Beta Release of the World's First Augmented Ability Software Application - Rocksolver

The software startup company Intresto, based in the rural town of Armidale in NSW, announced the first field trial of their Rocksolver optimisation software.

Intresto's first customer is the Australian landscape designer Walter McNiven who had 86 irregular-shaped rocks to place in an area for erosion control. McNiven numbered and photographed each rock from above, emailed to the photos to Malcolm Lambert at Intresto who digitised the shapes using Intresto's Polygon-convex Android smart phone app. The digitised shapes, 2D polygons, were then optimised using Rocksolver by packing them into the desired area to create a layout plan. McNiven then put the rocks in place by simply followed the plan (shown in the image below).

Lambert provided McNiven with a number of layout plans, a service which has been very difficult or impossible in the past. After receiving the first 3 plans McNiven said "I'm impressed with all 3 layouts thus far".

After the final layout of the real rocks had been completed Lambert said "This is the first time Rocksolver has provided a layout plan outside of our own laboratory trials. This is also the first time a technology has been described as Augmented Ability Software. In the future augmented reality glasses will be used to digitise the 2D and 3D shapes of rocks and then to display the layout plan over-laid on the builder's view. Perfect for building landscaping and houses."

The free Android smart phone app called Polygon-convex is currently in beta release and Rocksolver can provide a 2D layout plan for beta testers.