Farm safety is a hugely important topic for adults and children alike. Anna Carmody has created an ingenious children’s book called “Hazard Farm” which features augmented reality (an interactive real-world experience using a camera on a phone/tablet and an app) to show and tell of dangers on Irish farms.

“I studied product design in the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and I started this as a final-year project. My granddad was in a farm accident with a PTO shaft and I had also heard about some accidents happening with young children close to home. So that’s when I decided to do something about it.

“I’m not much of a farmer myself but I just got passionate about the topic. I wanted to get it as far as I could. I’m artistic, so I did all the illustrations for the book. I’m also a musician and I write songs, so I was able to write the book and put it together.”

Anna’s granddad is a farmer from Co Mayo. While Anna is not a farmer, she is from the countryside in Co Offaly and she would have frequently visited her grandparent’s farm growing up. She now teaches in a language school in Dublin.

“I’m teaching full time. That pays for the product development.

“After NCAD, I wanted to travel. I did a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course and thought it would be a great way to travel. I went to Vietnam and lived there for a few months. I came back, took out the prototype book and the playmat designed to go with it, there was no technology at that point. I took it out and asked, ‘How can I make a business out of this?’.

“I started off in the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) office in Tullamore and they told me about the ACORNS programme. I got in and it was brilliant.”

“The augmented reality idea came from when I was in the Enterprise Ireland tent at the Ploughing Championships last year. I had my book and mat, I was talking to a few people and they suggested an app. I went into the LEO in Dublin and they gave me a feasibility study grant for the technology for the app development which helped to get that up and running.

“In two months, I got the whole thing developed for the book. I finished off the illustrations. I was up every morning at the crack of dawn before going to work. I launched it in December just before my 25th birthday. It’s been a crazy journey since then.”

When you go into the app it takes over your camera. It gives you simple instructions, you hold the phone over the book and then the magic will happen. Anna explains: “It’s like it pops up in real life; you’re taking a photo of the book, but then the characters will all of a sudden jump up off the page. Children become part of the story. They’re really immersed in it.

“One of the unique selling points of the book is the recording option. The child or the parent can record the story the whole way through and when they play it back over the phone the voice plays over the book. It’s like a self-narration book and it’s the first of its kind in Ireland. It’s about getting that safety message across from the parent’s voice, they’re listening to it from their parent.”

See Anna on The Late Late Toy Show on Friday 29 November or for more information on Hazard Farm click here.