Augmented reality doesn’t always need a headset to wow us; this new AR projector only needs to be plugged into an overhead light.
Desktopography might need a slightly better name, but it looks like an incredibly intuitive way to use certain apps like calculators. The projector, hanging from the ceiling, responds to taps from the user’s hand, allowing you to navigate a series of menus and interact with certain apps. Check it out in the video below.
The idea behind the concept from Future Interfaces Group is to provide an interface that adapts to your ever-changing desk surface. Apps will change location on the table should you place an object over them, for example, or can be attached to objects to follow them around. Move a laptop to one side and the notepad you stashed to one side will follow it, should you choose. It’s possible to resize and zoom in on apps and scroll through them too.
Ultimately Desktopography might not find much use by the time AR headsets are truly mainstream, but it looks like a brilliant way to bridge the gap between now and then, provided you have a light in the right position (and maybe a second light so you can see the rest of your room too).
This is all just an R&D experiment right now, though, and not a real product. We’d love something to come of Desktopography in the future.
