Amazon’s “View in Your Room”
Why use it?
Shopping from home is just so much easier. Amazon’s view in your room allows me to view the products in my house before I purchase them. Recently I moved into a new apartment and needed a dining room table, chairs, a couch, lamps, rugs, side tables, tv stands, and anything else you could think of for a home. I used the View in Your Room in my empty apartment to see how everything would look before I bought it. Sure enough everything looked just like it did in person as it did through my phone screen.
How it works?
Once you open the Amazon app there is a camera in the search bar. From there, click on the camera. Then scroll to View in Your room, then select any product. It works by you first scanning the room so that it can accurately allow the product to take up a certain amount of space. After that it lets you move the product in the accurate location where you would ideally want it to be. You can zoom in and out to look at the product detail up close. You also physically stand next to the product while holding your phone to see the height and width of the object. Then from there it is up to you to decide whether you like it or not.
Audience
This experience is virtually made for anyone who shops through Amazon. Any user with a smartphone has the ability to access it. For anyone who wants to save the time and hassle of returning something, this is the feature for them. I have showed friends and family and it astounds them every time, especially my grandparents. It can be slightly finicky at first, but once you have tried it a few times it is not too difficult.
XR Implementation
This feature is hand held augmented reality. Meaning it blends a 3D digital image to the physical world around you through the access of your phone. It takes advantage of the area around you that you provide and the phone camera itself.
Supporting Technologies
The augmented reality uses GPS, a compass, a gyroscope and an accelerometer which all works together to provide data based on a users specific location. This one in particular uses hand held technology, for example your smartphone. The camera on the smartphone scans the surroundings, and with that information it generates 3D models.
Strengths
Some of the strengths I notice every time I use the feature is that the objects look identical to the ones that are sold. Some VR apps will show you something that looks similar, but Amazon’s is spot on. It is also able to scan the area quite accurately, but that is if the space is pretty clear. If it is a room full of stuff the camera gets confused on what to focus on. So make sure the space is clear.
Improvements
View in Your Room has a lot of positives, but there is a few things it could work on. For example, a lot of people already have a fully furnished home and unless your room is completely empty it doesn’t always work. It would be nice if it could work in smaller amounts of space better. The loading speed could be quicker too. It takes a good 30 seconds sometimes to scan. Being a mobile phone user, everything is fast and that is what users are used to. So when something is slightly slower than usual you can tell right away.
SLAM and Tracking
In this app it definitely uses tracking. It has to visually scan the room and notice if objects that were not there before are there now. It has to be able to scan the area in order to display the chosen furniture. It does not know the ins and outs of every customer's house. The technology has to know how to scan every inch of every possible outcome a home might have. That is where SLAM comes in. SLAM has the capability to track terrain if it has not been there before. Google maps does not have access to the inside of your home unless granted permission. So the technology has nothing to reference which is the magic behind the entire process. SLAM technology in simple terms is Simultaneous Localization and Mapping. The computer uses visual technology to translate the scenery into poinst to understand where things are.
