International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 4, Issue 6, June 2014 1 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org SmartX Virtuality: A Smarter way to Interact Virtually with Physical Objects Ajay Kumar Singh * , Souvik Roy * , Simrat Sodhi * , Daksh Goel * , Shaifali Madan Arora ** * Bachelors Student, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University ** Assistant Professor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Abstract- The paper presents a new approach to interact with real world objects from a distance. This approach is guided with a purpose to modify the attributes of the real world objects and establish communication between multiple such objects using gesture control. The user is required to point the camera of a smartphone at the physical object, the object gets recognized automatically and a graphical user interface (GUI) is mapped onto the smartphone screen. This GUI furbishes the user with multifarious choices to alter the properties of that object. The paper attempts to elucidate the implementation of the system, the functionalities it has to offer and the aspects that make it better than the previous systems. Index Terms- Augmented Reality, GUI, Smart object, Smart phone I. INTRODUCTION n today’s smart-phone governed world, people do not take their eyes off the phone screen. This paper explores an approach where controlling real life objects require minimal visual attention. People can control the attributes of a physical object and the relationship between multiple physical objects using gestures [1]. The method developed is an embodiment of augmented reality technology [2] and smart objects. It has a server at its heart and this server establishes wireless communication between the physical objects and smart phone. The system devised has been named SmartX Virtuality (SXV). SXV is compatible even on low-end phones. It is an affordable system. It works well even on android SDK 2.2. The method devised is an attempt at closer integration of the physical and virtual worlds. II. IMPLEMENTATION SXV incorporates augmented reality into everyday objects [3] seamlessly. It gives the user a platform to contemplate and control real world objects using an augmented reality based depiction of the object on the phone screen. The concept involves a smart phone connected to a server and this server is connected to the physical objects. The server has the primary task of tying together the system (see Figure1). The instance an action is executed at either of the two ends, data is sent to the server informing it of the action being performed. It is then the server‘s responsibility to comprehend the data and forward it to the respective interface. The smart phone captures the image of a real world object. Using digital image processing, the object is detected by the phone and a wireless connection is established to the server and further to the real world object. The moment the connection is made, a virtual representation of the objects pops- up on the smart phone screen. This representation is laced with multiple functionalities using a graphical user interface based on augmented reality. Once the GUI appears, modification of attributes can be done using gestures. Figure 1: Block Diagram of the SMARTX VIRTUALITY system with the server interconnecting the smart phone and the smart objects The heart of the Server is microcontroller MSP430G2553 from Texas Instruments [4] which is used to process the input instructions coming from Smartphone. After getting input bytes from smartphone, the Server finds out which object needs to be connected to Server and what property of it needs to be changed. The communication established between server and physical objects can be either by Bluetooth or by RF and communication between Server and Smartphone is only using Bluetooth. Some hardware implementations of this concept include an RGB lamp system. The user needs to have a view of RGB lamp through the camera of smartphone and the GUI for the lamp appears (see figure 3) on the screen. This GUI enables the user to change the colours of the lamp, turn the lamp on/off, control the physical scroll of the lamp and even connect scroll to multiple lamps. A line drawn to a specific colour in the colour palette from the bordered circle (see figure 2) will change the colour of the RGB lamp to that colour. A line to the green circle turns on the lamp. Similarly, a line to the Red circle turns it off. Each lamp also has a scroll attached to it so that the control remains manual as well. To increase the flexibility of the system there is a choice of both automatic and manual control. In case of presence of two lamps, a line is drawn on screen can interconnect them (see figure 3). The scrolls can be exchanged such that scroll 1 directs the behaviour of lamp 2 and scroll 2 of lamp 1. I