There are currently many smartphone based Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) for sale in the marketplace. This mini article is written because one HMD that will debut at the annual Toy Fair to be held in New York City between February 17th and 20th is a real eye catcher. The producer of the HMD is Hasbro (Pawtucket, Rhode Island) and the company has made an early product announcement: the HMD system is called the “Marvel Avengers: Infinity War Hero Vision Iron Man AR Experience.”
The components in the toy includes a mask, one gauntlet (hand piece) and “markers.” The figure below illustrates the toy.
The components in Hasbro’s new HMD toy.
Players wear a headset that contains a smartphone. Smartphones can run the required app if running Android 5 and higher or iOS 6 and higher. Players can adjust the fit of the HMD as well as the focus for each eye. The app does not require a Bluetooth or WiFi connection implying that player data is not collected.
Since the player cannot directly see their surrounding environment, this HMD is a VR system. However….the app uses the smartphone’s camera and creates an overlay of enemies and bases around the player making it a so-called “AR experience.”
Players can define their own level of game play by putting included AR markers around the room. Each marker has a unique code. The app looks for these markers and uses them as indicators of where to place objects. Players raise their hand-held gauntlet and point it at the object with which they wish to interact. Additional markers can be printed from the internet.
A short video (well an intro and then a fixed image with a voice over) at the end of this article discusses and demonstrates the toy (although the strange audio drove me to distraction! – Man. Ed.)
Hasbro is planning to release the toy this spring at a price of $49.99. -Arthur Berman
