Augmented Reality-based User Manual: Video Demo

Delivery of information in an engaging way is one of the most widespread use cases for mobile Augmented Reality. And if we speak about user manuals, we need to be practical and add convenience. What can be easier and faster than just pointing your smartphone camera at an electronic device and get immediate information on what it consists of and how it works?

Our today's demo presents a virtual user instruction for a coffee machine. It is one of the simpler devices, which can nevertheless be unclear at times—or just feature a different language. But with an AR user manual at hand, all the user has to do is scan the machine and see what each button means: different kinds of coffee, hot water, automatic cleaning, and stand-by mode. Interested how it works? Check the video to find out!

This demo manual was created with ARCore, augmented reality development platform for Android. It identifies our coffee machine by recognizing its image with machine vision, then provides its ID and position, which in turn allows to augment the front panel of the machine with a virtual manual on the smartphone screen. A similar app can be created for iOS using ARKit.

The real value of such manuals becomes clear when we deal with a more complex device. How about providing details on a vehicle dashboard or electronics under its hood? Or maybe giving workers insights into the factory machinery? Or maybe allowing hospital staff to get acquainted with a new piece of medical equipment? Last but not least, an augmented reality instruction manual can cover any type of consumer electronics, from remote controls to kitchen appliances to washing machines to whatever else.

For more video demos, check our Augmented Reality Demo Collection.