Gear

KOSKI Turns Wooden Building Blocks Into An Augmented Reality Video Game

Real blocks, virtual reality.

by Dave Baldwin
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
KOSKI Augmented Reality Building Blocks

If Pokémon Go has taught us anything, it’s that combining real-life and virtual play seems to be popular with the kids these days. (And if you ever see a Snorlax, you should absolutely run for your life.) But could applying the same augmented reality technology to classic games have the same effect in this era of tech-crazed overstimulation? The Royal College of Art grad student behind KOSKI really hopes so.

KOSKI is a 21st-century, STEM toy twist on classic building blocks. Kids can build a structure using the magnetic, Jenga-esque blocks IRL. Point the iPad (sorry, the “magic mirror”) at the elevated game board so that the camera’s object recognition software can do its thing and it becomes an interactive video game. Trees grow out of blocks. Waterfalls pour off ledges. Place one of the colored coins on the board, and an animated character climbs out of a manhole. Real actions open up “hidden worlds” and direct your character through “mazes and quests,” according to this “press release.”

There’s only one litttttle catch right now: KOSKI was designed as a school project and hasn’t come to market yet. But, because your kids are always impressed with how bleeding-edge you are in the building block toy department, you can contribute when it goes live. Sign up here for updates.

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