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Project an Interactive Game on Your Floor or Wall (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the bounce-it-on-the-floor-or-bounce-it-on-the-wall dept.

Lumo is an interactive projector. You can use it to bore people with PowerPoint slides or you can use it as a game machine. It has a built-in (low res) camera that can detect a kick (as shown at the beginning of the video) and make a (virtual) ball move as a result of that action. 'But,' you ask, 'do they have an Indiegogo campaign?' Not yet. It launches on March 23.

The Lumo projector was originally designed for commercial use at children's museums and as a trade show attention-getter -- at $10,000 a pop. The consumer version is expected to cost less than $500, according to Lumo CEO (and Slashdot interviewee) Meghan Athavale. And while she doesn't talk much about it in the interview, if you already have a computer, a projector, and a Kinect or webcam, you can buy the a stripped-down version of the company's 'interactive-floor-wall projection' software for $39, plus games or customizable game templates.

57 comments

  1. Are there conclusions I can jump to? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like in the movie?

  2. Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How much do these slashvertisements cost? I might be able to convince out marketing department to buy a few spots.

  3. Nice Slashvertisement by snarfies · · Score: 0

    Why would I pay $500 for this when I can pay literally under $50 for a VGA projector on Amazon?

    I assume that Roblimo is invested in this somehow?

    1. Re:Nice Slashvertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even cheaper.
      Laser pointer and the neighbors cat.

    2. Re:Nice Slashvertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't we count Slashvertisements as their own ad and not include one at the start :/

    3. Re:Nice Slashvertisement by kuzb · · Score: 1

      Because you'll be extremely disappointed by any $50 projector. You can't get a projector worth having at that price point. Hell, reasonable projectors don't even start until around the $300 mark.

      --
      BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    4. Re: Nice Slashvertisement by Roblimo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your assumption is wrong. Timothy made the video. I just edited and posted it. And he chooses video subjects based on what he finds interesting and doesn't get paid to make them.

      FYI, if you ever see a piece of sponsored content on Slashdot, it will say 'sponsored content' or 'advertisement' or will otherwise be easily distinguishable from editorial content.

      Why should everything on Slashdot be negative? Being positive (or at least neutral) about something doesn't necessarily mean someone got paid.

      I wouldn't pay $500 for this thing any more than you would. If anything, I might look at their $39 (proprietary) software and try it with a computer and webcam. And probably not even that.

    5. Re: Nice Slashvertisement by pomoproject · · Score: 0

      Hi! I'm Meg. I'm the CEO of this. No one invested in us. And the projector plays motion reactive games as well as movies... if you just want movies you should def. get a less expensive projector. :)

    6. Re: Nice Slashvertisement by QQBoss · · Score: 2

      The statement that the projector "plays" motion reactive games seems misleading, but for a typical consumer audience I can understand the simplification.

      Meg, out of curiousity, other than not needing a stand-alone computer and video input, how does your product differ from Mandala, which was introduced by Very Vivid back in 1988, for the Amiga? It could use any video source (usually a projector aimed at a wall, but most any video output device would suffice) along with a video input from a camera to allow interacting with on screen content, and was quite popular with museums and other entities for setting up interactive displays in the early '90s, prior to Commodore's demise. Do you have anyone working on your team that has ever dealt with a Mandala, or even old enough to remember one?

      At a hardware engineering level, has more been done than reducing part count, in effect? The Mandala was purely 2D, for example, having only the ability to determine motion on an X/Y basis parallel to the video display. Have you added another axis since you are supporting the 360 Kinect, perhaps, or could you consider that for your next generation? Additionally, would the use of 1080p or higher resolution video cameras make supporting resolutions higher than 1024x768 feasible in the future, or give more precise movement tracking? What is the granularity of movement tracking currently?

      On a software level, how easy is it describe interactive objects and the interactions that can be performed along with the results? What would it take for Minecraft, for example, to be ported so that no controller was needed, just a lot of movement (my nephew REALLY needs some exercise!)? Or is it only really suited for new applications built from the ground up using your Po-Motion tools?

    7. Re: Nice Slashvertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's a lot of questions! I'll try to answer them here but feel free to email me at meg@lumoplay.com if you want more info. For some reason the site's not letting me log in.

