Microsoft new research RoomAlive-AWESOME! Create a room for immersive gaming

If Oculus Rift let us immersed in the virtual world, then Microsoft's roomalive is to bring the virtual world into the real world. This new project from Microsoft Labs will bring us an unprecedented interactive experience ...

What is RoomAlive? Last year, Microsoft has demonstrated a project called Illumiroom. The project utilizes the Kinect and the projector, after scanning the geometry of the room, extends the image on the TV screen to the entire wall, giving the player a more dreamy gaming experience. RoomAlive is the further development of Illumiroom. Now the virtual world can be projected anywhere in the room and interact with the user.

The core part of RoomAlive is called node. Each node consists of three parts: a projector, a Kinect camera, and a computer. The node is mounted on the ceiling. With the Kinect's camera capabilities, nodes can build 3D images of the room and then project the virtual objects. For a typical living room, three nodes are enough to build a 3D image of the entire room. RoomAlive also has an advantage, each node is mutual recognition, can be automated collaboration. That is, the expansion of the entire system is unrestricted.

What's more, the virtual world is not only visible, but also interactive, as roomalive is always in control of your position. This allows any plane to become a touchscreen. In addition, RoomAlive can also project parallax images. These images are adjusted to your point of view to achieve 3D effect. It can even create an illusion of a 3D floating object. This experience is not limited to one person. If two people are in the same room, what they see is different. "If we face each other, what I see is different from you," Microsoft researcher Hrvoje Benko said to the Fastcodesign website, "You can see what's on me and I can see what's behind you." ”

RoomAlive can be applied to a variety of games. For example, playing tower defense games in the living room, think of an item as your base; make a game like Dora the Explorer, where the children's schoolbags can glow and talk to them, or they can be applied to a gunfight game, and when the player is hit, various projectors are able to accurately project the injured part, Left a long trail of blood on the floor.

In addition to video games, roomalive can also be used in business scenarios, such as remote meetings. At present, the cost of roomalive is still relatively high, probably need 500 to 800 dollars to achieve. So Microsoft has no plans to put it on the market. However, they are exploring the potential of the new project. "What we are interested in is how to integrate the virtual world with the real world in a viable scenario, so that virtual objects can interact with real objects," Benko said. "I think there's still a lot of work to be done to turn the project into a real product." ”