Touch-screen kiosks have taken off, but it’s not always easy to find space to install them. A new IBM display can turn any surface into a virtual, interactive touchscreen computer, by removing the physical screen so that interactive images can be cast onto almost any surface.

A wall-mounted projector, paired with a camera, shows images on the floor or wall. The camera tracks people’s interactions with the visuals, and the system interprets them the way it would a moving mouse or a tap on a screen.

The system could be used by retailers to lure shoppers with interactive window displays, airports might offer visually aided instructions throughout their terminals, and in a lab or office, people might use it like a dry-erase board to show Excel spreadsheets and other interactive material.

The prototype is not for sale yet but is already used at the METRO Group Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany.

Via Times.