      "The statement that the projector "plays" motion reactive games seems misleading, but for a typical consumer audience I can understand the simplification."

      Yeah, I'm not sure how to describe this. There's an android processor inside and we built a special game player that reads motion data to create motion reactive games kids can play by kicking projected stuff, junping on hotspot areas etc... we have a few games that track toys also - that stuff still needs work but it's cool so far.

      "Meg, out of curiousity, other than not needing a stand-alone computer and video input, how does your product differ from Mandala, which was introduced by Very Vivid back in 1988, for the Amiga? It could use any video source (usually a projector aimed at a wall, but most any video output device would suffice) along with a video input from a camera to allow interacting with on screen content, and was quite popular with museums and other entities for setting up interactive displays in the early '90s, prior to Commodore's demise."

      Mostly this is about clever game design. The experiences we make are meant to intuitively encourage motion and are all designed for the floor. Kids play by moving on top of a projected area and they look at each other instead of a screen. The game environment becomes part of the real world. The installations in commercial environments and museums were our inspiration when we started.

      "Do you have anyone working on your team that has ever dealt with a Mandala, or even old enough to remember one?"

      I'm old enough (barely). My background is in cell animation, and I graduated from college in '97. My first computer animation tool was a toaster. I didn't actually build my own system until 2008. The first one used a logitech USB camera.

      "At a hardware engineering level, has more been done than reducing part count, in effect? The Mandala was purely 2D, for example, having only the ability to determine motion on an X/Y basis parallel to the video display. Have you added another axis since you are supporting the 360 Kinect, perhaps, or could you consider that for your next generation?"

      Po-motion uses another axis for some games to do depth sensing. But Lumo is super simple - mostly because it had to be affordable. So the camera system is crazy simple and efficient. It doesn't support the Kinect. It's all designed around a simple IR light sensor (not a laser, just a wash without point cloud data and a low pixel optic camera with an RGB filter).

      "Additionally, would the use of 1080p or higher resolution video cameras make supporting resolutions higher than 1024x768 feasible in the future, or give more precise movement tracking? What is the granularity of movement tracking currently?"

      I don't know if I can do this justice in a comment. The short answer is that the higher the resolution of the camera feed, the higher the processing required to avoid latency. So yes, we could detect more finite details and movement, but the tradeoff would be a bigger processor and a higher cost for the unit. That's one reason we design all the games for large motor movements. The other is because there are already systems like touchscreens that let you control things with tiny, detailed motion. We want kids to move more.

      "On a software level, how easy is it describe interactive objects and the interactions that can be performed along with the results? What would it take for Minecraft, for example, to be ported so that no controller was needed, just a lot of movement (my nephew REALLY needs some exercise!)?"

      This is my FAVORITE question. I love Minecraft too (I even have PE so I can play it when I travel). I've spent a ton of time trying to figure out a way to integrate creations from the Minecraft universe into Lumo. It's tough - things like click and drag won't work yet. We are working on presence detec

    8. Re: Nice Slashvertisement by QQBoss · · Score: 1

      There is some confusion in the article about Po-motion - Lumo is a different application, built in Unity and designed to run on a small processor. We used what we learned developing Po-motion (which is built in AIR) but it is a completely different platform. We'll be providing a styleguide and SDK for Unity developers, and we're planning to support them as they come up with new ideas for the system. The main challenge was making a turnkey unit that parents could afford. I'm excited to see what other people come up with for it. :)

      Yes, that is my fault. I read the Po-motion page first and came to the wrong conclusion that your Lumo system was based on Po-motion. I realized my mistake after hitting send, of course. But, as I understand it, you have reduced the hardware of Mandala, an Amiga, a projector, and a camera down to one thing to plug into the wall that provides all of those features and probably a similar level of performance to what was available in 1988 (depending on CPU choice, ARM has come a long way since the 68030 was released). I would love it if one of the Mandala creators were around to pipe up (last I left them they were following the Grateful Dead around the world and living out of Hare Krishna temple/hostels). IIRC, they were also from Canada, though I don't remember which city.

      BTW, you should probably update your Lumo page to indicate that you are using an ARM CPU, or perhaps "an Android-compatible CPU", rather than an "Android CPU". As for cost, running Android on an Intel NUC would certainly increase your cost, but could also increase your performance by enough to allow orders of magnitude more challenging applications, maybe for the Hammacher Schlemmer version :P.

