Disney’s HideOut is a Magical Projector

Disney employs a group of people they call “imagineers,” and the title is charmingly accurate.  One of the team’s latest innovations is a clever handheld projector – HideOut – that is currently only a prototype, but is already showing off some new ways of doing old things, like reading books.  The HideOut projects characters onto the page, referencing invisible UV-printed machine-vision codes to orient the projection to “follow” the page as it moves.  This also allows characters to interact meaningfully with the images on the page, supporting the notion that they are “really there.”  Right now, Disney’s tech is just child’s play, but in the future, HideOut’s seemingly magical interaction between a physical page, a projector, a camera, and a computer could lead to some equally miraculous experiences in the future in a number of fields.