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Section: Scientific Foundations

New forms of man-machine interaction based on perception

Surfaces are pervasive and play a predominant role in human perception of the environment. Augmenting surfaces with projected information provides an easy-to-use interaction modality that can easily be adopted for a variety of tasks. Projection is an ecological (non-intrusive) way of augmenting the environment. Ordinary objects such as walls, shelves, and cups may become physical supports for virtual functionalities [51] . The original functionality of the objects does not change, only its appearance. An example of object enhancement is presented in [27] , where users can interact with both physical and virtual ink on a projection-augmented whiteboard.

Combinations of a camera and a video projector on a steerable assembly [26] are increasingly used in augmented environment systems [50] [54] as an inexpensive means of making projected images interactive. Steerable projectors [26] [51] provide an attractive solution overcoming the limited flexibility in creating interaction spaces of standard rigid video-projectors (e.g. by moving sub windows within the cone of projection in a small projection area [58] ).

The PRIMA group has constructed a new form of interaction device based on a Steerable Camera-Projector (SCP) assembly. This device allows experiments with multiple interactive surfaces in both meeting and office environments. The SCP pair, shown in figure 3 , is a device with two mechanical degrees of freedom, pan and tilt, mounted in such a way that the projected beam overlaps with the camera view. This creates a powerful actuator-sensor pair enabling observation of user actions within the camera field of view. This approach has been validated by a number of research projects as the DigitalDesk [59] , the Magic Table [27] or the Tele-Graffiti application [56] .

Figure 3. Steerable camera-projector pair (left) and surfaces defined to detect touch-like gestures over a widget (right)
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In October 2008, Doctoral students from the PRIMA group have created the start up company HI-Labs. HI-LABS sells interactive technologies and content management systems for interactive publicity and information kiosks in public places. In 2010 HILABS has begun delivery of its UBICITY interactive store window and by end of 2010 had installed over 100 systems.