One of the more interesting things that I saw at the Digital Signage Expo a few weeks ago was Perch Interactive.
(You can see a ton of Perch’s stuff on their Showcase page.)
While not terribly innovative, as interactive gesture projection technology has been around for some time, it’s getting better.
Now, Fujitsu has taken it a bit further, with the scanner detecting depth. The Verge has an interesting write-up on this, showing it off after visiting their R & D facility.
Why is this important?
Because one of the key differentiators between brick-and-mortar and online is that people love to touch and play. Retail is still where you go to try on shoes, push buttons on a device, and demo the product – things you can’t do online. This experience amps up visual merchandising and continues to drive the idea of digital interactivity outside of the ubiquitous 16:9 boundaries.
This type of technology brings the digital and physical worlds closer together.
Neat stuff indeed.