ChromoLCD: LCD-based Compact Reprogrammer for On-the-fly High-Resolution Images on Photochromic Surfaces
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3731459.3773308.pdf
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9.07 MB
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Checksum (MD5)
2bf4c1376274f37966be214b27125bb7
Author(s)
Zhu, Yunyi
Li, Qingyuan
Yan, Katherine
Guan, Emily
Luchianov, Alexandru
Hen, Eden
Mueller, Stefanie
Date Issued
March 7, 2026
Publisher
ACM|Twentieth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
Citation
Yunyi Zhu, Qingyuan Li, Katherine Arianna Yan, Emily Guan, Alexandru Luchianov, Eden Hen, and Stefanie Mueller. 2026. ChromoLCD: LCD-based Compact Reprogrammer for On-the-fly High-Resolution Images on Photochromic Surfaces. In Proceedings of the Twentieth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 12, 1–10.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Color-changing materials, such as photochromic pigments, allow objects to have reprogrammable multicolor surface images. Existing systems that reprogram these images are based on projectors and LEDs, each with advantages and limitations in device portability and image resolution. In this paper, we present ChromoLCD, a surface reprogrammer that uses a liquid crystal display (LCD) to achieve a compact handheld device without sacrificing image resolution. ChromoLCD consists of an LCD panel with a custom backlight containing R,G,B and UV LEDs, forming high-resolution light patterns with the required wavelengths. The compact form factor of ChromoLCD enables on-the-fly reprogramming of everyday surfaces. Our technical evaluation shows that ChromoLCD achieves a resolution of 25 ppi, which is 8 times better than the prior work. We demonstrate ChromoLCD with three applications, including the stamping of reprogrammable AR markers on a kitchen counter, on-the-fly designs on personal accessories, and reference pictures on a whiteboard.
Description
TEI ’26, Chicago, IL, USA
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
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Creative Commons Attribution
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1145/3731459.3773308