    9. Re: Nice Slashvertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We'll definitely keep exploring CPU options. Things change all the time. Our main focus is on balancing cost and performance, which is difficult when you know how much more you can do with $50 of extra components.

      The way we determine what we need to make the games fun for kids is to actually play games with a lot of kids. Everywhere I travel, I set up informal play sessions with families I meet through social media or word of mouth. If you're in the LA area, you're welcome to come play the games. I'd love to get feedback. :)

  4. Project onto a TABLE for restaurants and games by Khopesh · · Score: 2

    They had one of these (not necessarily this vendor) on the floor of one of the wings of the Burlington Mall in Massachusetts 5+ years ago (it may still be there). It's a fun toy, but it has little practical applications beyond games and promotions. There's no reason this couldn't be on a wall or table though.

    Restaurants: I see this technology as the future of table service at restaurants; consider your white tablecloth as your touchscreen, capable of breaking down into one screen per patron (the camera notes where people are seated) or one big screen for everybody to watch a video presentation. This becomes your menu. The camera can also note when you are running out of drink, when it's appropriate to bring out your next course, and when to clear your plates, which allows the wait staff to better optimize their time. Perhaps the bussers are even drones.

    Gaming: A ceiling-mounted camera and projector are far cheaper than a coffee-table sized tablet, and you don't have to worry about spilling drinks on your tabletop destroying your system. This can replace board game equipment and other tabletop games and activities. Giant jigsaw puzzles and multi-day wargames can be saved and cleared to make room for something else, then resumed on demand.

    --
    Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
    1. Re:Project onto a TABLE for restaurants and games by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Restaurants would hate this. Not only does it break the ambiance, but good wait staff know how to follow their regular customer's tempo. If I wanted a cold faceless experience I could get that at any of the fat-food / fast-food chains.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Project onto a TABLE for restaurants and games by Thud457 · · Score: 1

      Better than those damn Ziosks cluttering up the tables at Chili's.

      --

      the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    3. Re:Project onto a TABLE for restaurants and games by GTRacer · · Score: 1

      SO am I the only person who absolutely LOVES those table-tablets? I can't count the number of times a waitperson made us wait (ha!) to pay, even when all the food was eaten and the drinks were empty. I love good service, and don't mind recognizing it with a nice tip. But certain parts of the transaction don't really enhance either of our experiences.

      That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what Taco Bell and McDonalds do with their web / app-based ordering and payment in advance systems...

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
  5. Native ads ? On my Slashdot ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is that what native ads look like ?

    Aren't they at least supposed to signal it in white on white, 5px font somewhere hidden in the footer when it isn't real content ?

  6. Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Problems with this story:
    1. They haven't even stated how much they want to collect
    2. They claim to have done over 4,000 installations of an earlier variant:

    "Lumo's founders come from game development, engineering, and interactive interfaces. In 2011, the company started selling an interactive projection display platform (Po-motion.com) that includes a complete creative suite and a remote content management system. This system has been used in over 4000 commercial and museum displays worldwide by clients such as Google, Adidas, Coca-Cola and Air New Zealand."

    Notice how misleading that statement is? A different platform, owned by someone else, has sold over 4,000 units. They themselves may have sold a few of them, but this in NO way shows that they have the ability to produce such a system themselves.
    3. I smell legal problems for what is clearly a knock-off.

    These crowd-funding stories are becoming more of a joke every day.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:Not again by Roblimo · · Score: 1

      "These crowd-funding stories are becoming more of a joke every day." So true.

      That's probably why I get more and more cynical about them.

      When a game called 'Exploding Kittens' raises over $8 million on Kickstarter, you know crowdfunding has become totally surreal.

    2. Re:Not again by GTRacer · · Score: 1

      I know, right? I had this great idea for "Exploding Krytens" but it seems nobody much wants to see a droid blow up. And the hardlight projector was proving troublesome to produce in affordable numbers...

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
    3. Re:Not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How terrible, a project that clearly met the wants of a large number of people. Oh no. Crowd Funding should only be respected if it's a train wreck of half funded things no one wants.

