In a joint effort between the National Science Museum and KAIST, researchers have gathered to establish the Smart Science Museum Exhibition Research Group, which focuses on efficient exhibition guides using indoor GPS, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and other core technologies from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea, the research group will focus in the following three areas of research: exhibition-based technology, exhibition management technology, and exhibition contents. With the collaboration of KAIST, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, eight other universities, and one other research group, the research center plans to finish 15 different projects by the year 2022.

Due to the inefficient use of cellphones in exhibition guide systems and technical expertise that is needed by exhibition guides, there have not been many successful implementations of cellphone-based exhibition guide systems. Thus, the vision of this research center is the use of indoor GPS to track the location of the user and provide appropriate guidance using a variety of technology such as VR and AR. Furthermore, they plan to prepare comprehensive explanations that can be accessed via smartphone that will rival those of professional exhibition guides.

In order to implement the proposed services, the KAIST Indoor Locating System (KAILOS) will be used as the indoor GPS tracking system. In addition, the research center also plans to utilize the living lab concept, allowing visitors to directly provide feedback and suggestions to the research center, which will be considered in future modifications of the system. The exhibition guide system being developed will be first installed in the Daejeon National Science Museum and then expanded to 167 science museums, various art museums, and exhibitions throughout Korea.

The President of the Exhibition and Research Bureau at the National Science Museum, Jeong Hee Bae, stated that “The exhibition guide systems must utilize the most up-to-date technology to inspire the hundreds of thousands of youths that visit science museums every year.” KAIST School of Computing Professor and Research Director, Dong Soo Han, also commented that this science exhibition guide system will be the first guiding system to integrate both indoor GPS and AR/VR technology.