1 Introduction
This paper presents AIREAL, a technology that delivers interactive
tactile experiences in free air without the need for a user to
wear or touch any physical device. We were motivated by the
rapid expansion of interactive computer graphics from the desktop
and movie screen into the real world. Recent developments of
inexpensive gesture tracking and recognition technologies, such
as the Microsoft Kinect or Nintendo Wii, have enabled millions of
people to play computer games using their bodies (Figure 1). Furthermore,
with the rapid improvement of computer vision tracking
and registration algorithms, development of novel projection devices
enable graphical images to be overlaid on the real environment,
enabling entirely new spatial augmented reality (AR) applications
[Wilson 2012]. As highly interactive computer graphics
continue to evolve on mobile platforms, these natural interfaces
will become accessible anywhere and at any time. The line between
real and virtual is, indeed, rapidly blurring.