The Lightbulb Computer

I made this, fun to see my project on the front page!

The main question I tend to get from hacker-types is "what are the tech specs?". The demos run on a Mac with custom software I built for projection mapping/rendering/etc. (the hand tracking uses Apple's built-in framework, which is very good), a small consumer 4k laser projector, and a basic webcam for vision.

But really, this is primarily a research/design prototype - I think it's much more important to figure out what the user experience should ideally feel like, if the interactions are even plausible & desirable in the first place; and then work backwards to the technology.

Very impressive; I would design the cover as cube/cylinder as an opaque glass/plastic case cover. A modern Edison-shaped bulb would be better?

This is one of the few “new” things in tech that have really excited me. Very clever idea, and I’d be happy to see it go further.

Nice. This reminds me how I felt watching the first pre-iPhone multitouch demos.

One small quality-of-life improvement that could be added: have the software timestamp when you say "here" and then (using a short low-FPS video buffer?) analyze the corresponding frame of video. This would eliminate the pause when you're pointing at something, waiting for the computer to respond.

Alternately a low-latency speech analyzer could look for the word "here" and quickly snap a screenshot. Perhaps project a temporary dot on the surface, so the user knows they can put their hand down now?

Quite the impressive demo! There's huge potential here.

I wonder if something like this would work for whole-room projection (i.e. not just a projector on a swivel): https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3531073.3531126

An interesting concept. I'm (probably) one of the few people that thought the Humane Pin had an interesting idea at its core, it was just executed poorly at the wrong time. A stationary version that leans into ambience solves a lot of the interaction and engineering issues. I also like that it addresses my gripe with XR interfaces; you aren't actually sharing a digital object in space and it looks weird to everyone else.

That was really impressive. Roughly how much do you think a project like that would be valued at?

Lovely. Mark Weiser would have loved this.

I realize this is not the makers' focus, but I find myself less enthused with the human-computer interaction side and more anxious about how we can ensure the human maintains true ownership and agency over the device and its software.

I mean, merge one of these with a modern anti-consumer "Smart TV", and we're uncomfortably close to 1984's telescreen.

Reminds me of https://folk.computer/ , but facilitated more via voice interactions.

Reminds me of "Sixth Sense" technology developed over a decade ago at MIT Media Lab by Pranav Mistry/Steve Mann - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SixthSense

Youtube videos - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sixth+sense+tec...

Now show how the projection will look like in real life during daylight.

Reminds me of the projection bracelet scam that Captain Disillusion debunked years ago https://youtu.be/Cw7g8ixbomU?t=75

I don't know about these things. To me they just turn everything into a screen.

Sure, it's a little more hands free, and projecting around definitly is nicer than screens. But projecting has a lot of problems too. Shadows, projection surface, ambiant light, heat are difficult to handle, but to me the worst is that it's not persistant. You can't just project 24/7 your family planner on the wall.

I'd really rather have something that prints, or better draws.

You want a recipe => print it, don't beam it.

You want a map of kyoto => tiny robot walks around the page and draws it for you. And you can draw over it if you want.

And it doesn't have to be exclusive, you can do both beam and print. But I think protable printing / drawing has a lot of unexplored potential.

I think the mission statement here is on to something. Helmets, obtrusive physical appendages etc are unappealing to me. The idea of using extant space or surfaces however, is extremely appealing. And while it might suggest lower quality today, as with most things, it would almost certainly improve over iterations and time.

Holographic computing, I think, will be the future. At least for interfaces.

I would like to have this! Is this a real, working prototype or just some computer animation?

Projectors are cheap enough for this to work.