Trio of Microsoft projectors allows you to get quasi-physical with AR interaction (video)

It’s important to hand it to the tireless folks toiling away within Microsoft’s Research department . They’re hard on the task of creating tommorowland today’s province. Perhaps spurred on by the rapturous response to their HoloDesk , the Cambridge gang’s previewing yet one more virtual reality, and this time it is a handheld trio. The palm-friendly devices, split up into camera, room and SLAM models, incorporate pico projectors, coaxial IR cameras, inertial measurement units (IMUs) and the company’s Kinect (for the latter two only) to project augmented visions onto surrounding surfaces. If you have been honing your shadow puppetry game over time, that oft-used skill’s about to get very useful. The environmentally aware (no, not the Go Green! kind) systems allow for shadow- and touch-based interaction with the CG overlays, offering pinch functionality, icon selection or even painting — do not fret, it’s definitely removable. This neat tech hat trick could someday soon spare you a visit to IKEA, letting you test out potential decorative pieces from the relief of your house. Unfortunately, we cannot get handsy with the futuristic projectors just yet, so the video after the break should suffice.

[Thanks, Pradeep]

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This post is tagged: camera room, decorative pieces, inertial measurement units, interaction, Projectors, shadow puppetry, virtual reality