The Magic Bench

Roberto Saracco August 5, 2017 Blog 596 Views

Sitting on a magic bench you can find yourself talking to an elephant. Credit: Disney Research

Disney has always been about … magic, so no wonder they came up with a Magic Bench.

At Disney research they have come up  creating a magic bench for you to sit on and enjoy an immersive virtual reality. The bench is placed in front of a very large screen reflecting your image. The system captures your figure, gestures and voice and create the illusion of being transported into a magic space where you see and interact with Disney characters, a cute elephant, a peevish frog and so on.

To further enhance the perception an haptic interface is placed in the bench so that when the little, but heavy, elephant sits by your side the bench feels the weight, and you too!

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About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.

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