Gardena is a multisensory application that combines physical and virtual objects creating a playful and engaging atmosphere also by involving different senses such as smell. The game aims to guess the plants by recognizing their smell and then keep them alive by watering them or exposing them to the sun. The challenge of the project was to be able to integrate both the physical and AR parts into the experience.
The board contains 8 olfactory displays, connected to the Arduino board and the central diffuser. Each player has a deck of sixteen cards characterized by an AR marker.
02 Mobile Application
Unity and Vuphoria were used to realize the AR mobile application. The user interactions with the interface trigger 3D object animations and odor diffusion.
03 Animated 3D Models
The eight plants (jasmine, magnolia, rose, sage, lavender, basil, and mint) were modeled and animated either from scratch or by starting at free online libraries.
04 Physical Prototype
To test the concept, a physical prototype was built to simulate the diffusion of a particular essence with the switching on of the LED corresponding to the board.