Microsoft's Zanzibar project blends digital and physical worlds

Microsoft has always looked for different ways to integrate the physical world with the digital world, such as Hololens and Windows Mixed Impact Glasses. Now its new Project Zanzibar, perhaps the most exciting attempt to date, has been unveiled with a flexible, With the latest integrated technology.


The Zanzibar project is a portable mat that comes with NFC, the same technology that allows you to pay fast in shops and restaurants by bringing your smartphone closer to the drive. The mat has capacitive sensors for detecting gestures and multi-touch gestures, Allows them to identify the physical objects placed on them.

"We started with a simple idea, what if we could blur the gap between the physical and digital worlds? What if we could play games and cards while watching your actions come alive on the screen," the research team explained. Potential of the Zanzibar project, which may change the way we interact with computers dramatically.

The team has set an example by playing games so that we can put standard games on the mat and provide unique identifiers worldwide, allowing data to be stored for each object. While combining physical games with NFC chips and enhanced reality is nothing new, The exciting thing about Project Zanzibar is that it can work with any ready-made toy, not just specially made and expensive figurines.

As the video below shows, the project allows you to interact with real world objects, where you can simply place an object on the mat and see it on the screen. Each object contains a globally unique identifier, so it is not only automatically recognized; it keeps a record of how you use the object Records objects by location, movement, and direction on the mat using low-cost NFC stickers.

Each unique label allows you to store the object's history and then access and update it later, while I / O tags allow for more interaction such as pressing buttons and switching LEDs, while the mat can sense hand movements, multi-touch input, and even your smartphone. Move it across the mat to change what appears on the screen.

Zanzibar has a lot of potential for creativity for children in particular, so they can use their games to tell interactive stories that others can see later. As for education, the project can be an interactive tool for learning spelling or writing or solving equations Math or answer a series of questions using objects, letters or words.