Dubbed the Magic Bench, this augmented/mixed reality experience allows users to engage with animated characters without wearing a headset or using a smartphone. By simply sitting on the Magic Bench, situated in front of a television screen, you’ll be able to hear, feel, and interact with elephants, giraffes, and presumably, everything in between.
With help from augmented reality, mixed reality, and haptic technology, it really feels like there’s an animated character sitting, standing, or talking back to you. Plus, because of it’s lack of necessary equipment, multiple people can experience the Magic Bench at once, unlike all other augmented and mixed reality experiences.
Augmented and virtual reality are all anyone can talk about in the tech world right now. Between Apple’s ARKit on their upcoming iPhone and more VR fail videos that you can handle, tech enthusiasts have more than enough to be excited about when it comes to this innovative technology. However, the Magic Bench takes things to a whole new level. Unfortunately, if you think you’re going to be able to have a Magic Bench in your home, you’re about to be sorely disappointed. This video was merely a proof of concept for the experiment, with few plans mentioned about the future of the technology. If you want to see it in action, however, you’ll have a chance to see it at Siggraph in Los Angeles this week. Read more about augmented reality on TechCo Photos: Disney Research
