Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Museum visitors step into Seoul's past through AR glasses
Kim Sang-pyo, president of Qualcomm Korea, attends the opening of HyperCloud's extended reality exhibition at the Seoul Museum of History featuring Snapdragon-powered augmented reality glasses. Courtesy of HyperCloud
By Lee Kyung-min
History is no longer confined to display cases at the Seoul Museum of History, where visitors can now walk through centuries of the capital's past wearing augmented reality (AR) glasses in an immersive exhibition powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and extended reality (XR) technology.
HyperCloud said Wednesday it launched its new XR exhibition in collaboration with Qualcomm Incorporated and the Seoul Museum of History as part of Qualcomm's Qualcomm For Good program.
The exhibition uses P&C Solution's METALENSE 2 AR glasses, powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 Platform, while HyperCloud developed the AR content for the museum.
Visitors move through the museum wearing AR glasses as location-based content launches automatically without requiring manual controls, creating a hands-free experience that replaces traditional mobile guides and audio commentary.
The exhibition, titled "Time Travel in Seoul," takes visitors on a journey from the Joseon era through the Japanese colonial period and into modern Seoul by overlaying historical scenes onto the museum's exhibition spaces.
Featured experiences include a three-dimensional visualization of Hanyangdoseong, a recreation of Donuimun that visitors can walk through, a moving Gyeongseong streetcar, a rickshaw exhibit highlighting everyday life and an immersive recreation inspired by the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The exhibition combines the museum's historical archives with HyperCloud's XR technology and Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR platform, demonstrating how wearable computing can reshape public cultural experiences.
Kim Sang-pyo, president of Qualcomm Korea, said Snapdragon platforms support on-device AI across wearable and XR devices, making intelligent and immersive experiences possible.
The exhibition is scheduled to run through the end of October.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.