UK-based "tech alchemist" firm Engage yesterday launched its Flux Innovation Lounge. The Lounge is a place to see some of today’s advanced technology put into practical use – and a place for Engage to show off some of its work. Visitors can expect 18-foot (5.5-m) touchscreens, holographic cabinets and immersive environments.
Engage designs and produces experiential technology concepts for its clients, with a view to driving brand engagement. It has worked with a multitude of high-profile organizations, such as Bloomberg, Sky, Ferrari, Nike and Visa to name but a handful. The firm uses a mixture of technologies and works with partners to meet the briefs that it receives. Yesterday’s event showcased some of the work that the company has produced.
Most prevalent amongst the technology on show were MultiTaction's (formerly MultiTouch) 55-inch ultra-thin bezel displays. The screens are Full HD and offer fast response multi-touch functionality. They can be stacked, used flat as interactive table-tops, and joined together to create super-sized displays.
Indeed, the most dramatic exhibit on display was MultiTaction's iWall – a 5 x 2.5 m (16.4 x 18 ft) interactive wall made up of 12 of the MultiTaction displays. Engage previously used the iWall as part a project to create an immersive business workspace. It provides users with the capability for unlimited simultaneous touch, infra-red pen input and object recognition.
The MultiTaction displays were also demonstrated running a visual interpretation of Bloomberg's news feeds, that was designed for the foyer at the news outlet's New York offices. The content itself is a juicy piece of design, full of color, which is complemented by gestural touch controls that have been built into the interactive version.
Other highlights at the Innovation Lounge include Space3D's holographic signage, which although not new technology, still impresses with its vivid animated holograms, and 7th Sense's Totem Paul sculpture – a small-scale example of its 3D projection mapping capabilities. An Oculus Rift is on display running a virtual reality scuba diving simulation, and visitors can also see a Double Robotics telepresence robot in the flesh.
Tours of the Flux Innovation Lounge can be arranged by contacting Engage.
The video below is Engage's showreel, which shows a number of the technologies that are on display at the Innovation Lounge. You can also see some more of them in our photo gallery.
Source: Engage
