Ubi turns any wall into a touchscreen using Microsoft’s Kinect
May 28, 2012 | Source: Ars Technica
“We can turn any surface into a 3D touchscreen,” explained Anup Chathoth of Ubi Interactive.
Such claims typically conjure up images of floating Minority Report-style touchscreens made from curved glass, but that’s exactly what this three-person team has developed.
Ubi’s system uses a Microsoft Kinect sensor to turn a regular projector into a multi-touch PC projection system, where regular PowerPoints (or other PC application), web pages, even games no longer require clickers or wireless mice to be navigated.
By using the motion-tracking and depth-perception cameras in the Kinect, Ubi is able to detect where a user is pointing, swiping and tapping on a surface and interpret these gestures as if they were being performed on a giant touchscreen or interactive whiteboard.
The low-cost technology can be retrofitted into existing projection systems without any technical experience.