Microsoft’s `MirageTable` brings augmented reality to life

Microsoft’s `MirageTable` brings augmented reality to life Img/2012/5/14/Microsoft-275.jpgLondon: Microsoft has come up with an augmented reality system that allows users at different locations to work together on tabletop activities, sharing objects, which they can both handle.

The MirageTable was demonstrated at a conference in Austin, Texas and is outlined on the organisation’s research site.

Researchers said it could “fool” the eye to suggest both parties were using a “seamless 3D shared task space”, a channel reported.

The team has maintained that more work was required before the system could be marketed.

The Mirage Table uses a 3D-video projector to beam images onto a sheet of curved white plastic placed in front of the user.
At each end one of Microsoft’s Kinect depth camera sensors is used to track the direction of each person’s gaze and also to capture the shape and appearance of objects placed on the surface and the participant sitting behind them.

Users are also asked to wear shutter glasses in order to see the projected image in three dimensions. Two computers linked by a network connection are needed to power the experience.


They asserted that the success stating that the experience was a significant improvement on current video conferencing technologies.


In a video posted online, two people can be seen working at different locations to build an object out of blocks, with one researcher measuring the distance between the pieces placed by the other participant.

A research paper also mentioned that the technology could be used to create a single-person gaming experience.

However, the researchers confessed that the project was far from perfect.

The set-up also only lets users to scoop or catch objects from below in order to hold them in their hands.

“Simulating realistic grasping behaviours given depth camera input remains an open research problem,” the researchers admitted.

“While we are still very far from an implementation of a working version of Star Trek``s Holodeck, MirageTable shows the potential of the projector/depth camera system to simulate such scenarios,” they added.