Two major players in the entertainment world have released a new toy using cutting-edge-technology and Windsor's Red Piston had a big role in making it all come together.
Red Piston designs apps for both iTunes and Google Play compatible devices. The Walkerville area company was co-founded by Ali Al-Asan, Andy Kale, and Jakub Koter when their advertising jobs slowed down with the auto-sector in 2008.
They've created an "augmented reality" game where kids can battle monsters from Mech-X4, a Disney show about a teenager who can control a 150 ft. robot with his mind.
Disney's Mech-x4 Technopathy Robot and Mech-Link Band interacting with with the Mech-X4 Robot AR Battle app created by Windsor's Red Piston on Monday October 30, 2017. The Toy is manufactured by Bandai, it retails for $59.99 on www.amazon.com. (Photo by AM800's Gord Bacon)
Augmented reality crosses physical objects into a virtual world. Al-Asan says a successful project created a bond with someone who wound up working for Bandai.
"They approached us because of a previous relationship and said hey, can you do this," says Al-Asan. "It's a really challenging project for a really cool Disney show; can you make this magic happen? We gave it a shot and I'm proud of what came out of it."
Bandai is the third-largest producer of toys in the world, and has a history in the gaming industry — Bandai Namco is the home of the legendary arcade game Pac-Man, but maybe you or someone you know may have had a Tamagotchi growing up.
With the Mech-Link Band placed around your wrist the Mech-X4 Technopathy Robot can perform a series of actions — but Bandai wanted to add to the fun by creating an app for the robot to interact with.
That's where Red Piston came in, and more than six-months-later the Mech-X4 Robot AR Battle app was born.
"You can download a free app and when you look at the toy [through the app], we recognize the toy and build a whole game around it," he says. "So when you punch, that's actually going to do something in the game like shoot a fireball, if you gesture for the shields, then shields will be raised."
.@redpiston co-founder Ali Al-Asan demonstrates a new AR app the company designed to work with Disney’s Mech X4 Robot, made by Bandai. pic.twitter.com/i3M8jPVRh4
— Gord Bacon (@baconAM800) November 4, 2017
Al-Asan says using image recognition programs to work with two-dimensional objects is easily done, but when they were told a 3D-object needed to interact with their app, they had to think outside the box.
"There's well defined colour patterns with the LED's that light up in the chest and the face for each different action," he says. "We were able to kind of define that in our software and say ok, the green in the face lit-up, the green in the chest lit-up, let’s activate shields, and through object recognition we know where the toy is now, let’s place it around the toy."
.@redpiston programmer Evan Barnes talks about some of the challenges in creating and augmented reality app using a 3D object. pic.twitter.com/Pmfgqo0MGj
— Gord Bacon (@baconAM800) November 4, 2017
Al-Asan says the company also has an AR room program in the works that allows users to layout rooms virtually.
He says," you can see how things will really look without having to actually physically move them in the space." Augmented Reality can also be used in all types of training scenarios, he added.
Red Piston is a finalist for this year's WETech Alliance Tech Company of the Year Award.