Hello, my name is Chris Harrington, I have just completed the 4th year of a Bachelors of Computer Science degree. Below you’ll find information and videos about some of the projects I’ve worked while at DIT.
Final Year Project – PlayAR
My project is called PlayAR, it is an augmented reality tour guide for the Android platform. It is currently in the early stages of development. The application will guide users from location to location displaying relevant information about that particular location.
It is a similar concept to the Layar application with one major difference: the inclusion of image recognition in the form of ZXing Barcode Scanner. As GPS can’t work indoors applications such as Layar can’t provide their services indoors. The barcode scanner rectifies this issue since it has the ability to recognize QR codes, which allow you to embed information into them.
By combining some of the same functionality that Layar has and the barcode scanner I will be able to provide the user with an Augmented Realty experience both in and outdoors.
The inclusion of the QR code scanner also allows for the user to create their own content by embedding tour information within a QR code. The tour information is encapsulated in simple XML tags and then the code can be made by using a QR code generator.
Here are 2 video clips of the application in action, the first is a demonstration of the UI, the second is a demonstration of the navigation through a few test locations from my home to the local supermarket.
This app has not been released to the market yet as I feel it needs a few adjustments and extra features before I would be satisfied with it. I’m currently working on adding Google Maps to application and improving the look and feel of the application.
3rd Year Projects
XNA Ireland Challenge – PacMan
In 3rd year I made a multi-player PacMan game, ‘PacMan PacManibals which won ‘Best in Game Design’ at XNA Ireland Challenge 2010.
The initial idea for the game was thought by myself, Brandan Cunningham and Whaldo Hall. However, both Brendan and Whaldo took on work experience during 3rd year leaving me to finish the game.
Pacmanibals is a competitive multi-player game for 2 – 4 people. It has 2 modes, a 2 player Versus mode in which players competed against each other for points and CTF (capture the flag) where a team of 2 competed against another team to capture their flag.
Team Project – Scrabble
For the Team Project we had to make the classic board game Scrabble as a computer game. While not the most exciting of subject matter, it did present some difficult logic problems while trying to implement the rules of Scrabble.
