mixedreality
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Mixed reality research takes a first hesitant step
Considering how much impact our gadgets already have on our day-to-day lives, we not sure we don't already live in a mixed reality environment, but researchers at the University of Illinois have created what they say is the first true mixed reality system based on a pendulum and its virtual counterpart. Both the real pendulum and the simulation mimic each others' movements exactly -- adjusting the motor affects the simulation and adjusting the parameters of the simulation affects the motor -- blurring the line between the real and the virtual. That sounds simple, sure, but it's the first successful system of its kind -- as researcher Alfred Hubler put it, "[The pendulums] suddenly noticed each other, synchronized their motions, and danced together indefinitely." Seeing as simply creating a mixed-reality pendulum took super-fast processors, we doubt we're any closer to the Matrix -- unless it's a Matrix inside another Matrix. We need to go lie down.
A platform game with real platforms
Experimental gaming these days is all about playing with reality. From virtual reality and alternate reality to augmented reality, more and more people are trying to merge video games and real life in interesting ways. Sebastien Schmieg's art project/game Roy Block adds another term to this growing list: mixed reality. Roy Block uses real life, handheld wooden building blocks as the platforms for an on-screen avatar. A hidden camera detects the blocks as they're pressed against the tracing paper projection screen, translating their position and alignment to in-game data.The "gameplay" in the project is pretty basic -- just guide the periodically jumping Roy from one end of the screen to the other while avoiding floating enemies -- but Schmieg sees the potential for more complex play by assigning different functions to each side of the blocks. Schmieg also has an idea for a version "as big as a wall ... with blocks so big that you need both hands to hold one." Would that be mixed reality exergaming? More buzzwords, stat!Continue reading for video of the project in action.
