Lightform's AR projector turns any surface into a screen
San Francisco-based start-up Lightform has developed an augmented reality projector that makes a dynamic 3D map of a room and casts light onto it, thereby transforming any surface into a display. Lightform's projector will one day be advanced enough to recognise the shape of a Christmas tree and project holiday-themed decor onto it, according to the firm's co-founder Raj Sodhi and its creative director Phil Reyneri.  “Really what we’re doing is bringing computing out into the real world where we live”, Sodhi explained. 

Technology wants to disappear. In computing's early days, the machines swallowed entire rooms. Today, we wear them on our wrists. Soon, they could vanish completely, their smarts embedding directly into our surroundings.

Raj Sodhi has a name for this last scenario. “We call it the ubiquitous user interface,” he says. Sodhi is a co-founder of Lightform, a startup that’s looking to turn full-room projection mapping into living room technology. Projection mapping, also known as projected augmented reality, uses video projectors to cast light onto irregular surfaces like buildings, faces, and, yes, living rooms. For decades, this technology was too expensive and technically complex for the average person to use, but with Lightform, the company's eponymous first product, Sodhi and his partners are automating the entire process. The company plans to begin taking preorders on the device this summer, price TBD.

Lightform

Lightform doesn't look like a computer, but that's what it is. The small box contains a processor and a high-res camera. Hook it up to any projector through an HDMI cable, and the projector will cast a series of grids onto the room, which Lightform's onboard camera uses to assess, in fine detail, the location and dimensions of objects in the space. (Lightform can also scan the room periodically, allowing it to create a new map if anything moves.) The processor converts that information into a 3-D map of surfaces onto which the projector can cast light. “Having a high resolution scan means that every projector pixel has a corresponding real world location,” Sodhi explains.

In other words: Lightform helps you quickly transform almost anything in a room into a screen---provided the projector's light can reach it. You could wrap a movie around your living room wall. Or cast one pattern on a trashcan and another on a chair. In one demo, Lightform technology projects glowing menu items onto a blank blackboard. In another, shifting light illuminates the contours of a cactus. In a more practical example, a glowing raindrop appears on the outside of a planter---a sign that the plant needs watering.