Google Tango shows how AR can improve virtual field trips
AR Expeditions can take your kids to a museum without the need for a trip slip.
Google didn't have a ton of new things to say about its Tango augmented reality tech during today's I/O developer keynote. Instead, the company wanted to flaunt what Tango is already good at -- namely, the type of educational Expedition experiences that were briefly shown off yesterday. Daydream's education lead Jennifer Holland said that over two million students and teachers have taken advantage of what Tango can offer in a school setting. "One of the most important things my team has learned is you need to embrace they key functions of a classroom," she said.
The idea is to take what Google did with its classroom VR system and apply that to AR. To illustrate that, Holland demoed a way for teachers to use Tango to make a 3D map of their classroom. From there, an educator could bring virtual objects in like one of Michelangelo's sculptures or even a category-five hurricane. Teachers could even turn their classroom into a virtual art museum so kids could get up close with works by the Dutch Masters or Renaissance artists.
The key bit here is that it enables kids to talk to each other and marvel at how cool the virtual objects in front of them are in a group setting -- no isolating headset required. If you want to inspire the next generation, developers are able to start making their own AR lesson plans right now.
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