Developers compete to create immersive experiences designed to fight climate change.
AWE, the long-running AR/VR conference, is set to go down later this month in Santa Clara, California, offering attendees an up-close and personal look at a variety of game-changing XR technology from over 300 exhibitors from across the world.
This includes 11 teams who’ve been selected as finalists for the $100,000 XR Prize Challenge: Fight Climate Change, a global competition designed to raise awareness around the issue of climate change using immersive technology like augmented reality (AR) and VR, according to an official release.
This includes everything from The Sea is Coming!, an interactive VR experience that tasks you with making decisions that could save or destroy a coastal town, to Between Two Worlds, an augmented reality app that allows you to project virtual wildlife art of various extinct animals over the real world.
Here’s a full breakdown of each of the finalists (as provided by AWE):
- “Between Two Worlds
- Our Augmented Reality app invites viewers to experience wildlife art as they’ve never seen before. Scanning the endangered animals brings them to life and reveals the threats to their habitats.
- Figmin XR
- Figmin XR is a versatile AR app that lets you create, collect, and play with immersive digital objects, reducing wasteful material practices and promoting sustainability.
- The Immersion Project
- A rigorous scientific research project, a traveling educational art exhibition incorporating AR, and an actual solution to restore deep-sea corals and protect their role in mitigating climate change.
- inCitu: Augmented-Reality-powered City Development
- inCitu brings future cities to life through Augmented Reality to foster collaboration around the process of urban change.
- Lowjacking: Correcting Creative Control
- Lowjacking – Correcting Creative Control: Digitally exposing the environmental-impacts of the worlds most polluting brand advertisements, redesigning them to champion environmentally friendly alternatives.
- Mangrove City inCitu: Augmented-Reality-powered City Development
- Mangrove City is a VR experience designed for middle school students to explore the crucial role of mangrove forests in protecting coastal communities and mitigating climate change.
- Ocellus XR: Visualizing Climate Risk, Vulnerability and Equity in NYC
- Visualizing Climate Risk, Vulnerability and Equity in NYC
- Origen Xr
- Explore the immersive story-world of Origen XR where stories meet meaningful interactions to connect with the common origin that unites all living beings on Earth, nature.
- Qikiqtaruk – Experiencing the Arctic under threat
- Travel to Qikiqtaruk, at the forefront of climate change, with an Arctic scientist and an Inuvialuit park ranger as your guides, experience the tundra thawing away beneath your feet.
- The Sea is Coming!
- The Sea is Coming! Can you save this coastal town? Make tough decisions and prepare for climate change impacts! Didn’t succeed? No Problem. Try again and learn from your mistakes!
- Waste Warrior
- Waste Warrior is a location-based trash-sorting game we are piloting in Singapore to educate the public about the local recycling program.”
“We are very proud of the 11 teams who have gained the respect of our expert judges – their combined impact on climate change is worthy of attention and demonstrates that XR is indeed an important – if not vital – tool in this fight for the future of planet Earth,” said Ori Inbar, co-founder of AWE, in an official release.
“It’s humbling to work with so many diverse teams hailing from all around the globe,” said Dace Campbell, XR Prize Manager, “and truly inspiring to see and experience so many creative proposals to harness XR in our fight against climate change.”
Each of the aforementioned finalists will showcase their respective projects at AWE on Tuesday, May 30th, 2023. The winners will be announced on June 1st, 2023 at the Auggie Awards. For more information visit here.
Between Two Worlds / Feature Image Credit: AWE2023, virtualosus