Real-Time Augmented Reality Physics Simulator for Education

Featured Application The proposed technologies can be applied to the physics education system that describes the properties of materials, AR-based game engine to enhance realism, 3D product viewer engine for online shopping, etc. Abstract Physics education applications using augmented reality technology, which has been developed extensively in recent years, have a lot of restrictions in terms of performance and accuracy. The purpose of our research is to develop a real-time simulation system for physics education that is based on parallel processing. In this paper, we present a video see-through AR (Augmented Reality) system that includes an environment recognizer using a depth image of Microsoft's Kinect V2 and a real-time soft body simulator based on parallel processing using GPU (Graphic Processing Unit). Soft body simulation can provide more realistic simulation results than rigid body simulation, so it can be more effective in systems for physics education. We have designed and implemented a system that provides the physical deformation and movement of 3D volumetric objects, and uses them in education. To verify the usefulness of the proposed system, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 10 students majoring in physics education. As a result of the questionnaire survey, 93% of respondents answered that they would like to use it for education. We plan to use the stand-alone AR device including one or more cameras to improve the system in the future.