Vyry: Phygtl Co.
Overview
Vyry is an augmented reality platform by Phygtl Co., a Silicon Valley startup with a globally distributed founding team. Built around a simple but ambitious idea: the physical world, starting with university campuses, should be a living, social, AI-driven playground. Students discover AI-generated content, complete location-based quests and connect with each other through shared AR experiences anchored to real-world space.
I joined as founding AR engineer in 2024, working remotely alongside founding members from across the world, including colleagues with backgrounds at Samsung, Tesla, Logitech and Amazon, to design and build the spatial computing layer from the ground up.
The Vision
Starting on campus, evolving toward AR glasses. A world where AI-generated content, social interaction and physical space are inseparable. Young people meet in the real world, but experience it through a layer of living, intelligent AR.
Visit Phygtl.world→Team
Phygtl Co. is led by founder and CEO Tommaso di Bartolo, with a globally distributed team of specialists spanning XR, AI and platform engineering. I worked closely with CTO Ravi Krishnaswamy on the technical architecture and implementation of the AR platform.
My Role
As the founding AR engineer, I was responsible for building the core spatial and experiential layer of the platform. The part users directly see, touch and move through. This spanned technical implementation, spatial design and cross-system integration across multiple internal iterations shipped to student testers via TestFlight.
- ✓ Geospatial anchoring - placing persistent AR content accurately in real-world space
- ✓ AR asset placement and runtime control systems
- ✓ UI flow, UX and XR interaction design
- ✓ Communication and data flow between the AR client and backend systems and databases
- ✓ AI-powered quest systems using Gemini AI for dynamic content generation
- ✓ Cross-platform AR layer supporting both iOS (ARKit) and Android (ARCore) via AR Foundation
- ✓ Shipped multiple internal builds to student test groups via TestFlight
Technology Stack
Technologies
Technical Approach
The spatial foundation of Vyry relies on Google's Geospatial SDK, enabling precise, GPS- and VPS-based anchoring of AR content to real-world coordinates without custom infrastructure. This allowed persistent content to exist at specific locations on campus, visible and consistent across sessions and devices.
AR Foundation served as the cross-platform abstraction layer, ensuring experiences worked natively on both iOS and Android without duplicating the spatial logic. On top of this, I built the systems that bridge the AR environment to backend services, handling content state, user progress and AI-generated quest data through Gemini.
Geospatial Anchoring
AR content precisely tied to real-world locations using Google Geospatial SDK. Persistent, scalable and infrastructure-light.
Cross-Platform AR
A single Unity codebase delivering native AR on both iOS and Android through AR Foundation, ARKit and ARCore.
AI Quest Generation
Dynamic, location-aware quests powered by Gemini AI. Content that adapts to the world around the user rather than being statically authored.
Status
Phygtl Co. is actively continuing development of the Vyry platform. As a founding contributor, this engagement was formative in shaping the spatial architecture and XR design language of the product. Details of the platform's specific features and IP remain confidential.