TOOLS: MIT's Playtime Computing System (2010)

"The Playtime Computing System is a technological platform that computationally models a blended reality interactive and collaborative media experience that takes place both on-screen and in the real world as a continuous space. On-screen audio-visual media (e.g., portraying virtual environments and characters – story world, etc.) have an extended presence into the physical environment using digital projectors, robotics, real-time behavior capture, and tangible interfaces. Player behavior is tracked using 3D motion capture as well as other sensors such as cameras and audio inputs.

Physical objects can be instrumented or tracked so that they can serve as other tangible interfaces to affect the behavior of characters and objects both on screen and off screen. A digital paint interface is under development to allow players to add digital assets to the story world both on-screen and in the projected real-world space. These digital assets can be used to add interactivity, to author the world and its characters, or simply to embellish it aesthetically.

Characters in this system can seemingly transition smoothly from the physical world to the virtual on-screen world through a physical enclosure that metaphorically acts as a portal between the virtual and the real. Any events or changes that happen to the physical character in the real world are carried over to the virtual world. Digital assets can be transitioned from the virtual to the physical world. These blended reality characters can either be programmed to behave autonomously, or their behavior can be controlled by the players." (Cynthia Breazeal, MIT Media Lab)

Link: PlayTime Computing Systems

Submitted by Matteo Bittanti