CMU and Microsoft Researchers Turn Any Surface into a Touchscreen

TechCrunch was among the first of hundreds of news outlets to highlight the work of Chris Harrison, Scott Hudson and colleagues at Microsoft Research on a new wearable projection system that allows the wearer to interact with any surface.

John Biggs, a CMU alumnus, reported:

“Soon you, too, will be able to talk to the hand. A new interface created jointly by Microsoft and the Carnegie Mellon Human Computer Interaction Institute allows for interfaces to be displayed on any surface, including notebooks, body parts, and tables. The UI is completely multitouch and the ‘shoulder-worn’ system will locate the surface you’re working on in 3D space, ensuring the UI is always accessible. It uses a picoprojector and a 3D scanner similar to the Kinect.”