SBIR-STTR Award

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be the creation of tools that democratize a new interactive medium called projection mapping. Projection mapping uses video projectors to overlay digital content (images, animations or video) onto 3D physical objects, allowing viewers to experience and interact with digital experiences in an entirely new way. These interactive displays will add value to a wide range of industries where dynamic, 3D presentations are needed to inform, educate, advertise or entertain. Applications include educational experiences at museums or schools, healthcare applications for rehabilitation and visualization, new training and simulation displays, as well as broad uses in advertising and entertainment. For example, a retail end aisle display could more easily attract customers by demonstrating product features with projected light directly on or around the physical product. Alternatively, an interactive diorama in a museum could allow visitors to learn history through an immersive visual experience. This project will bring projection mapping from high budget, niche markets into low budget, mainstream markets. Cost reductions will be realized through technological advances that decrease design, setup and calibration requirements, which in turn will advance technological capabilities and content authoring.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a novel software and hardware system for authoring projection mapping content. The proposed system will greatly simplify a currently complex content authoring process, and will enable entirely new passive and interactive experiences which fuse digital content with the physical environment. The system is comprised of a content authoring software suite and a projector-depth camera hardware unit capable of high-resolution 3D scanning. Research objectives entail novel software algorithms in the areas of 1) automatic calibration of projector-camera systems, 2) optimized structured light scanning of 3D objects, 3) automatic, precise re-alignment and registration of the system in response to movement of the physical model, 4) intuitive authoring tools for creating passive and interactive projection mapping experiences.

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project includes new ways to inform, educate, advertise or entertain through a technology called projection mapping. This technology uses commodity video projectors to augment the surfaces of ordinary objects; applications range from advertising, events, and entertainment, to educational experiences at museums or schools, healthcare applications for rehabilitation and visualization, and simulation (e.g. military or employee training). Through multiple deployments at retail locations across the country, the company's prototypes have demonstrated that these applications will benefit not only the brands and companies that employ the technology, but also the end-users (students, consumers, etc), resulting in better engagement and faster learning when compared to achieving these same tasks through other media such as videos. Research performed during the Phase II project will allow the company to develop a scalable product and fulfill many deployments, bringing projection mapping to new markets. A free version of the company's software will also be available for non-commercial and academic use, enabling interdisciplinary research in fine arts and computer science. The R&D results generated from the research will be published and disseminated to the public.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will build a commercially viable and scalable projection mapping system. While projection mapping has a long academic history, this captivating medium still remains out of commercial reach. As learned from over 50 customer discovery interviews, retailers are shifting towards location-based experiences to increase customer engagement and sales. Many other industries have a similar need to attract attention and convey information, but without a scalable product that can be easily deployed and maintained, they lack the means to provide these experiences. To address this need, the company will develop hardware and software systems to enable captivating and immersive projection mapping experiences. The core of this system is in software: the developed algorithms will robustly calibrate projection mapping systems comprising any number of projectors/cameras, automatically align projected content to the scene and perform color-correction when the display surfaces are non-white/textured. These algorithms will be validated through standard benchmarks, resulting in novel, state-of-the-art practices. Additionally, these methods will allow for reusable projection mapping content, a critical feature lacking in existing software, as well as cloud deployment and monitoring. New hardware configurations will also be developed to achieve new uses for projection mapping.