A MiniRugby tournament is a complex event: the sports club that organises it must set up several smaller tournaments, one for each category. In each of these, the respective teams play a first group stage and, subsequently, all teams must then play in the knockout stages to generate the final table.

The results of each match is recorded by the match directors on paper cards signed by the coaches when the match is over. The scores and pairings are written on a notice board which all participants in the event can access if they need to consult one another.

Before our work on this project, all this happened in a completely analogical way, which led to poor timing and difficulties managing.

For this reason, the heart of the project was to digitise the development of the tournament, such as the invitation and registration of teams, the management of results and penalty cards, the formation of the pairings, the rankings and the live display of all results to the public.

All the functions described are normally used by a large number of people, with different needs. For example, the referee needs an interface different from the public who are only interested in viewing the results. The platform had to bring together all the users’ needs and lend itself significantly to different uses.

The concept was already clear in the client’s mind: they needed a tool to share information with the Uqido team to develop a platform that is efficient.

So, our first step was to send the client a questionnaire to get basic information such as objectives, users, scope of the platform, etc..

Our designers took a week to collate the questionnaire which was a series of questions to identify: the long term goal, project questions, user goals and sections concerning the storyboards for the main flow within the platform.

We were able to count on fast and timely feedback cycles due to regular meetings with the client. We identified Agile SCRUM as the best development methodology, which we divided into two weeks of four sprints.

 The first sprint was dedicated to design: design and information architecture, wireframe and the mockup. The next three sprints were dedicated to software development.

To begin with, we established an information structure for the different types of users: the SuperAdmin, sports clubs and spectators. Then we created the wireframe for the content layout and moodboards, giving a visual identity to the whole app.

We validated the style proposals and the color-based palette of the Sport in Cloud site, the main components and two examples of pages. We populated the product backlog: in this phase we worked with the client to write the user stories related to the wireframes, in particular the admin’s management of sports clubs and its creation of a tournament. Each of these sections was classified as “core” and “nice to have” features.

Once the first sprint dedicated to design was complete and the backlog populated, the software development phase of the next three sprints began.

The software is divided into three main parts: “Management”, “Penalty Cards” and “Live score”. “Management” has the most advanced algorithms of the platform, “Live score” instead represents an absolute novelty for the sector: in fact, the market does not offer other services that can present live results of MiniRugby matches online. 

The web platform, which makes reporting live results possible, is developed in Ruby on Rails, with Stimulus JS components and is tested using Minitest, with a library of components in Storybook and corresponding visual regression tests.

At the end of each sprint we met with the client and illustrated the results of the development, uploading what we had discovered in a staging area, making it possible for the participants of the meeting to understand each step.

 We described the main flows such as the user login, the sports club’s new tournament, the configuration of a single category of a tournament and the results. Score!

Organising a MiniRugby tournament and managing it effectively is a complex process that requires time and resources. You need to digitise the flow, and optimize your efforts by making the tournament more user-friendly and accessible to the public.

Now, thanks to Uqido, Sports in Cloud can provide a much better user experience than its competitors, both for sports clubs and for field managers and spectators.

The result was achieved by taking care of the design phase in detail. Even before writing a single line of code, every single functionality was conceived, graphically designed, completed and tested. We also carried out user testing on different types of users of the app, recording their reactions and impressions.

As in the case of 3Bee, Design Thinking, in its Uqido Deep Dive form, proved to be a fundamental tool to create a digital product that is really useful to users. In addition to this, there is an Agile SCRUM development, particularly suitable for products with a high rate of innovation that, as such, are not free from difficulties and the unexpected but thanks to an iterative development, it can be successfully addressed (read more about the Agile SCRUM development of Uqido).  

The cognitive process, i.e. the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding, in human beings occurs through thought, senses and experience.

Up to 60% of this process depends on the sense of sight and hearing, the remaining 40% is attributed to the practical or abstract application of what is stored.

A study carried out by the National Laboratory for Education in the US states that rates of mnestic retention (i.e. the ability to remember what you have experienced) increase to 75% when referring to the use of augmented reality within the educational process.

If, in addition to the above, we add that specialised training in the medical field, it involves added risks for the safety of students and teachers. When they find organic material and places to study it represents a considerable cost as well. So we can immediately see the potential of augmented reality in promoting safe and sustainable learning.

With the collaboration of Prof. Vladimiro Vida, Director of the UOC of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery and Congenital Heart Diseases and with the student of Medicine Francesco Bertelli, we analysed the usual learning path and the tools commonly used. The solution adopted so far has been the 3D printing of organs of the human body made by a software that uses scans obtained by means of CT, ECO and magnetic resonance imaging. These 3D models allow students to touch, see and dissect organs in the same way as real ones.

The need was therefore to obtain models as close as possible to real organs that could be fully analysed and dissected as if they were in the hands of a student. It was therefore vital not only to have the 3D model but also to conceive ways of interacting with it, all within a complex range of hearts with different shapes and different pathologies.

What can augmented reality offer more than a 3D printed model or even a real organ?

