Felt Lab Technology Resources

We are very pleased to have a lab to provide access to interactive digital display equipment as well as a place for people to gather and explore new ways to use the equipment and push the limits on what can be done from a business and creative perspective as well as technology perspective.  A place where both professionals and students collide, create and collaborate.

Since the Felt Lab originally opened in 2011, we have been expanding by doing custom development to support creative projects and by adding more resources such as powerful workstations, software, display equipment and interactivity devices.  We have also been accumulating pre-release developer versions for new equipment such as the Oculus Rift, the new Kinect ONE for Windows, Myo Arm band, SoundLazer, Emotiv Brain Sensor – and we are eagerly waiting for the new Interaxon Muse brain sensor, the Sixense Stem controllers and the META glasses.  We are also on the waiting list for the Canadian release for Google glass!

Our goal at the Felt Lab is to bring together creative minds with the latest interactive display technologies and ensure that our teams of students and professionals have the support they need to explore new, innovative business opportunity concepts.

Wondering what you can do with 3 Kinect cameras and an Oculus Rift VR headset?  Check out this article to see what Virtual and Augmented Reality looks like when it’s combined. What can you imagine creating with this type of technology integration?

While we continue to add new resources to the lab, members of the REAP community expand our Wiki Knowledge Base.  Some extracts from our knowledge base are included in the lists below.

Felt Lab Equipment and Software

The newest additions to the lab are:

  • Thalmic Labs MYO biometric armband – We are in the Alpha Developer program with access to all the support and information you need to explore Myo
  • Oculus Rift VR Headset – Join us to experience and experiment with Virtual Reality! We also have developers who can bring your dreams to life
  •  Interaxon MUSE – an EEG headset allows you to track and train your brainwaves to help you learn how to unwind.
  • SoundLazer – One of the funkiest ways to transmit sound with extreme focus over long distances – Definitely something to experience
  • Axiom AIR 49 Keyboard – We have a whole new  of the lab equipped for exploring sound: from playing it to editing it, we have the equipment and software
  • Emotive Brain Sensor – You can indeed move virtual objects with your brain waves – and you can do it in the Felt Lab
  • Botiful – You can control our Botiful robot remotely through a SKYPE session – rotate, look up and down, move forward and back
  • Acid Pro for creating digital music/sound and Sound Forge digital audio editing software – Come experiment in our Sound Playground!
  • COMING SOON!  Meta Glasses, Sixense STEM controller

We also have….

  • Christie MicroTiles – Build any digital canvass surface you can dream of by assembling any number of MicroTiles
  • Christie DLP Projectors – With 7500 Lumens of projection power, we can build gorgeous unique projection displays
  • Christie LCD Projector – Even our presentation project provides a high quality, rich display surface
  • Christie LCD Flat Panel – Thin Bezels – We have 4 large flat panels arranged in Portrait mode to create one high-resolution display
  • Christie Vista Spyder – THE most powerful graphics processor in the world has been creating some stunning theatre productions this past year.
  • Kommerz MRI – Moving objects on a 2-dimensional surface display allows you to navigate through a 3D world and view the projection of it in real-time
  • Gaming Computers – We have a collection of powerful machines equipped with the power we need for real-time interactive graphic experiences
  • iMac  – With the full Adobe Creative Suite 6 and sound editing software, these machines are waiting for your creative ideas
  • iPad – Mobile devices are also interactive displays and we have a collection of iOS, Android and BlackBerry tablets and phones ready to experiment with
  • Christie Interactivity Kit for MicroTiles – Turn your MicroTile wall into a touch surface with the infrared Interactivity Kit frame
  • GestureTek Cube – With roots going back to University of Waterloo, the Cube is the precursor to the Kinect Camera technology
  • GestureTek ScreenXtreme – Similar to the Cube, but your image is integrated into the graphic scenery and interacts with the graphics
  • GestureTek Illuminate Table – Going WAY beyond tablet gestures, the Illuminate Multi-touch Surface can interact with and track 32 touch points
  • GestureTek Kiosk – You can set up an interactive, standalone display wall anywhere with the Multi-touch Kiosk
  • Microsoft Kinect ONE for Windows  – The Kinect camera is more precise and versatile than ever and we are part of the developer pre-release program
  • Polar Laser Sensor – Infrared multi-touch polar laser uses polar coordinates to interpret interactive touch on any surface

About Infrared Technology

Note that many of the Interactive Digital Display experiences use infrared technology to provide interactive information or commands to the digital displays.

Infrared is used in optical mice to track movement. For larger displays, infrared can also be used to surround a zone and provide 2D coordinates for touch interaction into display software. Finally, there is an option for 3D infrared coordinates that can be generated within an invisible cube zone in mid air.