YDreams has been working on natural user interfaces (NUI) for around 9 years. We’ve been using primarily web-cameras for the detection of people and objects, as these are non-intrusive and are a very rich multi-vector sensor.

In the beginning each new application was a copy-paste of source from the previous projects plus, all the customization code and a few more features. As you can imagine, maintenance was a nightmare. From very early on, we felt the need to have a reusable development framework. It would allow us to take less time developing the applications, make them more robust and leave us time to keep innovating. As a result, we have successfully deployed hundreds of applications for our customers, which you can find in museums, stores, events and movie theaters.

The resulting framework also allows us to share our knowledge across the development process. We have great people that are very good at different areas of expertise but we cannot have all of them working on every project. Their knowledge is added to the framework to be used by others. It includes multi-threading, image processing, tracking, 3D real-time graphics and physics, artificial intelligence, Free Frame plugins, Flash integration into 3D graphics, USB, FireWire and IP (Ethernet) video cameras, Microsoft Surface support, etc.

The platform is used in almost all our interactive applications and recently was used on the robots we created for Santander. The platform allowed us to have a 3D simulation of their behaviors even before we had the physical robots. The exact same code that was used in the simulator is now running in the robots themselves.

We recently partnered with Canesta and added support for their time-of-flight depth-sensing video cameras. These cameras can detect the distance of the real objects to the camera.

We already had interactive applications combining real and virtual in real-time. Now it is also registered in 3D, fully complying with the augmented reality definition by Azuma.

This is just one more feature added to many others in the framework. Creating the demo was very simple. Its objective was to show the capabilities of the camera and also perform the first usability tests. We wanted to know how users would perceive the “invisible” 3D objects and what type of interactions are possible. It has been a big success with all the users.

Visit our booth at ARE2010 to try this demo yourself and get more details on our framework.

Click on image to find out more!

Ivan Franco, the Portuguese company’s I&D Director was invited to take part in three leading international events: Emerging Communications (eComm), and Screen Media Expo, dedicated to the telecom and mobile communications, and digital signage industries respectively, and the Augmented Reality Event (are2010), the first global event for advancing the business of augmented reality

Ivan Franco will showcase some of YDreams’ most groundbreaking advances in Augmented Reality technology that will, in a very near future, enable us to manipulate 3D structures, drive virtual cars in a real-time sports event, or interact directly with contents on a movie screen. All of these amazing applications will depend on a number of technology and design capabilities, which Ivan will explore in his talks.

The first of the events, eComm, will take place at the San Francisco Airport Marriott (USA) April 19-21. Ivan’s session entitled Advancing AR – Beyond Labels is scheduled for April 21st at 10:05 a.m. Up next is the Screen Media Expo at Earls Court in London, May 5-6, where YDreams will mark its presence at the Futurology sessions, dedicated to looking into the technologies, approaches and methods that will shape the screen media and out of home markets in the next 1,000 days. Rounding things off is Ivan’s participation in are2010, the inaugural event dedicated to advancing the business of augmented reality, held at Santa Clara Convention Center (USA) June 2-3.

If you are planning on attending this year’s Skol Sensation Electronic Music event in São Paulo, Brazil, expect to run into some very cool Augmented Reality (AR) experimentation by YDreams. To do so you’ll need an AR Tee, encoded with special markers. The tees (see below) are already on sale at five shopping centers in São Paulo (city); stop on by one of the malls to see what its all about or pick one up! In the meantime, here’s a preview (see YouTube Video as well.)

AR Tee featuring encoded marker

Engadget called it an infestation. The term infestation refers to a state of being invaded by another species. On one hand it implies an invasion, on the other hand it refers to organic stuff. It’s interesting to see our technology defined as organic because it relates with empathy, it’s more than just silicone chips – there is chemistry.

Last week, TiPb chose the word intimacy to describe the feeling of using an iPad. “If the television is a ‘lean back’ interface and the computer is a ‘sit forward’ interface, the iPad is an ‘embrace’ interface. You haven’t had a relationship with an object like this since your childhood teddy bear: you tote it around with you everywhere, you sit cuddled up with it, you take it to bed with you.”

It seems that the future of high-end digital products will bring an infestation of intimacy.

Knee-high Ferrari-Red robots are probably the last thing you’d expect to find in a serious & conservative environment like a bank. Yet there they are. Santander Group came to us about a year and a half ago asking for ‘something unexpected that people hadn’t seen before’ for their Visitors Center at ‘Ciudad Grupo Santander’, the group’s financial campus and HQ on the outskirts of Madrid.

The already awesome glass cube that is the gateway to the center and campus, has the little droids welcoming and guiding visitors to their desired destinations, but it doesn’t stop there. Digital ivory climbs the hi-res, LED paneled columns located at the entrance and further into the center a large scale model of the city that uses Augmented Reality, and a 12-meter tactile wall offers visitors an impactful and memorable way to explore the group’s history and global presence.

Enough talk, let’s meet the droids