The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have each debuted marketing efforts spearheaded by augmented reality.
The Army’s Race for Strength Challenge—available online, and in kiosk form at select NASCAR events—allows gamers to pilot the Army-sponsored left-hand turn vehicle piloted by Ryan Newman. Online users will be prompted to print out an image of Newman’s Impala (PDF) to utilize as a virtual steering wheel, in conjunction with a webcam, to control the car onscreen. In the race Newman’s car will compete against MRAP and Stryker armored vehicles.
The racing game is said to be “an extension of the U.S. Army's continuing effort to showcase its high-tech skills training and the various options and career opportunities it offers.”
The Air Force’s entry is dubbed Command Center Alpha, and is part of a mobile marketing tour which kicked off earlier this year. This AR experience will let users enter the “sci-fi world of the Air Force." It’s hoped that this experience will help demonstrate that high-technology, once thought to be just science-fiction, is actually in use by the Air Force today.
Comments
Re: Armed Forces Turn to Augmented Reality for Recruiting
*Waiting for those anti-game and anti-army groups to yap about how US Army are using augmented reality to get kid into army and claim it's a video game*
So the army are still doing video game and now they have created something out of a sci-fi. I like to see that for myself since I'm a big Sci-Fi fan.
Re: Armed Forces Turn to Augmented Reality for Recruiting
It ain't the “sci-fi world of the Air Force" until the Air Force becomes the Space Force. In the meantime, most Air Force recruits will find themselves doing such sci-fi stuff as guarding a gate, watching a TV monitor for 4 hours, or fixing a hummvee.