Abstract: A small microcontroller based robotic toy includes various rich features on its small footprint. User input sensing includes a smooth scrolling enabled resistive or capacitive touch sensing pad primarily for child-friendly menu navigation. Pressure activated squeeze areas of the robot surface facilitate exchange of special gifts and emoticons through a network. Additionally, the robotic toy allows a user to experience a multimodal engagement visually via a miniature OLED graphics display, audibly by an embedded audio system for producing sounds and through haptics using a vibrotactile effects generator.

Abstract: A system that allows humans to interact with and send touch remotely to their pets. The system has a tangible interface for humans that allow both visual and tactile modes of communication on one end, and a haptic pet wearable jacket on the other end. It allows humans to interact remotely with pets even when they are not physically at the same place as the pets. On the tangible interface for humans, human views the real time movement of the pet in the form of a pet doll sitting on a mechanical positioning system. The movement of the actual pet is tracked using a web camera. The pet doll has embedded touch sensing circuit that senses and transmit data wirelessly to the computer. This touch data is sent across the Internet to another computer which is connected to the haptic pet wearable jacket. The real pet wears the pet jacket, which is able to reproduce the touching sensation via vibrating motors. The pet owner can tangibly touch the pet doll, sending touch signals to the pet in a remote location.

Abstract: An interactive system for interacting with a device in a mixed reality environment, the system comprising an object having at least two surfaces, each surface having a marker, an image capturing device to capture images of the object in a first scene, and a microprocessor configured to track the position and orientation of the object in the first scene by identifying a marker. In addition, the microprocessor is configured to respond to manipulation of the object causes the device to perform an associated operation.

Abstract: An interactive system for providing a mixed reality experience to a user, the system including an object having at least two surfaces, where each surface having a marker. The system also including an image capturing device to capture images of the object in a first scene and a microprocessor configured to track the position and orientation of the object in the first scene by tracking at least two surfaces of the object and identifying at least one marker. In addition, the microprocessor is also configured retrieve multimedia content associated with an identified marker and generates a second scene including the associated multimedia content superimposed over the first scene in a relative position to the identified marker and the microprocessor is configured to provide a mixed reality experience to a user using the second scene.