Real-world objects are mingling with digital environments in a way that had been possible only on bluescreen movie sets. Known as “augmented reality,” the technology is starting to pop up at retail.
It was part of the Qualcomm keynote in the form of a “Sesame Street” playset that used the chipmaker’s Vuforia AR.
Intel is showcasing Lego Digital Box technology. When a customer presents a toy at a Digital Box kiosk, a discreetly-placed camera “recognizes” the packaging, activating a screen that mirrors the scene, with one important difference: the package contents spring to life atop the box. A Lego Digital Box kiosk is currently installed in the Chicago store and the company plans to roll them out nationally this year.
Over at the Microsoft booth they’re taking it interactive with gesture recognition, using technology developed for Kinect. Microsoft will release a Kinect for Windows SDK on February 1. The move was inspired by the fact that developers were hacking the Kinect software and using it for their own experimental projects.
Fashion marketing firm FaceCake was among those demonstrating their wares at Microsoft. The Calabasas-based firm leveraged Kinect to create an application called Swivel that lets customers “try on” clothing and accessories.
“We see it going to a place where just about everybody has a 3D depth camera in their home, and there will be displays in stores and the two will interact in what we call a Swivlet — a virtual closet,” FaceCake founder Leigh Utterback said.
Real-world objects are mingling with digital environments in a way that had been possible only on bluescreen movie sets. Known as “augmented reality,” the technology is starting to pop up at retail.
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