Elevator Pitch
Having the ability to understand context while seamlessly integrating physical and digital reality is a significant advancement in User Experience. This improvement will lead to the AVP potentially becoming one of the most sophisticated assistive technologies in existence.
Description
I began creating professional AR projects shortly after the official release of RealityKit in June 2019. I started with a lot of preconceptions. I didn’t entirely understand the point or potential applications of this technology, and I assumed it was just a gimmick. I, like many others, struggled to understand all of the jargon and concepts, which added to my onboarding anxiety. Most importantly, I was unsure about whether an AR experience could be made accessible, which would have been a dealbreaker otherwise. Starting from there, when all the prospects were bleak, I was extremely fortunate to come across the “how to make augmented reality more accessible” paper on the Apple Research blog. That’s when I learned that the technology needed to create a quality AR experience is the same one that can be utilized directly to execute spatial activities that are incredibly difficult to complete while impaired. I understood that not only can AR experiences be made accessible, but that AR has the potential to be an accessible tool by definition. In time, the apparition of every new feature on iOS (Maps, Magnifier, spatial audio) increased my confidence in the “AR as accessible tool” claim.
Fast forward to June 2023: Apple releases Vision Pro, brings the concept of “Spatial Computing” to the practical world, and puts accessibility first, giving developers the tools, concepts, and instances (labs) to understand, adopt, and evolve. Now, in the time that we are reevaluating our apps, is the time to be inclusive, especially knowing that AVP is one of the best assistive devices there are.
Notes
I develop accessible spatial computing apps for iOS, macOS, and visionOS that enable users to explore, consume, and create. I’ve been working with RealityKit since the first version came out, and most of my time has been spent figuring out how to make development tools and AR experiences accessible. I participated in several Vision Pro labs where I got full access to the device and put several of these concepts into practice.
Check out some of my past and present open-source work and ideas. I’ve also been asked to give a class on the same subject at try! Swift NYC, which is also helping to bring this content together.