Edmund Lee and Eunice Lam, Co-Founders of Presence Pictures, are reshaping the educational landscape for children. Their brainchild, Presence Pictures, is at the forefront of a groundbreaking approach to teaching kids how to code using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). This dynamic duo’s journey began with a passion for technology, a keen interest in immersive experiences, and a shared belief that children should not only consume but actively create in the digital realm.

Here’s how it all began.

Can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you came up with the idea for Presence Pictures?

We are technophiles. We love to tinker with new tech and were first adopters of various technology hardware like Oculus headsets, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, Google Glass, HoloLens, just to name a few. What’s more thrilling to us, than simply using the headset, was to create the immersive content for it. As a programmer, Edmund could hardcode VR environments and simulations. As a creative, Eunice was excited about building VR tours for her interior design projects and art exhibitions but using Unity software isn’t exactly an easy or efficient way for her. 

During a few corporate VR projects we undertook Edmund’s teaching stint to professionals and final-year LASALLE graduates on VR where we had encounters with young children who tried our VR outcomes. They were so in awe, excited and were fully immersed in the experience! Both of us could see that AR and VR are pivotal technologies that will deeply impact the next generation, but kids could only consume and not create immersive content like how we can, because existing softwares to do so was too complicated. Given their boundless imagination at a young age, we felt it would be incredible if kids could easily code out imaginary worlds in their heads into virtual reality environments that we can literally step into – an advanced mode of show-and-tell! We also value the long-term benefits of having kids create content with tech rather than just consume the content.

That’s when the idea of Presence Pictures came about. We were absolutely mindful that our beneficiary is a child. So the first step was to invent a whole new coding language with a kid-friendly interface. The outcome of their coding projects has to have a presence, in AR and VR. That is Edmund’s job. The other step is to infuse art and design into the kid’s process of coding. Kids at a young age love to draw pictures and talk about them. Our coding software should therefore at the same time spur creativity, with nice digital illustrations that they can expressively use to form 3D worlds and stories. That is Eunice’s job. Together we started Presence Pictures.

How do you each contribute to the platform’s development, with Edmund focusing on tech and Eunice on creativity?

Edmund is the tech founder. He invented the Presence coding language. Our proprietary software has a simple interface that allows kids as young as six years old to easily code virtual reality and life-size augmented reality experiences, games and stories in 3-dimensional space.

Eunice is the creative founder. She designed the cute 3D environment of our software and gamified pedagogy for kids in their learning journey with Presence Pictures. We put our strengths together and developed an art-meets-tech approach that appealed to both girls and boys who love digital art, coding and 3D games. 

What made you decide to use virtual reality and augmented reality to teach kids coding?

Edmund is one of the pioneers in Singapore who builds XR experiences. A decade back when coding for Oculus Rift DK1, Edmund was blown away by the immersiveness of VR. Around the same time, Eunice bought AR glasses to try out. She was excited at the potential of AR in design and architecture . We felt that many kids lack deep exposure to the applications of these very cutting-edge immersive technologies that will pave their future success. Such an opportunity is not typically available to kids through mainstream schools and enrichment centres. To address this gap, we decided to be the technology company that makes AR and VR the key outcomes in our products and services to children. The best way for kids to appreciate AR and VR, is that they learn to create their own using Presence coding. We have even started developing in-house capabilities for Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset as we want to give our students (creators) the opportunity to pioneer awesome creations for the latest technology. 

Could you explain how Presence Pictures uses VR and AR to make learning feel like building with virtual LEGO blocks?

Presence Pictures is a panel-based coding program. Like LEGO blocks, our panels can be put together to form objects and 3D worlds. What is more than LEGO’s colour block is that each of our virtual panels can be themed with a digital picture from our large depository of illustrations. This allows our young students to easily create any themed AR and VR environments to suit their projects. On top of build, they can code how each panel should behave and create animations.

Budding Creators aged 5 to 12 start off with our Junior Creator course, where they learn Presence Pictures’ panel-based coding program. The course lays the foundation of computational and 3D visual-spatial thinking in coding for immersive technologies.

To assist young creators like preschoolers who are more tactile to easily build the structure of 3D worlds, they can use our patent-pending AR technology to scan 3D structures built using physical magnetic panels. For creators aged 7 and up who may be more agile with phone controls, they may use our software installed on iPhones to build virtual floor panels using our grid map system and virtual wall panels using our perspective map system.

What were the key moments that led you to believe this approach would work for teaching kids?

Most of the key moments were defined by the kids’ positive reactions to our VR experiences. VR aims to immerse the user, giving the child the feeling of presence, of being there. During the early days of Presence Pictures, we exhibited our prototype software at SIGGRAPH in Anaheim, California. A bunch of school kids turned up at the exhibition and tried our VR creations. We remember how they were so immersed in the imaginary world, could not stop exploring and were constantly relating what they were seeing to their friends by their side. The teacher could not tear them away from the experience. Imagine if that world was their classroom, where knowledge that they needed to learn was hidden in there with a game to it. This definitely beats sitting still at a table in a classroom watching a figure head speak.

