I was lucky to snag this link and you have to check this out! A company in Japan (of course) is coming out with something they are calling an “Augmented Reality” Dennoh Figure Alice (aka Virtual Doll). So how does this work and why do I care?

Basically when you guys this you are getting a small cube about 2 inches by 2 inches. You then install some software on your computer and point your webcam at this cube. Then on top of this cube is a fully animated Alice Maid/Girlfriend type figure. You can then interact with her by using the included squares and “virtual tongs”, which is a weird concept as you are using physical items to interact with something virtual. Being from Japan you get to slap her, take her clothes off, and all that snazz. For pictures of how this all works go here and there is a video below.

I think this is just amazing and really reminds me of a couple of sci fi books I have read lately. I think this might really be something we adopt in the future future as it is an awesome blending of reality and virtual. Just imagine walking down the street as you normally do but you are wearing glasses that can see this augmented reality and gloves or a couple embedded sensors in your fingers in order to interact with this second layer of reality. So stores might have cubes out front or whatever they want that has these figures that then interact with you, or answer basic questions, store times, or even could run transactions. Or public information cubes that give you directions, call for help, etc. Just amazing possibilities, especially as basic AI gets better! Would even be cool to have one of these sitting on your desk with a basic API and be able to view it with those glasses and feed it commands (adds personality to the tech).

Just super awesome, I’m trying to see if I can import one to test with. Here is a video below:

Related Posts:

• Augmented Reality Part 3
• Augmented Reality Part 2