Over the past few years we've gained a lot of experience creating interactive exhibits for prominent Czech science centres. What's special about these projects is the huge variety of sensors and active parts. We connect them together and operate them with an embedded app. Each exhibit is designed from the ground up by us and our partners.
A few things that might interest you
- Most solutions are based on a mini-PC with Embedded Windows OS, or Raspberry with Linux in specific cases.
- The interconnection with sensors and active parts is done through our custom-built interface IOFireBug.
- Advanced I/O interfaces include laser sensors, Microsoft Kinect, barcode scanners and RFID readers.
Perfect user experience
Some exhibitions include tablets preloaded with custom-made software to guide visitors. We have implemented a few neat features to allow easy management of several tens of these devices:
- Bulk device charging.
- The device is locked so visitors cannot alter its setup and functions.
- We have implemented a reliable way to update both software and content remotely.
2D and 3D games
When talking interactive kiosks and displays, games obviously come to mind. For 2D games we use the XNA game engine (it supports basic in-game physics). For 3D games there's an obvious choice: Unity3D — multiplatform, modular and awesome. The games can work with Kinect, HTC Vive or augmented reality.
Our Dev Stack for interactive displays
Hardware
PCs, tablets, Kinect, HTC Vive, AR markers, FLIR cameras, Raspberry Pi, large displays/projectors, laser rangefinders and more.
OS
Windows 8.1 (including Embedded Industry Pro/Retail), Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, Linux (Raspberry, Suse).
Software
.NET Framework and WPF, XNA, OpenCV, web services, Unity3D, augmented reality.