The I/O bulb and the luminous room

Abstract

We introduce a new device called the I/O Bulb, an evolution of the common lightbulb capable of emitting structured light and performing simultaneous optical capture. This basic notion is extended to suggest an architecture called the Luminous Room, in which every portion of an enclosed space is treated by one or another of many coordinated I/O Bulbs. We present a series of implementations - hardware & software systems that mock up I/O Bulb environments; two full I/O-Bulb-based applications; assortments of smaller interaction experiments; and finally a prototype Luminous Room system - in order to demonstrate and substantiate these core ideas.