SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTHORING AUGMENTED REALITY STORYTELLING EXPERIENCES INCORPORATING INTERACTIVE PHYSICAL COMPONENTS

A unique storytelling system is disclosed herein in which a plug-and-play hardware platform with an integrated augmented reality (AR) environment brings stories to life. The storytelling system includes an electronics toolkit and a structure toolkit which enable the user to prototype interactive physical devices for storytelling. The interactive physical devices crafted by the user are easily programmed using a simple visual programing environment of the storytelling system. Additionally, a story event planning tool of the storytelling system enables the user to create customized interactions between the interactive physical devices and virtual AR objects, such as virtual AR avatars or the like. Finally, an AR storytelling application of the storytelling system utilizes an AR device, such as a smartphone, to bring the interactive physical devices to life and enable the user to tell stories using the custom interactions that he or she created.