Light Blue Optics unveils Light Touch: a 10-inch touchscreen pico projector based on lasers (video)

They promised us a device in 2010 and sure enough, Light Blue Optics just announced Light Touch. As the name implies, LBO's product is a laser projector that turns any flat surface into an auto-focused and image-adjusted 10-inch touchscreen with WVGA resolution thanks to its laser- (not LED) based pico projection engine dubbed HLP (holographic laser projection) and infrared touch-sensing system. Light Touch runs Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 and includes WiFi and Bluetooth radios, 2GB of on-board storage (with microSD slot for up to 32GB more), and a battery capable of about 2-hours worth of runtime. We'll be getting up close and personal with the mini projector here at CES so until then, feast your eyes on the simulated demo and usage scenarios after the break.

[phx Posted Jan 5th 2010 2:09PM]

pinky finger to corner of mouth... "fricken lasers"

[charlied Posted Jan 5th 2010 2:13PM]

its running windows ce

http://lightblueoptics.com/products/light-touch/specifications/

[antimatter15 Posted Jan 5th 2010 2:33PM]

The bad thing about using lasers is that this technology suffers from occlusion which would make it hard to support multitouch and has no hope of working on any non-perfectly-flat surface.

[jon Posted Jan 5th 2010 4:06PM]

@antimatter15

The display is laser based, the motion sensor is an IR camera. Multi-touch and irregular surfaces should work just fine.

[antimatter15 Posted Jan 5th 2010 4:32PM]

@jon If it works like the laser-keyboards (and I really can't imagine it working any other way), it uses an IR laser to project a plane over a perfectly flat surface precisely about a millimeter above it. When an object touches that plane, it scatters light from the laser (and it also creates a shadow where you can't put other things), which the IR camera senses and uses to find the point. The precise reason it won't work is that its laser based. Multitouch might work to some extent, but not any gestures which involve one finger vertically above the other. But it absolutely would not work with any surface which isn't perfectly flat.

[jon Posted Jan 5th 2010 5:18PM]

@antimatter15

I think it might be a system more like MS's Project Natal than the interference field you're describing. I guess time will tell.

[antimatter15 Posted Jan 6th 2010 12:17AM]

@jon Project Natal's technology doesn't involve lasers, and what Natal uses is significantly more costly.

[antimatter15 Posted Jan 6th 2010 12:17AM]

@jon It's also less accurate for smaller areas.

[pankomputerek Posted Jan 5th 2010 4:15PM]

might be awesome but the price will be awesome too that's 4 sure!

[blueeyesm Posted Jan 5th 2010 4:33PM]

This would be a great application for airplanes.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 5th 2010 5:03PM]

This may possibly be the coolest thing I've seen in a very, very long time.

[3dnetwork Posted Jan 5th 2010 5:09PM]

Well, I think this looks awesome! I want it...
/Robert
http://1080pprojectors.net/light-touchlaser-a-new-super-cool-projector-from-light-blue-optics/

[NuCode Posted Jan 5th 2010 5:31PM]

I also made the device of a similar mechanism last year.
However, this is far better-looking. I want it.
http://vimeo.com/8338039
http://vimeo.com/4548813

[fef714 Posted Jan 5th 2010 7:35PM]

Coolest tech I have seen in a very long time. The potential is insane!

Imagine that connected to a mac mini!

[HighestRanked Posted Jan 5th 2010 7:57PM]

what if someone were to look directly into the laser? could they control things by the movement of the eye or just be blinded silly?

[Luqven Posted Jan 5th 2010 9:05PM]

I have actually had to use a projector that works EXTREMELY similarly. It was in a restaurant in London (similar to the one in the picture), the menu was projected in this cool widget like interface and you placed your orders form there. You could also play battleship against the person sitting in front of you...

[the steven Posted Jan 5th 2010 9:16PM]

WANT!

[Artist701 Posted Jan 5th 2010 9:52PM]

I tell you! by 2012's CES, we'll be watching from floating video images all around us! lol

[mocax Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:06PM]

is it smart enough to NOT project images onto the back of your hand?

or laser reflecting off shiny fingernails....

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 5th 2010 11:47PM]

Very Impressive!

[rpauli Posted Jan 6th 2010 1:34AM]

Feature request: keyboard layout that is not filled with rigid rows of perpendiculars... physical keyboards I can understand... but I want the key locations to be more fluid and natural... no reason why not.

[markbeaul Posted Jan 7th 2010 6:44PM]

If they have an interface for iPhone I will buy ten of them...

[Plexus Posted Jan 10th 2010 9:16PM]

My goodness!!!
If it works as it's supposed to this concept is gonna be the ultimate game changer:
No need anymore to carry around keyboards nor monitors; and taking into account the dimensions and power of modern SSDs you could probably put in your pocket a full qwerty device with a 10" virtual monitor.
Everybody and his dog is gonna want one.

[hermex Posted Jan 17th 2010 8:56PM]

Looks cool. But the device seems bigger than, say, a flat panel. What's the point of a virtual screen on the table If there is a big appliance projecting it, sitting on the table. Like the picture with the lady looking at dresses, that thing sticking out of the wall housing the projector is much bulkier than a plain old lcd screen mounted to the wall. It seems like the selling point is mainly how futuristic it looks.

[markrendle Posted Jan 18th 2010 10:23AM]

@hermex You can't fold a 10" LCD screen up and put it in your pocket.