Twinkle: Augmented Reality Interface Will Trip You Out (Video)

Dagnabbit!!! Those grotesquely huge-brained kids over at Tokyo University and Keio University are up to no good, once again. When not organizing community bake sales and dog walking committees, those outlandish hooligans have been tinkering with an augmented reality interface they’ve dubbed Twinkle. To put it simply, ol’ Twinkle is a small projector that can project images onto a surface and, using its built in camera, can then make those images interact/react to the surface it is projected onto. Horrible, right? I know, we need to stop these dangerous researchers, I tell you!

The device consists of a compact projector, camera, and acceleration sensor. By analyzing images from the camera in real time, Twinkle recognizes the user’s movements, the distance between the device and the projection surface, collisions between projected pictures and actual objects, and the color and shape of objects. Fast movements that can’t be detected by the camera, and the direction of gravity, are detected by the acceleration sensor, and the information is supplemented by image processing. [DigInfo]

In the demonstration video below, designers project a sexy little fairy character onto an example board and, depending on where the image would project, the character’s reaction changes to adjust for that environment. When the character is moved over the image of fire and water, it even ignites into flames or becomes drenched from head to toe. Pretty fascinating stuff, plus the video sounds like it’s narrated by Jude Law, so that’s a fun fantasy to invent for yourself: just thinkin’ about you and Jude Law, just laying around…talkin’ augmented reality interfaces…talkin’ girls…talkin’ stuff…

*falls asleep, dunks face into cereal bowl*

Special thanks to Geekosystem for the tip.