Italian producer/distributor Mondo TV is tapping into the augmented reality craze with a new app for its animated series Robot Trains. The free app, set to bow in March on iOS and Android, uses 3D recognition to render the franchises’ characters into reality. It includes two base games and players can unlock new games by scanning the packaging of Robot Trains’ licensee products.

Mondo recently premiered season two of Robot Trains on Cartoonito in Italy, and launched two episodes on Cartoonito’s website as part of its multi-channel marketing approach. The series, aimed at kids four to seven, follows a group of trains who can transform into robots. It is produced by Asia’s CJ E&M and has been distributed Mondo TV in a number of territories across Europe, including Spain, Italy, Portugal and the Middle East.

The new app comes in the wake of Mondo seeing free-to-air broadcaster Disney Channel Spain pick up the rights to the first two seasons of its live-action dramedy Heidi Bienvenida for 12 months. New York’s Surge Licensing also tapped Mondo as a licensing sub-agent for the Feisty Pets brand in Italy and the Iberian peninsula.

The AR market has been growing of late: Pokemon GO creator Niantic raised US$245 million in Series C financing led by venture capital and growth equity firm IVP, while India’s app-maker BYJU acquired American kids edtech and AR company Osmo for US$120 million.