New gesture-based technology can convert any surface into an interactive screen.
A boy gestures to flip through an automobile company’s manual that is on display on a wall.See the slideshow for a full-coverage of how TouchMagix does it. Credit: TouchMagix
Standing tall, 24, Anup Tapadia faces a wall and moves his hand from left to right and the page of the digital manual displayed on the wall turns. Tapadia, founder of India’s TouchMagix, an electronic hobbyist, holder of dual post-graduate degrees, a prodigy, and the world’s youngest Microsoft certified professional, completed his PhD in wireless networks from the University of California, San Diego, all at the age of 21. He then set out to convert his dream of creating a product which was a fine mix of art and technology.
Tapadia’s MotionMagix product enable users to interact with objects in a projection on a surface, such as a floor or a wall, through gestures. For example, a projection of a football on a football field on the floor moves around as you play with it, just like in a real game. It may seem similar to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Pranav Mistry’s sixth sense gesture control technology, but “both are very different in terms of technology and application,” says Tapadia. None of Tapadia’s products require a person to wear any kind of apparatus, gloves or jacket, to control devices from a distance. His innovation basically tracks the movement of hands or feet or head and change the display images in accordance.
While Microsoft Kinect is a personal gesture-based device, the MotionMagix products give a more immersive and, in some cases, collaborative experience, typically on large screens. “Microsoft Kinect’s experience is called referential immersive and what we offer is the total immersive experience,” explains Tapadia. The idea of controlling images or information displayed on any flat surface has enthralled a lot of people and the technology has now found applications in myriad places, such as display of historical information on museum walls which visitors can flip with hand gestures from a distance as they read through it, a life-sized walk through across building plan which zooms in and zooms out as the customer moves around, and more.
INNOVATION
The MotionMagix technology can work with projections on the floor, on a wall, or screens of 10 feet to 100 feet in length. A proprietary MotionMagix sensor is mounted on the roof and another one on the surface and a combination of infrared sensors and cameras are used to capture the movements of the user. The hardware gives details of the user’s location and the sensors track the user’s movement of legs, hands, and the head. The software developed by the team at TouchMagix helps in separating the projection from the human element and generates a real-time response or change in the projection as directed by the user’s gestures. TouchMagix has patented the technology and the company has tested it in various locations across the country.
Gesture-based interactive applications are only one set of wonders in Tapadia’s kitty. TouchMagix has also developed MagixTable, a multitouch interactive table. The table has clusters of infrared sensors on the periphery which form a close grid. The table allows for as many as 40 simultaneous touches and enables collaboration among people. “I see multitouch as the future and I can foresee that applications for such a device will explode in the times ahead,” adds Tapadia. The table comes bundled with preloaded applications such as a virtual piano, drums, and board games which a group of people can simultaneously play. The MagixTable also has an application which can recognize the object placed over it and display relevant information. For example, information about shoes which helps customer compare between two of his choices and buy the selected pair. TouchMagix has priced the MagixTable at $11,500.
The MagixFone is another innovative product by TouchMagix. It is a phone which can talk to a projector to display text messages on a big screen. It is a unique concept, a contraption in which a SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) can be put to simply start the interaction with mobile users. It finds applications in television game shows to display multiple choice questions on a big screen or in reality game shows where the audience can poll through their cell phones and a real-time graph can be shown on a big screen.
Post Credit: Technology Review (By: Meenakshi)
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