Keyfleas is an interactive augmented projection project that was created using Processing software by a first-year undergraduate called Miles Hiroo Peyton in 2013.
This project involves a Pico projector that projects particles onto an Apple keyboard. The projector is attached to a table using a Manfrotto magic arm.
The video below demonstrates how the Keyfleas move around on a two-dimensional area, where they travel around in flock like groups to the last pressed key. They avoid touching the letterforms on the keyboard and instead form a crowd around it. In the video’s description, the creator described an event that occurs occasionally where a hostile tentacle invades the two-dimensional area and disturbs the fleas. Near the end of the video, you can see the calibration process where the user is setting the areas that will be pressed and that are to be avoided by the fleas.
I think this project has been around for a few years as I remember similar technology being used in the fast-food restaurant Mcdonalds as an entertaining interactive experience for children. The projection also included particles that would move around and would react in correspondence to where the kids were standing.
However, I believe this technology has the potential to be taken further, for instance, it could be used to aid surgeons and provide a real-time projection on where they could make incisions. On the other hand, the educational potential is very strong. Projectors and smart boards are already well established in the educational system, what if projections could be cast around the classroom for the whole class to engage with for instance. In conclusion, I feel this technology is still in its early days and is yet to be used to its full extent.
Materialising Digital Culture 