Countertop Video Projector? 29
bcorrigan78 asks: "After reading the recent Slashdot post regarding Microsoft's perfect home, I got to wondering if there was a way to build or buy a counter-top projector like the one pictured in the article here. It looks like it might be some kind of laser scanning low-res projector? Anyone seen anything like this?"
Projection (Score:1, Informative)
An image is created on a CRT or perhaps LCD, then sent through mirrors, lenses and the like, and projected downwards.
What happens is the CRT has to be backwards though, so you can't build one yourself.
Once it's projected downwards however you have to deal with shadows and the like
However I believe it can be done
Re:Projection (Score:1)
Re:Projection (Score:1)
Now I have to go die in the desert (Score:3, Funny)
I looked up!
Owwwwww!
Right into the laser!
I'm blind! I'm blind! I'm blind!
(Now I must give my water to the desert! No mechanical eyes for me!)
maybe from the bottom up (Score:3, Interesting)
Mounting something inside a counter shining up onto a peice of darkly smoked or ground (underside only) glass would be sexier too, I'd say. And probably easier to work on and easier to set up.
But to answer your question, no, i don't know of anything that could do this.
Re:maybe from the bottom up (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:maybe from the bottom up (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:maybe from the bottom up (Score:1)
So then you are saying that he should project it on the ceiling???
( I can see people stepping on puppies and children as they walk around reading the ceiling )
Or perhaps you suggest that the projector could be mounted inside a cabinet and projected on the surface of a counter top, perhaps on a seemingly opaque but somewhat translucent surface.
I believe a simple LCD projector could be used simply by adjusting the focus and using a black background, then simply playing with the picture controls.
I'm not trying to to say you people are wasting your time discussing this.....
"Work smarter, not harder." - Adam Soldivieri
Duh.. (Score:2)
2 Mount in ceiling or high cupboard.
3 ???
4 Profit.
I think step three here is "convince idiot investors that this is something new"
If you want to make the benchtop touch-sensitive just have a grid of wires embedded in it, and a bit of electronics that scanns it for changes in capacitance. The same technology exists in those 'glidepoint' mousepads.
About a million years ago I thought up the idea of putting a video projector behind a sheet of frosted glass with copper etching or a fine mesh of wires embedded in it.
My original idea was to have it at 45 degrees like a draughting board, but horizontal or vertical would be OK, just more tiring to work on.
Also I was planning to use a stylus rather than touchscreen; that way you can rest your arms on the work surface.
Any projector will work (Score:2)
I've seen similar techniques used at museums in the past - the description of what you are looking at fades in on the surface of one of the objects in the display.
I remember the Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump in Alberta used projectors like this for a rather cool effect.
After you had looked at a scene for a moment, information on it would gradually fade in on the surface of various rocks.
Go to Circuit City? (Score:2)
Not terribly difficult. They are intended to aim at walls, but I can't think of any plausable reason besides heat dissapation that aiming one down would be a problem.
You can see that the light is falling all over the person in the image, so there isn't any correction going on.
Another poster mentioned using smoky glass and projecting upwards. For that, you would need to flip the projection or the image on the screen... but I don't imagine that would be too difficult to accomplish. But it would be much cooler.
You could also embedd a rather large Hitatchi 447800 compatible 4-line LCD display, for extra video out, or recess a standard 21" LCD moniter into your countertop, then re-surface with a translucent material.
But yeah, go to Circuit City. By Projector. Aim down.
Re:Go to Circuit City? (Score:1)
You could simply use a mirror. Allows the projector to be kept level as well.
Re:Go to Circuit City? (Score:1)
Build your own projector. (Score:3, Interesting)
Homebrew Projectors [slashdot.org]
Light Sources [slashdot.org]
Enjoy!
That's Innovative! (Score:2)
This time M$ really led innovation! R&D labs in Redmond graced us with yet another exciting technology never seen before abiding to their long standing tradition ( story on Google cache [google.com]) of encouraging the improvement of today's tech...
