Baidu unveils AR lab for new apps

Internet search provider Baidu Inc unveiled an augmented reality lab on Monday in Beijing to build smartphone-based AR applications.

The new lab will leverage the group's more than 600 million mobile-based users, to explore AR applications powered by artificial intelligence technologies such as image recognition and object detection.

"Our cellphone-based approach has enabled us to ship augmented reality experiences to a significant number of users in a very short amount of time," said Andrew Ng, chief scientist of Baidu, who heads the company's research arm.