OpenRoad + Mod7
Two pioneering organizations, together at last.
OpenRoad is pleased to announce the acquisition of creative agency Mod7.
Read the letter from our PrincipalSIGGRAPH Asia 2008: Part 1
Posted on December 15, 2008 in Technology by Mod7
SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 described its Emerging Technologies showcase as "...interactive, mind-expanding explorations in virtual and mixed reality, haptic interfaces, ubiquitous systems, digital tools, HD displays, robotics, and more."
Two installations translated from interesting program summaries to downright mind-blowing physical manifestations. I describe the first here. For more details, check out their website.
"An Augmented Tabletop Video Game with Pinching Gesture Recognition"(Contributors: Kentaro Fukuchi - Japan Science and Technology Agency; Toshiki Sato, Haruko Mamiya, Hideki Koike - The University of Electro-Communications)
On approach, it looks like an average air hockey table, but this is where the similarities end. The table surface functions as an interactive video game display, wherein the game objective is to shoot little solid circles before advancing to the "big boss" circle. A high-speed camera positioned above the table registers the circle created when a user touches thumb and forefinger together over the table surface. The system then generates a hollow circle for the user to shoot with. The motions are intuitive and simply brilliant - after creating the "weapon", the user shoots by tapping ("pinching") thumb and forefinger together and is easily able to control the speed and direction of shooting. The best part? Any number of people can join in. Each person can create two weapons (or four, if you have amazing toe control). How cool is that?