Hence, during COVID, that was exactly what we executed. Rather than doing Zoom classes which was no different from a classroom setting, we turned our students’ VR worlds into their classrooms. We circulated to every student a VR viewer. From home, using our Presence Pictures app and the viewer, all of us would meet in virtual worlds as avatars. The coding curriculum was integrated into the different VR worlds where we had to traverse through and complete game tasks to learn scripting, 3D cartesian coordinates, etc. One day we were above the clouds, the next day we were underwater and another day we were in outer space. Up till to-date, these creators remember the details and knowledge fondly. These immersive “classroom” worlds allow kids to enter their own fantastical worlds and are no longer just a figment of their imaginations, thanks to VR. Even after class was over, they would ask to stay on in their fun “classroom” with their classmates and repeat the game, thereby reinforcing their learning without feeling forced to.

Edmund, what inspired you to shift from app development to teaching VR to students?

As a creator of virtual reality experiences for corporate clients, I was struck by the immense enthusiasm and excitement that I observed among children when introducing them to this emerging technology. However, their eagerness to create and interact with VR content was hindered by the complexity of the tools available at the time. This made it difficult for kids to participate in its creation. I was determined to bridge this gap and empower the next generation of tech innovators. So I set out to develop user-friendly tools and training programs to teach young people to harness the full potential of VR.

Eunice, how did your work with Google Glass influence the creation of Presence Pictures?

I like to develop B2C platform use cases for high tech devices. For Google Glass, I managed to establish a use case for unique travel buys. I started an e-commerce platform where travellers could live-stream their discoveries of unique product made by local indie designers using their Google Glass via my platform. Overseas buyers watching their curation show on the platform could instantly place an order for the indie product through the traveller.

For Presence Pictures, it is a use case for the unique AR/VR worlds by kids on a platform for kids. For-kids-by-kids is one key aspect that sets us apart from other enrichment centres. On one hand, students come to learn to code. These creators have unique AR/VR worlds, exhibitions, games to offer. On the other hand, other kids (non-students) can buy Presence cards to play the creators’ works/games on the mobile, AR or VR mode. Presence cards can be scanned on our app and at our centre. Kids can also compete in Presence XR games where they race through incredible virtual worlds built by kids on iPhones, AR and VR headsets! In this way, our creators see their efforts come to fruition from a wider perspective too. To-date, tens of thousands of kids have enjoyed much tech fun from our creators’ portfolios of virtual worlds.

Can you share more about your collaboration with the museums in Singapore and how it benefits kids’ learning?

We worked with National Museum of Singapore (NMS) and Singapore Art Museum (SAM). As part of our programme, kids join our walking tours in the museum to first gather impressions and knowledge from the galleries. They take note of elements that captured that attention by drawing them onto our VR templates. Using our Presence app, kids then create and code their own mini VR museum and VR games based on the history, culture or art that they learnt from the museum galleries. The kids’ VR creations were then displayed at our VR booths in the museum for the public to experience.

It was very interesting to see how our students were able to create a connection to historical events, cultural traditions and contemporary art creatively in the form of an immersive exhibition or interactive game.

What’s more, our students were able to share their VR renditions of the museum exhibits in a fun way to more members of the public. We could tell that other children who visited the exhibits thoroughly enjoyed the VR museums and games as well, making it a memorable learning journey for them too.

Tell us about the upcoming ‘Presence Smart Game Cards’ and how they help kids develop entrepreneurial skills.

At Presence Pictures, kids are taught to be enterprising and create value with their coding skill set. As part of our creator’s entrepreneurship learning, they may launch their own game and retail it through Presence cards. Presence cards are collectible game cards that are scannable on our app. Each card is a game level that is coded by our creator. The game is playable on different modes – iPhone, AR, VR and multiplayer mode using XBox controllers. Serious players may even train up using these cards to become the best in Presence XR Games, a national competition for kids keen to show off their gaming in XR.

What can we expect from the integration of Apple VisionPro in enhancing the learning experience?

Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary spatial computer and we are expecting the integration of our software with VisionOS to extend an impressive learning experience for our young creators. Claimed to be a milestone in the advancement of augmented reality, the Vision Pro is anticipated to improve the quality of AR display significantly. This means there should be a more natural and engaging interaction with virtual elements coded inside the creator’s environment. Spatial mapping should also become a lot more accurate. The improvement in AR hardware also signifies that it could widen the range of AR projects our young creators can produce. Our creators’ entire learning experience is therefore expected to be highly enhanced.