Hachi is launching its smart home portable projector at this week’s CES 2020, which turns any flat surface into an interactive touchscreen with an ultra-short digital light processor and an HD display of up to 120 in.
The projector, called Hachi Infinite, employs a proprietary multi-touch technology called AnyTouch that works on all surfaces and enables responsiveness on par with capacitive displays. The projector integrates smart vision and deep learning technology and can be voice controlled via Amazon Alexa. The portable projector also can be used with third-party apps, games and entertainment with touchscreen functionality and wireless pairing on iOS and Android devices.
Tang Song, VP of technology at Hachi, told Electronics360 that the portable projector can be used by all ages for a touchscreen experience with apps, websites, games, health, fitness and business presentations. It could be used to teach children educational games and tools and for smart home enthusiasts, gamers and professionals in the workplace.
“[The projector] supports wireless screen casting (via Airplay, DLNA and Miracast) across devices for convenient presentations and functional demos in any location,” Song said. “In addition to being useful for individual consumers in various settings, it would absolutely be a functional tool for retailers, museums, etc. to leverage and provide visitors with an interactive experience in these locations.”
The device weighs less than 3 lbs with a built-in battery, an 8 megapixel camera, HD display, microphone, dual 5 W speakers and it is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 eight-core processor.
Since the projector can be displayed on countertops, it could help with cooking recipes. Source: Hachi
Song said the projector can work on virtually any flat surface including countertops, tables, desks, floors and walls and becomes a touchscreen with 10 points of touch. It works both in horizonal and vertical modes and generates a 23 in interactive touchscreen like that of a tablet or laptop. Computer vision tracks and reads a user’s touch and detects each tap on the surface with minimal delay, Song added. Multiple users can operate the touchscreen simultaneously as well so users could draw on the same screen, play two person games and more.
When asked about why a projector that is meant to interact physically would need Amazon Alexa voice commands, Song said: “In addition to functioning as a touchscreen projector, users can interact with physically, it also works as a traditional ultra-short throw projector for entertainment or office purposes, and offers a Bluetooth speaker function to pair seamlessly with any device. In these scenarios, voice control with natural language processing and voice recognition capabilities comes in handy for hands-free operation. The voice assistant can also help users wake up the device at any time, set alarms, check the weather, play music and more.”
The Hachi Infinite is launching to the public and will be on display for hands-on demos during CES 2020, where it has already been chosen as an Innovation Award Honoree, and will be available for purchase after with a slated shipping date in March.
CES takes place Jan. 7-10 in Las Vegas.
