ARKit and ARObjectDetection for Detecting and Recognizing Objects in iOS Development with Swift

Augmented Reality (AR) has become increasingly popular in recent years, and with the release of Apple’s ARKit in 2017, developers have been able to create amazing augmented reality experiences on iOS. ARKit provides developers with tools to detect and recognize objects in the real world and bring them into the virtual world. In this article, we’ll look at how to use ARKit and ARObjectDetection to detect and recognize objects in iOS development with Swift.

What is ARKit?

ARKit is Apple’s framework for creating augmented reality experiences on iOS. It uses the device’s camera and sensors to detect the environment and create a 3D map of the space. ARKit also provides tools for detecting and recognizing objects in the real world. This allows developers to create experiences where virtual objects can interact with the real world.

What is ARObjectDetection?

ARObjectDetection is a framework built on top of ARKit that allows developers to detect and recognize objects in the real world. It uses computer vision algorithms to detect objects in the camera view and identify them. ARObjectDetection can be used to detect objects in the real world and then display virtual objects on top of them.

How to Use ARObjectDetection in Swift

Using ARObjectDetection in Swift is relatively straightforward. The first step is to set up the ARSession. This is done by creating an ARSession object and setting its delegate. The delegate will be called when the session detects an object. Once the session is set up, the next step is to create an ARObjectDetectionConfiguration object and set its detection objects. This is an array of objects that ARObjectDetection will look for in the camera view. Finally, the session can be started by calling the run() method.

let session = ARSession()
session.delegate = self

let configuration = ARObjectDetectionConfiguration()
configuration.detectionObjects = ["apple", "banana", "orange"]

session.run(configuration)

Once the session is running, the delegate will be called when an object is detected. The delegate method will be passed an ARObjectDetectionResult object, which contains information about the detected object. The result object contains the name of the detected object and its position in the camera view.

func session(_ session: ARSession, didDetect object: ARObjectDetectionResult) {
    let name = object.name
    let position = object.position
}

Adding Virtual Objects with SwiftUI

Once an object is detected, it’s possible to add virtual objects to the scene. This can be done using SwiftUI. SwiftUI provides a powerful and intuitive way to create user interfaces for augmented reality. To add a virtual object, the first step is to create a SceneView object. This is the view that will display the augmented reality scene.

let sceneView = SceneView()

Once the SceneView is created, it can be used to add virtual objects to the scene. The virtual objects can be added using the SceneView’s addObject() method. This method takes an ARObjectDetectionResult object, which contains the information about the detected object. The virtual object can then be added to the scene.

let virtualObject = VirtualObject()
sceneView.addObject(object: virtualObject, with: objectDetectionResult)

Finally, the virtual object can be displayed in the scene. This is done by setting the SceneView’s scene property to the virtual object’s scene. This will display the virtual object in the augmented reality scene.

sceneView.scene = virtualObject.scene

Conclusion

In this article, we looked at how to use ARKit and ARObjectDetection to detect and recognize objects in iOS development with Swift. We saw how to set up the ARSession and configure it to detect objects. We also looked at how to add virtual objects to the scene using SwiftUI. With this knowledge, developers can create amazing augmented reality experiences on iOS.