From copy and paste to copy and taste.
This past May we covered a unique augmented reality app by developer Cyril Diagne that uses a selection of AR and machine learning technology to capture digital renditions of real-world objects and automatically isolate them from their surrounding environments. It’s a pretty neat app, one that showcases AR technology’s ability to effectively preserve the real-world in a digital format. But imagine if you could use that same technology to instead bring a digital item to life in the real world.
Matt Reed, developer and “Technerdagist” at creative agency Red Pepper, is working on exactly that, and he’s beginning with one of the most important items required for mankind’s survival in these trying times: margaritas.
In a video posted to Twitter earlier this week, Reed shows off his own variation of Diagne’s original AR Copy Paste project, AR Copy Paste Margarita. Reed begins by pointing his smartphone camera at a 2D image of a margarita displayed on his desktop. The app then uses BASENet object recognition to identify and isolate the margarita, allowing Reed to drag-and-drop the digitized beverage over to his drink printer. Once the image is layered over the empty glass, a webhook request is sent to the drink printer, triggering the margarita liquid.
In the future, Reed hopes to expand the app and accompanying printer to support multiple beverages as opposed to just margaritas. In an email to VRScout, Reed floats the idea of scrolling through an Instagram feed and printing drinks posted by friends, family, or advertisers. You’d basically be creating your own personal tasting room, no hour-long tour through Napa Valley required.
Image Credit: Matt Reed
