Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

News Stories Tech

Magic Sudoku: Solving puzzles with augmented reality

Magic Sudoku

September 25, 2017

An express course in app development led to the development and release of Magic Sudoku, a mobile app that solves Sudoku puzzles using augmented reality.

Brad Dwyer of Des Moines-based Hatchlings released Magic Sudoku on Sept. 19. By pointing the camera at a Sudoku puzzle, the app uses Apple’s new IOS feature ARKit, “Vision” and “CoreML” to quickly analyze and fill out the blank squares.

It was something Dwyer said he started thinking about immediately after Apple announced their augmented reality features earlier this summer.

“Instead of placing something in the real world, I wanted to take something from the real world, transform it some how and place it back into the real world,” Dwyer explains. “I played around with the idea of a crossword puzzle solver, or jigsaw puzzle helper where it could look through your pieces and circle it for you.

But what I ultimately landed on was a Sudoku solver.”

Dwyer said developing Magic Sudoku was different from Hatchlings because it wasn’t a game.

“If you added it up it was 2 or 3 weeks of solid work from me to make the app, but a lot of time was spent learning,” Dwyer says. “I never have done a Swift app before or a native IOS app so I had to learn to do Swift and the new augmented reality and machine learning stuff.”

To release Magic Sudoku, Dwyer pulled ‘all nighters’ the night before its release Sept. 20 and the night after to address bug reports.

His tweet at 1:38 Wednesday morning previewed Magic Sudoku. And on Thursday version 1.1 was released.

“The big new feature was people don’t have a paper Sudoku to do, so they tried to hold it up to their computer monitor to solve it online and I did not anticipate that,” Dwyer said. “So now it works for that too. Previously it had to be set on the table.”

Since then Dwyer has seen Magic Sudoku mentioned all across the world in various languages and online publications.

“Traffic from Korea and Japan, China,” Dwyer says. “It’s cool to see people from around the world checking it out.”

You can download Magic Sudoku here. The app is $0.99 and will only for those running iOS 11 on iPhone models newer than the 6S.

Dwyer said the app works for iPad Pro as well.

Magic Sudoku: Solving puzzles with augmented reality | Clay & Milk

A central Iowa ag-tech accelerator has secured more backers and finally has a name. The Greater Des Moines Partnership first announced the accelerator last year, naming four initial investors. On Monday, the Partnership said the program will be called the "Iowa AgriTech Accelerator" and named three new investors. The new investors include Grinnell Mutual, Kent Corp. and Sukup Manufacturing, all Iowa companies. They join investors Deere & Co., Peoples Co., Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. and DuPont Pioneer. Each investor has agreed to put up $100,000 for the first year of the accelerator. Startups entering the program will receive $40,000 in seed funding in exchange for 6 percent equity. Tej Dhawan, an angel investor and local startup mentor, is serving as interim director until the AgriTech Accelerator names a permanent leader. Dhawan held a similar role with the GIA before Brian Hemesath was named as managing director. As interim director, Dhawan said his main job includes hiring the accelerator's executive director, establishing a business structure and initial recruiting for the first cohort. The accelerator will place few filters, such as location and product, on the applicant pool, Dhawan said. "When you’re seeking innovation, innovation can come from every corner of the world so why restrict ourselves," he said. One area the the AgriTech Accelerator won't recruit from is biotech. For its first cohort, the AgriTech Accelerator will work out of the GIA's space in Des Moines' East Village, Dhawan said. A future, permanent home is still to be decided. The accelerator's program will host startups from mid-July through mid-October, ending with an event connected to the annual World Food Prize. The GIA, which the AgriTech Accelerator is based on, also ends with presentations at an industry event. The accelerator has also started lining up a mentor pool. The Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have agreed to provide mentors, as has Iowa State University. While the AgriTech Accelerator is loosely based off of the GIA, it will differ in its business structure, Dhawan said. The GIA runs through a for-profit model for both operations and its investment fund. The AgriTech Accelerator will have a nonprofit model for its operations and a for-profit setup for its fund. Dhawan said the nonprofit model is being used so the accelerator can better work with other nonprofit partners, such as trade associations. "These are all organizations that are nonprofits and can be amazing stakeholders without ever having to be investors in the accelerator," he said. "It becomes easier to work with trade associations in their nonprofit role when we are also a nonprofit." When it's up and running, the AgriTech Accelerator would be one of a handful of ag-focused startup development programs in Iowa. Others include the Ag Startup Engine out of Iowa State University and the Rural Ventures Alliance from Iowa MicroLoan. Matthew Patane is the managing editor and co-founder of Clay & Milk. Send him an email at mpatane@clayandmilk.com.

This Pop-up Is Included in the Theme

Best Choice for Creatives