- Title:
- Combining Multiple Depth Cameras and Projectors for Interactions On, Above, and Between Surfaces
- Reference Information:
- Andrew D. Wilson and Hrvoje Benko. 2010. Combining multiple depth cameras and projectors for interactions on, above and between surfaces. In <em>Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology</em> (UIST '10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 273-282. DOI=10.1145/1866029.1866073 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1866029.1866073
- UIST 2010 New York, New York.
- Author Bios:
- Andrew (Andy) Wilson is a senior researcher at Microsoft Research. Wilson received his Ph.D. at the MIT Media Laboratory and researches new gesture-related input techniques.
- Hrvoje Benko received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia University in 2007 and has more than 25 conference papers published. Benko researches novel interactive computing technologies.
- Summary
- Hypothesis:
- The researchers hypothesized that any surface can be converted into an interactive one through the use of depth cameras. They also wished to avoid 'messy' skeleton tracking by utilizing simple 2D picture analysis.
- Methods
- The team constructed a room which contained an apparatus for mounting projectors and cameras on the ceiling. There was a table in the center of the room. The depth cameras and projectors had simple configuring accomplished by IR reflectors. The prototype was demonstrated across a three day span. Features that were shown at the exposition included picking up virtual items and transferring them to other interactive surfaces (wall to table and vice versa).
- Results
- The system was shown to be effective in its early stages. While there is no programmed limit on the number of users in the room at once, the system took a performance hit after about three and had trouble distinguishing unique entities (people) after six. Unanticipated actions, such as transferring an object from the table to the wall through two people, were also seen during the exposition.
- Contents
- Researchers envision more interactive experiences in daily lives and have started that process with this research paper. The current implementation of this allows for only flat objects to become interactive surfaces, such as tables. But this is a limitation that researchers feel is easy to overcome. Once overcome, every single item in a room could become interactive in a very natural way.
- Discussion
- I believe one of the most interesting contributions of this research paper is that the researchers were able to achieve their goals through simple 2D picture analysis. Not all 3D interactions will have the same possibilities, but it opens up exciting possibilities for many applications. As the paper points out, skeleton tracking is computationally intense and error prone. Alleviating the computation time required for simple tracking, while increasing the accuracy would allow for programs to focus on other aspects to create more holistic experiences. One of the greatest challenges to overcome, in my opinion, will be getting users used to interacting with objects that are not only virtual, which they have become accustomed to through mobile technology, but not visually represented much.
Picture Source: "Combining Multiple Depth Cameras and Projectors for Interactions On, Above, and Between Surfaces"
No comments:
Post a Comment