    4. Re:Not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi! I'm Joss, the Community Manager and Designer at Lumo Play & Po-motion. Po-mo Inc. is the parent company of Lumo Play and Po-motion. Different platforms, owned and run by the same small group of people.

    5. Re: Not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm, the founders own both companies and built the thing themselves. Source: I know them; also the Internet and their website.

    6. Re:Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      They haven't "met the needs" of anybody - the product does NOT exist, and they were just installers for (some portion of) the previous product. They haven't EVER brought a product to market themselves.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    7. Re:Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      When I see one of these in the firehose and it looks suspicious when I check them out, I down-vote it. But obviously there are plenty of people who disagree. What can I say :-)

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    8. Re:Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Which just brings up another question - IF the parent company has sold over 4,000 of these, why do they need ANY crowd-funding? Bad management causing low return on capital for reinvestment in the business? Marginal profitability leading to inability to secure funding through regular channels, such as bank loans? The need to put up legal and financial barriers between the two businesses so if one goes bust ...?

      Sales of 4,000 units at $10k a piece is $40 million in gross sales. Sounds like bad management to me if they have to make a spin-off to crowd-beg, rather than re-investing from their own profits. Or is this just a cheap way to get pre-orderes and generate some free hype with no risk capital?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    9. Re: Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      So if they've sold $40 million of their previous product, why can't they just fund it out of profits?

      1. There are no profits? (smells of bad management or a dying or no longer competitive product)

      2. Wanting a free ride by pretending to be at arms length to both the parent and sister companies? (smells of fraud by not revealing such a relationship to investors)

      3. This is just a cheap and easy way to test the market and hopefully get some pre-orders and free advertising, as well as no-risk capital? (smells sleezy)

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    10. Re:Not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like the hololens better. I'll spend my fancy-toy budget on that.

    11. Re: Not again by pomoproject · · Score: 0

      Hi! We actually own Po-motion too. It's the exact same team. We used the revenues to pay to make Lumo. We're raising $80K on Indiegogo to make the case smaller (we're on the last stretch before we can start producing units). I probably forgot to mention stuff cuz the tent was full of kids all day. For three days. I was kinda spaced out. But yeah - we actually have done over 4000 installs, we wrote and launched Po-motion all by ourselves, and we decided to make Lumo because we noticed it makes kids active.

    12. Re: Not again by pomoproject · · Score: 0

      Actually we just want to get it to market a bit quicker, and we need to expand the team to support it. If you want, I'm super happy to answer hard questions. My email address is meg@lumoplay.com :)

    13. Re: Not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Firstly I said "met the wants", not needs and secondly I was referring to Exploding Kittens.

    14. Re: Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      So why, with $40 million in sales, can't you come up with the $80,000 yourself? Something simply doesn't add up.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    15. Re:Not again by ExpendibleMan · · Score: 1

      $40 software x 4000 installs = $160k. Hardware sold by other companies to bring cost per install up to $10k.

    16. Re: Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      From what I can see, the "10,000 a pop" includes travel. setup, operational cost (someone to run it), break-up, and shipping costs. The product itself is just a projector and some software controlled by a laptop and webcam.

      People at trade shows and events pay for the whole shebang because they only want it for a short time, no hassles, depreciation, cleanup costs, no liability if it falls on someone's head, etc.

      Anyone can buy a better-quality projector from tigerdirect for $500 (1024x768) and jury-rig their own system. However, nobody's going to hang a projector from the ceiling projecting onto the floor to play games. Terrible aesthetics, and no "name brand" characters. If they want interactive games on the wall, they just have to buy an xbox + kinect, and a flatscreen, which can also be used for other stuff and doesn't have the problem of the bulb burning out all the time.

      Good luck, but selling this to the home market is doomed.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    17. Re: Not again by ExpendibleMan · · Score: 1

      As I stated in a previous comment: $40 software x 4000 installs = $160k. Hardware sold by other companies to bring cost per install up to $10k. If you look at their website, they only sell the software.

    18. Re:Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      That's what I've been figuring out - their $10,000 a pop (FTFA) is grossly misleading. And now they plan to ask for $80,000.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    19. Re: Not again by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      That gives revenue of less than $10k per employee per annum. They must have been selling services instead (setup and breakdown, running the show, etc).

