alt Hacker NewsI made this, fun to see my project on the front page!
The main question I tend to get from hacker-types is "what are the tech specs?". The demos run on a Mac with custom software I built for projection mapping/rendering/etc. (the hand tracking uses Apple's built-in framework, which is very good), a small consumer 4k laser projector, and a basic webcam for vision.
But really, this is primarily a research/design prototype - I think it's much more important to figure out what the user experience should ideally feel like, if the interactions are even plausible & desirable in the first place; and then work backwards to the technology.
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I met @heliographe a few years ago in a HN Tokyo (Slack) meeting. Happy to see you are still designing awesome things after your time at Apple. I look forward to seeing how your project(s) develop. PS: as soon as I saw the kitchen I knew this was Japan, and then I saw the hair and though —“hmm, I feel like I have seen this person before”— and it was you!!
>a small consumer 4k laser projector
How many watts does the projector use for how many lumens? I would be curious if these numbers plus size would be a fundamental limit to the tech.
Is a basic webcam really able to read text at that angle for the “what is this word” example?
I wasn’t sure if any of this was real and that example looked extremely fake to me because I had a hard time believing the device being able to read text from that distance.
This is an awesome concept. How do you see this working across several rooms (if you've thought this far)? This would be great for when I have ideas in the shower.
Right. Tiny projectors have been done before. Samsung had a smartphone with a projector back in 2014, but nobody wanted it. Some startup called Moviphone has announced a new one for 2027.[1] The use cases have not been compelling and fighting ambient lighting with a small projector is always tough.
Possible use case: projecting menus, ads, and bills on restaurant tables. With a camera and enough automated layout to work around what's on the table.
It might sell to the people who buy refrigerators with displays on the door. Could be useful as a cooking training aid, like cooking videos but present where you need them.
The light bulb form factor is cute but probably not that useful. Most of the light will be aimed in non-useful directions. Look into ultra short throw projectors.
[1] https://moviphones.com/