Many children now get access to smartphones by two years of age and gradually learn to operate them. The objective of this study was to determine the age at which children become capable of using smartphone apps with augmented reality. We developed an augmented reality smartphone app in C# and studied the interaction of 60 children aged between two and eight years with it. We conducted a preference test to determine the interest of the children in using the app and a proficiency test to determine the ability of the children to use the app. We observed that 5% children aged two and three years, 25% children aged four to six years, and 55% children aged seven and eight years were interested in playing with the app. The children below the age of seven years were overwhelmed by the interplay of real and virtual objects displayed on the screen, and did not prefer playing with the app. Alternatively, the seven and eight year old children were able to use the app and were enthusiastic about it. However, the seven and eight year old children required 39.78% more time to use the app when compared with a similar app without augmented reality. We concluded that children develop skills necessary to use augmented reality software by the age of seven years. We recommend that augmented reality be used in educational apps for children aged seven years and more to enhance their learning experience.

中文翻译：

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儿童与增强现实智能手机应用程序的交互

现在，许多孩子到两岁就可以使用智能手机，并逐渐学会操作它们。这项研究的目的是确定儿童能够使用具有增强现实功能的智能手机应用程序的年龄。我们使用C＃开发了增强现实智能手机应用程序，并研究了60至2至8岁的儿童与之互动的情况。我们进行了偏好测试，以确定孩子们对使用该应用程序的兴趣，并进行了一项能力测试，以确定孩子们使用该应用程序的能力。我们观察到，有5％的两岁至三岁儿童，25％的四至六岁儿童和55％的七八岁儿童对玩此应用程序很感兴趣。屏幕上显示的真实和虚拟对象之间的相互作用使七岁以下的孩子不知所措，并且不喜欢玩该应用程序。另外，七岁和八岁的孩子能够使用该应用程序并对此充满热情。但是，与没有增强现实的类似应用程序相比，七岁和八岁的孩子使用该应用程序所需的时间增加了39.78％。我们得出的结论是，到七岁时，孩子们将掌握使用增强现实软件所需的技能。我们建议将增强现实技术用于7岁及以上儿童的教育应用程序中，以增强他们的学习体验。我们得出的结论是，到七岁时，孩子们将掌握使用增强现实软件所需的技能。我们建议将增强现实技术用于7岁及以上儿童的教育应用程序中，以增强他们的学习体验。我们得出的结论是，到七岁时，孩子们将掌握使用增强现实软件所需的技能。我们建议将增强现实技术用于7岁及以上儿童的教育应用程序中，以增强他们的学习体验。