The Noosphere Engineering School is a place where students and young scientists can turn their dreams and projects into reality. They learn, develop, and create innovative projects in a community of like-minded people. One of these projects is being developed at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University’s engineering school.
The Illusion project is being developed by three young scientists: Oleksiy Klymenko, who earned his master’s from DNU’s Physics and Technology Department, along with Oleksiy Kapshuk and Vitaliy Konko. who are studying Computer Systems and Networks at DNU’s Vocational Rocket and Space . Together, they are working on an augmented reality app for Gagarin Park.
Klymenko is an iOS developer and the team leader, while Konko is developing the Android version and Kapshuk does the 3D modeling.
“We decided to make our application from scratch. We are not using any ready-made engines, but instead decided to do everything on our own. The application will have a camera, so you can scan various images, and there will be 3D models displayed on your phone screen. You will be able, for example, to take a photo with 3D characters. The 3D models will be updated. For example, just as the gallery has thematic exhibitions, we will have new pictures for each new season”, Klymenko explains.
Currently, the iPhone version is almost ready, and the application for Android is being assembled. The team tests its work using students from the engineering school. They emphasize that the most important thing at the Noosphere Engineering School is not its equipment or facilities, but the mentors and community it provides.
“Community is very important. If you are surrounded by specialists and strong programmers, you feel pushed to study and learn new things, which makes your learning go faster and faster”, Klymenko says.
The three developers advise those who want to try their hand at programming to start as early as possible.
“You need to start small. Take a book, understand how computer works. You should look for opportunities, try everything you like, and communicate with people”, Kapshuk suggests.
The team has a previous history with Noosphere. Kapshuk and Konko took part in the Student Rocket project through the Noosphere Engineering School.
“The workload in college isn’t big. I had free time and wanted to gain experience working on real projects. Our teachers approve of this and encourage us to spend more time on our projects”, Konko says.
In addition to their app, the team is also considering creating an online platform to allow users to use augmented reality without downloading the app. They are also planning to develop Interactive elements like games using augmented reality.
The team wants to create not only games, but also projects with more practical use.
“I would like to help people. It’s one thing to have fun, and quite another to do really useful things. There are projects that we want to implement in the future, and if we succeed in this, it will really be a dream come true,” the team explains.