Hello,
I would like to make it easier to make dynamic things.
I have been researching the design of a “box,” which would contain a camera, a projector, and computer. The camera and projector would be carefully chosen to map to very similar fields-of-view. Of course we can warp and projection map to normalize misalignment, but I would like it to more-or-less work without any warping, for ease of prototyping.
As an example of the sort of thing you should be able to do with the box (and my immediate motivation to get on it ASAP!), in LA I am planning to augment a book:
I want to use a camera to detect which page is currently open, and to illuminate/highlight parts of the book with a projector (in addition to projecting links on another surface).
These units would also be very much suitable for use within our space (e.g. for the research gallery laser detection + highlights and basically any poster-magic we’d want to do).
I have included below a PDF with some stream-of-consciousness OmniGraffle notes (yellow boxes are hyperlinked to the citation source). I just ordered a pair of Raspberry Pi Camera Modules to test them out—they seem pretty amazing—and a Boxi pico-projector as a first pass on hardware. The cost of each box, if this turns out to be a good set of hardware, would be ~$275/ea, including Raspberry Pi 2, Camera, and Projector. We may also want to experiment with a $75 projector-less version. It may also be worth considering battery-powered wifi-enabled versions at some point, though I don’t have a vision for using a handheld version yet.
Let me know if any of you are interested in helping out with any of this. I’m especially lost when it comes to Physical World Issues like: having a single power cable that powers the Pi and the Projector; designing and fabricating a not-hideous case; making external buttons that do things like send on/off signals to the Pi and turn the projector off without cutting its power.
Your correspondent,
R.M.O.