Lampix (with offices in New York, NY and San Francisco, CA) is developing an “interactive tabletop augmented reality system that uses machine learning and blockchain-based image sourcing to recognize, reveal and react to the visual world.”
Lampix looks like a table lamp. The principle components of the system are located in the upper portion of the lamp within what looks like the lampshade. Included in the lampshade are a high definition video projector and a camera. The projector projects the imagery normally found on the display screen of a computer onto the flat surface upon which the lamp sits. The camera observes the flat surface. The purpose of the camera, acting in conjunction with the system’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), is to recognize hand movements made above the surface as well as a growing list of real world objects placed on the surface.
These capabilities are integrated in the Lampix system so as to meet one of the fundamental goals in the design of the Lampix: that non-technical people are able to use the system straight out of the box, without any training whatsoever. The way the company puts it, the system “intelligently responds” to gestures and objects and is well set up to enable interaction in a natural way.
The system hardware and two examples of the use of the system are illustrated in the figure below.
Left: the Lampix tabletop AR system. Center: a user interacting with graphics. Right: object identification mode.
The company makes particular note of the fact that a wide variety of flat surfaces and a wide range of locations are suitable for use with the Lampix system. The company web site explains that the system can be used to share and collaborate in a number of ways. Special note is made of the fact that one of the means of interaction is with a pen and paper.
A video demonstrating a prototype Lampix system in operation can be found at the end of this article.
Specifications for the Lampix system include the following:
- Connectivity: WiFi / LAN / Bluetooth / USB2.0
- Dimensions: 13” x 8.6” x 36” (33 x 21.8 x 91.4 cm)
- Weight: approximately 6 lbs. (2.7kg) (including the stand)
- Video resolution: 1280 x 800
- Depth resolution: 1280 x 720
- Contrast: 20,000:1
- Projection area: At the standard height of 35” (89cm), the image that can be produced by the projector is 23” x 37” (58 x 94cm). If the Lampix is mounted higher or lower, the image size and luminosity will vary. Upon startup, Lampix calibrates and determines its distance and orientation relative to the flat surface upon which it is projecting.
- Touch interface: multi touch operation
- Projector luminosity: 500-700 lumens
- Application runtime environment: HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript
- Storage: 32GB eMMC
- Sound: two way stereo speakers
- At maximum projector brightness, the sound level produced by the Lampix is about 23dB.
- The current prototype consumes 150W.
“As Lampix is a WiFi enabled device, it is possible to create apps that communicate with other Lampix devices on local or remote networks. Standard Lampix API functions include video-streaming and synchronization with other Lampix devices.”
The company is encouraging third parties to develop apps with new kinds of interactivity and images. The goal of this encouragement is to grow the company’s machine learning visual engine.
To enable app development, the company is offering the Lampix Developer Edition. It comes equipped with a toolkit intended to assist developers to create their own HTML5 based apps. The toolkit includes open source applications for:
- Object recognition
- Document sharing
- Training
- Gaming
As an alternative to creating their own apps, Lampix has implemented a so-called PIX blockchain token system. The purpose of the PIX blockchain is to assist the community of Lampix users in the generation of an image database. PIX allows “businesses and individuals to request and submit object reference images and category descriptions.” Company literature explains that the system is decentralized and open to all users and developers. When developers are ready to bring their app to market, the app can be sold for PIX tokens to generate revenue.
Commenting on the state of readiness to produce Lampix systems, the company explained that initial manufacturing risk will be mitigated by using only use of-the-shelf hardware. At this time, the company reports having built multiple working prototypes and that some of these prototypes are in the hands of pilot customers.
Lampix has chosen to fund further product development on Kickstarter. The campaign can be found here. At the time this article is written, 63 backers have pledged $20,226 towards a goal of $200,000. The project will only be funded if it reaches this goal by April 15.
Assuming that the Kickstarter funding is successful, the company plans to ship the first round of Lampix Developer Editions in November, 2018. The second round of Lampix Developer Editions would ship in January, 2019. -Arthur Berman
Analyst Comment
We have seen many of this kind of product over the years, but few that have actually generated any significant volume. Sony has been trying out the concept and we reported on a new product from Haier in MDM after we saw it at MWC (Haier Projects a Positive Image) (BR)
