Friday, October 10, 2014

RoomAlive Brings your Living Room to Life

http://www.augmentedrealitytrends.com/augmented-reality/roomalive.html


RoomAlive Brings your Living Room to Life

RoomAlive Brings your Living Room to Life

“Illumiroom” concept which was displayed by Microsoft at the CES last year had gained quite some popularity. Now the research team of Microsoft has come up with a new concept which is more complicated than the earlier one. They have created “RoomAlive”, which will bring your living room to life with augmented reality. Your room will turn into an interactive space with this creation. So what is in store for the users with this new creation? Let us have a look at this post to know more about RoomAlive.
How is it Different from Illumiroom?
Illumiroom extended the field of view for a typical video game. A video was displayed using a projection system that was attached to the Xbox. This extended the games from a TV to the adjacent walls, thereby creating a larger image on the floors and the walls.
However, RoomAlive is more complicated than Illumiroom and it will make the users move from their couch so that they can interact with the surroundings which are displayed on different surfaces and on the furniture.
How does it Work?
This proof-of-concept demo combines projectors and Kinect sensors to create an augmented reality experience that will make the living room interactive. Users can interact with games across any surfaces of the room or they can also stretch out and strike the objects from a game. The position of the gamers’ head is tracked by RoomAlive using the 6 Kinect sensors and the content is then displayed across the room in a relevant way. The system can work anywhere as it can detect the walls and floor of the room automatically.
Still a Long Way to Go
Right now the Kinect sensors and the video projectors used in RoomAlive are quite large for living rooms and they are also quite expensive for commercial use. So, it is still a long way to go before such a concept can be turned into reality. Microsoft is envisioning a future where RoomAlive will have a lower cost and will be smaller in size.
According to a spokesperson of Microsoft Research, “There’s still lots to explore with RoomAlive as a gaming platform.” Microsoft imagines a future of gaming where physical objects can be used as a part of a virtual game.
What do you think?
Do you think this is a cool concept developed by Microsoft? Are you aware of Illumiroom? Share your views in the comments.
Image Source – theverge.com

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