Electronics have changed the human experience with reality. Historically, this change comes from a tangible electronic apparatus or innovation (ie:iPhone). However, with the latest in augmented reality, computers are changing ink and paper into a functional part of the system. This objective in augmented reality is the focus of an introductory paper appearing in the Occam’s Razor 6th issue.
A simple project called the "Ex-nihilo Tangible Interface" was created by The picoFlamingo Team to demonstrate this sort of augmented reality. Using ARtoolkit a computer was programmed to recognize a square shape as a volume control for a media player (mplayer on slave mode). Simply drawing a square on a paper and defining its orientation allows the computer to process spinning of the square as the volume turning up or down.
PicoFlamingo stated on his website that the idea was spurred off the "Impromptu Sound Board" that uses Microsoft Kinect. Showing that the same could be accomplished with ordinary AR codes. (See the Kinect version below)
This could be a glimpse of a future time when we do not need all the hardware as we see it today. This type of augmented reality could replace controllers of all sorts, which could mean never losing your TV remote again if you can always simply draw another one.
We march ever closer to the augmented reality kitchen.
Eavesdropper
Ex-nihilo means out of nothing.