It can be done very cheaply. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It can be done very cheaply. (Score:3, Informative)
Use a small CRT. 13" or so. Not only are these cheap (used), they're what the fresnel is designed for. The bigger the screen is compared to the fresnel, the less distinct it'll be.
Turn brightness all the way up, right up to the edge of getting pixel bleed
Don't project more than a couple feet... beyond that it's too dim to be daylight readable...
I use this in my MAME arcade machine... 13" lcd projecting onto smoked glass. It works pretty good, especially with the arcade machine not having any direct light on it (it's in a corner of my living room, approximately 5 feet away from the sliding glass doors along the same wall) For the smoked glass, I started with snow frosting you can find in art stores around christmas time, but moved to acrylic sanded with 240 grit sandpaper. The higher the grit the better resolution you get...
Would probably be fairly easy to build... (Score:3, Informative)
But, if what you *really* want is a projector...
First, think about the color of the surface you are projecting on - notice that in the image you provided, the surface was dark, and the image was *very* bright. In fact, just from the picture I think it was too bright, it would probably dazzle you to actually use it in real life. A projector may or may not work well on such a surface, unless the image it was projecting had mostly light colors (whitish). Otherwise, you would want your surface to be something lighter (like a tan or grey color) - which may mean changing your countertop.
Once that issue is out of the way, all you have to do is build the projector (easier said than done, BTW). A simple projector is nothing more than an image source, and a convex (magnifying) lens. Simple "project-a-picture" projectors found at arts/crafts supply stores use this system. It works OK, but isn't the best (see numerous examples online and on ebay about 100 inch TV plans) - but may work well for your application. If you really want to do this right, look up information and discussion about "triplet projection lenses" - these are lens systems that are designed for projection, and tend to have everything set up to make the image projected clear and undistorted. Unfortunately, you will tend to find new triplet assemblies to be rather pricey - which is where surplus comes in. There are people out there building such projectors (for TV projection mainly) - the projectors thus built tend to be big, but in a theater-type setting, it doesn't matter as much (other than asthetics). But this is because the builders are trying to get a huge picture, and so need a lens with a large focal length, which increases the size of the projector (unless you are adept with mirrors and folding the light path - which is outside the scope of most builders). However, since you would be projecting a much shorter distance, you can get away with a smaller lens, and hence a smaller enclosure for the projector you build.
Here are a couple of sites to get you started:
Alan's DIY Projector [ku.edu]
Apogee, Inc. [apogeeinc.com]
The first one is a guy who sells triplet lenses on eBay, but provides the plans and such for free. The second is a source I found for surplus lenses, and they have a few low focal length lenses that might fit the bill for what you are wanting to do. It also might be possible to build your own custom triplet assembly from lenses picked out of an Edmund Scientific catalog, but it will be pricey.
For an LCD, to keep the size down, use something like a smaller 5 or 6 inch LCD - these can be found surplus, or you can use something like that used for "in-dash" auto video systems. You will have to disassemble the LCD in order to add a bright backlight system (which is a whole discussion in and of itself - look at the sites off of Alan's links and you will see what has been tried, and how well it works - don't forget about heat issues and the LCD, too!). Hook up a VGA to TV converter, stick to a low-res display with larger fonts, and you are set.
Mouse pointer issues can be a problem here, but I would suggest a variation on what I described first, except instead of a clear glass inset in the counter, get a white or light color porcelain (ok, I I think I mangled that word) cutting "board", make the rabbets wider to hold the board better, and install a stainless steel "splash guard" around the seam, and seal it. Project down onto this. It can act as a "screen", and serve as a useful cutting board for cooking (ok, I am thinking "kitchen computer" here - where it seems the picture you provided was aimed at). Otherwise, inset a light panel of similar countertop or desk material instead.
I hope this helps - sometimes I wonder why I am not paid for this...
I have seen some of these (Score:2)
Why not just throw out your counter space? (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps a much easier and usable solution would be to put an LCD in the wall behind said counter, or in the door of the cabinet above said counter.
