A week ago I was strolling through my local shopping complex with the kids in tow. The weather was rotten, and I was desperately searching for something to keep them occupied for a few minutes so I could rest my weary bones.

To my surprise it wasn’t a toy store, candy machine, or fountain that provided my rug rats with the sensory distraction they so desperately needed. It was an advertisement. More specifically, an interactive advertisement platform from a company called Reatrix.

Reatrix has come up with a very cool system that consist of a broadband Internet connection, a projector, the “visioning unit”, and a surface to project the display on. The whole unit is actually quite inconspicuous, and only needs four standard power outlets to operate.

All the content resides on the Reatrix network, thus the need for a fast net connection. The day I was at the mall a small gaggle of children seamed to have a blast playing all the different games. Each game had a roughly 10 minute limit, and short ads were shown in between games.

I had the opportunity to play a soccer game, where you feverishly kicked balls into goals, and a boomerang game, where you kicked boomerangs at kangaroos that hopped by.

Although the kids enjoyed stomping on the display surface with all their might, you don’t actually have to make contact with it. Simply waving your foot near the objects being projected registers with the system.

You can learn more about this technology here, and find a location near you here to experience it for yourself.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 11:08 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.