Interaction design with augmented reality

Equipment distribution and some images of the final test.

Problem description:

This was the final project for design VII (2012), a subject part of the industrial design engineering at The Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC). We had to develop an interaction experience in an elastic surface, that could be used in a physical space such a game room, a lobby, or any other space we suggested. So, the difficult part was to achieve an interesting and useful concept for the experience.

The design solution:

The tools we had available were: a Kinect, an elastic surface, a projector, a mirror and the software Processing. So, I decided to create something that could be used as a maze, were the user touches the surface and depending on the depth of the touching a particle is going to move faster or slower. You can lead the particle trough the maze an activate or inactivate music. The visual interface and the functionality were created by a code programmed on processing, and the Kinect read the depth of the touching on the surface. The main importance of a project like this one is how you get to develop the ability of creating experiences despite how complex they could look like, we learned how to stop thinking about “how am I going to do it” and start thinking about “what am I going to do” in order to be interesting for the user.