Of course, it wouldn't be very Microsoft-y, but you could hire someone to come into your kitchen from time to time, kick you out for a few minutes and remove the entire contents, requiring you to spend the rest of the day re-installing your kitchen. It would be great fun for people who don't like to cook (kind of like how Windows is great fun for people who don't actually want to use their computers to do work).
(Hmm... I wonder why I felt like bashing Microsoft so much this morning. Maybe the eggs I put in my lettuce-and-beer-cookies last night were bad.)
Re:Why not just throw out your counter space? (Score:1)
Do You Really Want This? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Do You Really Want This? (Score:2)
Digital Imaging, maps, and other fun things would work well with this. What I'd like to see is something akin to an inset spinning helix [neostech.com] that could be projected onto, providing 3D images. This, though, would need a fair amount of under-counter space, as well.
Still, the kitchen projector could be good with a few additions:
1. A simple fabric screen that could slide out of the ceiling or be hidden away to allow you to project onto a surface above the counter if desired (takes away the countertop projection need, though, huh?)
2. As mentioned in the Microsoft article, voice recognition, if only simple voice commands or customizable vocabulary [apple.com], as well as text-to-speech or voice feedback would be great assistance in this. The counter could be used to see what you need to start, the voice commands to follow steps.
At any rate, it would be fun to throw the iTunes Visualizer on there while you listen to music.
Prototype system from about 1990 (Score:2, Interesting)
It featured a pretty amazing system I have never heard or seen anything of since. It went like this:
Computer and ceiling-mounted vid shoots on to white table top with standard windowing desktop image.
User moves arm and hands to "click" (touch) and "drag" (move finger) the icons. An image processing system via a camera (also in roof) does the differencing between the projected image and the captured image of the desk to get arm, finger movements.
They dude also "pulled up" a "virtual keyboard" and typed away. This was the image of a keyboard.
It got pretty out of hand when he put a real book on the desktop, then used two fingers to "select" a paragraph of text (system shaded a rectangle over the real book page!) and then he "dragged" this off into a virtual document!
It was a mock-up, but they asserted that the controlled arrangement of being able to difference the images would allow this kind of OCR and other interface stuff with current technology (early 90's).
It's pretty hysterical to watch.
Anyone heard of this?
Stanford Responsive Workbench project (Score:2)
The setup, as apparent from the photos consists of a horizontally mounted projector, which projects onto a mirror reflecting to a frosted-glass top surface.
The advantage over a top mounted projector is that you don't have to worry about shadows from your head/arms/objects blocking the projected image. The disadvantage is that you need a specially designed translucent countertop.
Not exactly offtopic - a better project (Score:2)
The Microsoft house had all kinds of old-fashioned ideas that will sounds very quaint twenty years from know, kind of like home bomb shelters.
Instead, how about trying to develop some cool things that are innovative and strive for the same end goal?
Some ideas:
Bluetooth enabled spice jars and measuring spoons. When you get the set of spoons close to a jar with a particular spice, the correct size spoon can light up (say an LED in the handle somewhere, though in the future the material itself would glow). Furthermore, the spice jars themselves you need for the recipe could alight, and the kitchen console could warn you of spice jars that did not respond (so you could see if you were out of something).
A real "food processor" that you just put all of the ingredients into, still in package - then it sorts and chops them all as needed. A simple example would be a stick of butter and an orange and turnip and bag of flour, you would put them all in a bin and the the machine (probably the size of a dishwasher) get out what it needed and cut the right amount of butter and unpeel the orange and so on. Excess materials (like the butter you did not use) would be refrigerated until you came back for the leftover stuff.
Those sorts of things would be a lot more interesting to develop than the potentially hazardous (to your eyesight) kitchen projector. Why would you ever want to project anything when a screen would do, or better yet that ePaper we've all been waiting for that has recipes downloaded into it where you can read them however you like?