      Or maybe they got some funding from the Manitoba government?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    20. Re:Not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree hololens kills these and is the reason Microsoft hasn't gone this way publicly (yet). It will have a niche with business meetings and whatever games agree to support. They should work for a standard API as there are tons of these kinect+projector solutions and no games will support proprietary software from a tiny startup.

    21. Re: Not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe they're a startup that's taking a risk based on market feedback. Like most startups do. They obviously have brought a product to market - because you don't want it doesn't mean it's doomed. It's impressive they got this far on their own, imo.

  7. 1998 called by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 1

    It wants its projector/webcam games back.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  8. so dum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    video looks dumb, application looks dumb. shadows everywhere.

    kid on the playground alone is having infinitely more fun.

  9. Useage case please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What can this do that a kinect and a regular projector can't?

    1. Re:Useage case please by ExpendibleMan · · Score: 1

      Nothing really if you want to buy a projector, Kinect, computer and install/configure/write your own software. I don't know a lot of four year olds doing that these days.

  10. Won't change anything. by kuzb · · Score: 1

    The project is interesting and ambitious. However it's still a projector, and a projector with motion sensing capabilities at that. This is almost certainly going to put it in to the $1000+ price range. You can't change the world if nobody can afford your product.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    1. Re:Won't change anything. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It just went live at $399. So I suspect that math is off.

  11. An *interactive* game, you say? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Project an Interactive Game on Your Floor or Wall (Video)

    And here's me playing non-interactive games like a chump.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  12. This video is autoplaying on my browser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought this was supposed to be fixed? Wtf

    1. Re:This video is autoplaying on my browser by pkinetics · · Score: 1

      works fine on my machine

  13. Enhanced Pool Table by psyclone · · Score: 1

    I've always wanted something like this projector + camera shining down on a pool table.

    It could record all of the shots, and easily show you a prior table position so you could "un-do" a shot as well as re-play slow motion video of a "break" or other action. Based on varying games, it could count and keep score (cutthroat, multiple iterations of "4 ball run", etc etc) by just displaying the scores somewhere on the table.

    For interactivity, it could "visualize" the line of an intended ball strike by viewing your cue stick and anticipating the output (it wouldn't be perfect with only a top-view camera, but good enough). Once you find your desired "line" a voice or other gesture control could "freeze" the drawn lines, allowing you to more easily aim.

    Fun stuff, and I didn't even watch the video (:

  14. She lost me when... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...she said it was "720 dpi".

  15. Call it what it is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...a cat toy.

  16. LumoPlay unleashes imagination by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great tool, I have used it in the Po_Motion format to add my own content and interact with and it works great! Just imagine the great creative things your kids can make with this.

  17. AMazeD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This thing rulllleeeezzzz

  18. good for kids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My kids tried something similar at a local museum. They loved it.
    I think this will be good for kids. Price is ??? 500 is a bit much, but considering pico projectors are like 300 bucks. its not that off.
    I also saw other projectors on kickstarter for much more.

    I'd like to see this at bestbuy

  19. Re: Nice Slashvertisement (New here?) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [...] Why should everything on Slashdot be negative?[...]

    Mr. Limo... are you new to /.? (With your 3-digit user ID...) EVERYONE is negative here. Even a story with no imaginable downside.

    Story: Cancer CURED!
    Posted by Roblimo (In the future)
    The FDA has just approved Panacea, a chemical compound that has been exhaustively tested and has no known adverse side effects, cures all forms of cancer, the common cold, and AIDS. It can be made in the home from common household chemicals, and will be available for less than a penny a dose all around the world starting Tuesday! It's truly a great day to be alive!

    Comments:
    First! (Score:-1, Troll)
    First Post!

    Great timign! (Score:1)
    Oh, gosh, they cured cancer, conveniently AFTER (fill in the blank) died OF CANCER! Thanks a bunch!

    It's a CONSPIRASSY! (Score:0)
    Thye've had cures for cancer and AIDS for decades, they just keep them for the ILLUMINATI, and the Elect of the Illuminati, and senior government officials!

    etc. etc. etc.

    That's /. for you.

  20. rank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nice video keep it up

  21. The Indiegogo Campaign is live by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If anyone wants to check it out, it's here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lumo-interactive-projector