Lampix can turn any surface into an interactive display

Lampix may look ordinary, but don't judge this lamp by its shade. Lampix can bring augmented reality to your living room thanks to a built-in Raspberry Pi, an 8-megapixel camera, and a 400-lumen projector.

Using a WIFI connection, users can send anything from their smartphone or computer to the lamp for projection onto a flat surface of their choosing. The lamp's built-in camera can track objects and body parts and infer their interaction with the surface. For example, in the game "Tower Defense," users can place Nespresso pods in the way of a trail of moving cubes. The Nespresso pods, which will then be used to represent towers in the game, can shoot at the cubes. 

Besides gaming, the company hopes to apply this function to retailers. It has already partnered with Nespresso to allow customers to trigger a description of a particular pod's flavour when it's placed in the indicated area.

George Popescu, the co-founder and CEO of Lampix, says it was important to create a product that could enhance the shopping experience without being obtrusive. 

A store could put a Lampix over a product and display reviews of that product on the counter or on the wall behind it. But users could make the reviews disappear by waving their hands.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of Lampix is that it lets users work with physical pieces of paper as if they were digital documents. Users can copy, paste and upload the contents of the paper, and even search for terms in the hard copy. They can also collaborate with someone else on the same project, since Lampix tracks changes in real time. 

Of course, using a projector has its disadvantages. Lampix doesn't work well in bright light, on really shiny surfaces, or on glass. The company says it plans to make a more expensive model with a more powerful projector that will allow Lampix to work in lighter areas.

Watch the video here to see what Lampix does...

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