered many hiccups along the way, and we truly thank the patient mentors at Snapchat who assisted us until sunrise.

Some of the specific blocks that we encountered were directly related to the current state of the platform. This version of Spectacle Lens Studio was released earlier this year – meaning there is very little documentation available and very little resources aside from those who have worked directly with the software’s creation. From connecting different softwares and languages to the platform to creating and implementing the interactive AR buttons, we experienced great difficulties in figuring out the Lens Studio software, how to implement functionalities, and countless issues with file and system errors. As we worked on the project (much of the time through rigorous trial and error), we found ourselves learning something new on every move, both about the capabilities of AR and AR development, as well working together to learn something that we’ve never encountered before, and most importantly, grit. The countless challenges we faced in this process have made us realize that there are so many things that are learnable- some just require more question-asking, more time-taking, and more mentor-thanking.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the tedious and technical nature of this project, we are extremely proud of our prototype and its real-world functional benefits. Each member has learned at least 3 new technologies within a day, and we are proud to announce My AR Pup as a platform that aims to be a beloved assistant for revolutionizing the future of fitness and pet accessibility with AR.

What we learned

The creation of My AR Pup was a truly amazing experience working with industry-grade AR software and hardware tools that tremendously grew our knowledge of augmented reality. We are even more confident in our understanding of utilizing development/distribution tools and user-friendly interfaces in order to challenge our creativity and the future of technology.

What's next for My AR Pup

Our next steps for My AR Pup focus on completing the implementation, refining the experience and expanding features: More Customization: We plan to offer more ways to personalize virtual pets, like changing breeds, pet personalities, and adding accessories. Broader Workouts: We'll include a wider variety of exercises beyond yoga, such as meditation and cardio, with pups tailored to each activity. Enhanced AR Environment: We aim to introduce new virtual workout environments and interactive equipment for a richer AR experience. Social Features: Users will be able to share their progress and join virtual group workouts to meet each other’s pups and foster a unique fitness community.

Lastly, a huge thank you to our mentors.

We have been incredibly fortunate to be able to be in contact with brilliant, unwavering mentors from the Snapchat Spectacles track. We were consistently on call throughout the evening and well into the night of the hackathon, with mentors helping us well past their allotted time. They have been incredibly patient, understanding, and extremely helpful, and we are incredibly lucky to be able to learn from them. Special thanks to David, Court, Blake, and Sasha for your countless hours and faith in us.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates