Belfast City Council’s pioneering Augment the City initiative is well under way, with Phase 2 having completed this spring. This marks a major milestone in an ambitious project from an exciting challenge owner, Belfast Stories. Their ambition is to explore new ways of preserving the lived experiences of Belfast’s people through an innovative blend of technology and storytelling.
Belfast-based technology company Hamilton Robson, in collaboration with Nerve Centre and 1UP Studios, has progressed to the next phase, delivering a project centred around an AI-powered interviewer and holographic interface designed to engage participants in rich, natural conversations.
The goal is to listen to and document real stories from real people – unfiltered, authentic, and organised into a growing digital archive that reflects the true soul of the city. The platform uses a complex, customer-facing AI developed to confidently guide the conversation in a meaningful direction, while capturing the nuances of each story through gentle prompts. Crucially, users remain firmly in control and the narrators of their own stories.
Hamilton Robson is delighted to continue collaborating with partners Nerve Centre, to ensure deep community engagement, and 1UP Studios, to create a visually striking and emotionally resonant design profile across the platform.
Hamilton Robson led the technical build of the AI agent, using the latest technology to ensure it feels natural and human in tone. It subtly draws out meaningful reflections from participants, creating space for empathy, humour, and personal truth to emerge. The holographic experience adds a uniquely immersive element, capturing attention while making people feel seen and heard.
“Our vision was to utilise our Story Engine technology not to polish or sanitise stories, but to preserve them as they are – in people’s own words and voices,” said Luke McNeice, Head of Engineering at Hamilton Robson. “It’s about authenticity and how we can use technology in a really interesting and challenging way to best preserve very human stories, making each storyteller feel valued and listened to along the way.”
Augment the City is part of the XR Belfast programme, funded by the Belfast Region City Deal. It seeks to advance Belfast City Council’s commitment to immersive technology, civic storytelling, and cultural innovation.
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