RoomAlive, a new innovation by Microsoft Research, can revamp any enclosed room into a realistic and synergistic gaming experience.

The technology, demonstrated by Microsoft Research last Sunday, uses a multi-projector system that can scale and adjust the video game content to the applicable physical surfaces and available space. The innovation also gives the players the ability to dodge, shoot, touch and maneuver the projected video game content seamlessly within the allowable vicinity of the system.

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RoomAlive's technology came from IllumiRoom, a technology also demonstrated by Microsoft and initially shown to the public at CES 2013. The IllumiRoom uses the Microsoft Kinect to detect and map out the room's physical space and boundaries.

The newer technological advance from Microsoft now uses a procam, a camera that measures depth, along with a wide field of view projector. Kinect sensors are also used and, of course, a computer to make the calculations. The Kinect sensors will map out the room and take note of the items and objects inside it. Then, the wide field projector is used to project the immersive display.

Six Kinect sensors will be used to track the player's head movement and position inside the room, while an integrated model of the room will be produced by the six auto-calibrating procam units.

However, RoomAlive is still a proof-of-concept and has yet to find a potential application.

Wanda Meloni, M2 Research president and founder, said that RoomAlive has great potential for a variety of useful non-traditional video gaming and non-gaming purposes. Fields in education, medicine, and training are some that would benefit with the potential of RoomAlive, according to Meloni.

TagsRoomAlive, Kinect