The positive impact, as explained above, has reduced risks and costs, but this technology also allows you to have a huge amount of material, models and information within a simple smartphone. It is not necessary to make, transport and store physical objects, moreover during the analysis more information can be requested of the system that, through a careful study of the UI, makes them appear on virtual models.

An accurate analysis of the most suitable technology has been carried out to reach, first of all, a mobile app able to host 3D models with related information and, subsequently, the hearts in augmented reality.

An initial MVP allowed us to submit the results of our study to the University of Padua. The findings on interfaces, navigation flow and digital asset yield were then endorsed and formed the basis for the development of a complete and structured app.

Therefore, all the screens were designed to allow users to access the multiple functionalities through a menu able to manage a large amount of information in a very intuitive way.

At the same time, 3D models of organ cavities have been optimised for use in real-time. Starting from assets already in possession of the University of Padua and giving them a photorealistic appearance as the result of applying high quality textures from the photogrammetry technique.

Augmented reality hearts can then be dissected and enriched with information to provide a complete experience for students and without compromising the quality of teaching. In addition, to maintain the flow of normal teaching, the virtual dissection of the models follows the process carried out during echocardiographic analysis: Long axis parasternal (PLAX), Short axis parasternal (PSSAX) and 4 chamber apical (A4C).

These models allow a precise morphological and functional analysis of the organ and of each of its parts.

To highlight areas of the heart with defects using colour, we had to create the UV Maps, which were not present in the scans. To do this, we painted directly in 3D, making it intuitive and easy to perform. The UV Maps also made it possible to effectively and correctly distribute the textures on the 3D models.

The development team had to manage many models in a short time, consequently the latest generation UV unwrapper was used, which reduces manual work and shortens development time.

In addition, we decided to select only one set of textures for all hearts, so that the mobile application would remain light and efficient (less than 60MB) while maintaining a 4K resolution.

A further challenge was to enrich the 3D models, both used through a 3D viewer and displayed in augmented reality, with the information in written form. This text had to appear in the least invasive way possible but, at the same time, it had to be easily readable. 

The result of all this is a non-linear user experience. Each student can interact in a different way. They can use different models with related sections, without a set path for each user but rather fostering different experiences adapted to the needs of all users. A training that is in some ways personalised and, therefore, more effective while managing and not increasing costs.

The output is therefore a mobile app for iOS and Android operating systems that uses ARKit and ARCore for real-time 3D visualization of the environment around us. Simple 3D visualization is also provided for older devices that do not support augmented reality.

The next developments include the possibility to use WebAR technology to enjoy the models without the need to download an app, minimising additional effort.

Augmented reality, like other immersive technologies, has a strong evocative power that allows users to engage fully in their experiences, as in the case of Nice Spa e Phasys VR.

In the training sector this kind of content allows a greater learning experience thanks to the process being comparable to the real one and lived through the normal didactic tools.

This effectiveness then meets efficiency. Virtual assets that can be analysed and manipulated anywhere and at any time drastically reduces the cost of finding and disposing of real organs, of using a specific space and equipment prepared for each student.

We are therefore facing an important evolution in the world of specialist training, which comes from the potential of new technology like augmented reality, already widely used and easy to interact with. A simple smartphone is all that is required to place virtual objects in the environment created around us, and to interact with them simply takes taps on the screen.

The University of Padua, close to 800 years of history, has embraced this new technology to improve the teaching of its PhD students in medicine, testifying to how the technology has been really useful; it offers a real benefit and fits seamlessly into processes developed over years and years of work.

This is what happened with Salesforce, a US cloud computing company based in San Francisco and operating in 36 countries around the world, and in Italy since 2003. Founded in 1999, Salesforce enables companies of all sizes and industries to leverage the powerful technologies of the fourth industrial revolution (Cloud, Mobile, Social, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence) and get closer to their customers.

In particular, Salesforce wanted to impress the participants of  Basecamp Milano, its landmark event on the latest trends in business technology and innovation, by combining immersive technologies, their business vision and that of the famous entrepreneur Brunello Cucinelli. The aim was to translate the managerial visions into an experience for Basecamp’s guests, and utilising the evocative power of immersive technologies.

But how can one translate a vision into something concrete, tangible (at least virtually), recognisable and impactful? Moreover, on what part of the message should the emphasis be placed?

Is it possible to predict the reaction of the public? And again, which technologies to use?

We answered all of these questions with a three-day Uqido Deep Dive course that was attended by Uqido’s creative minds, game design experts and Salesforce managers. The UDD process has a typical creation-prototype-test-feedback structure that starts with goals and ends with defining a set of possible solutions and identifying the best one.

With a series of tools and exercises, the best technology was identified and what the experience should contain. We then moved on to define the experience, the mood, the assets, and the dynamics that govern it.

The result? Starting from the objectives, i.e. to involve and excite Basecamp guests and communicate with them, the best way to reach them was identified, a virtual reality with a meditative experience created in computer graphics.

The output of Uqido Deep Dive’s path was a complete Game Design Document that described the experience in detail, from here it would be possible to fulfill the real experience.

Once again it is clear that an in-depth analysis of the context, needs and objectives is fundamental in order to identify the best solutions. The same approach has been adopted in other projects such as Pam Panorama, 3Bee, Safilo and Archiva.