Kissable poster developed by Japanese university

Researchers at a Japanese university have taken interactive advertising to the next level: they've developed a poster that reacts to being kissed, Gizmodo reports.

A group at Keio University (who, I suspect, spent too much time wishing the moving pictures in the Harry Potter books were a part of our world, too) have created a poster that changes based on the proximity of the viewer to the image.

You can see how it works in this video.

The image's reaction isn't based on touch sensors, so you don't have to actually kiss the poster. It is based on how close the viewer is to the image.

While the project is still in its early stages, the team is working to develop the kissable poster for commercial uses. As Keidai Ogawa of Keio University explains in the video, the original thought was to have a poster, like the ones teens hang in their bedrooms, that will react when a viewer interacts with it. Perhaps, it can be restricted to one person per poster. Imagine the sort of cross-contamination you'd find if everyone started kissing advertisements in public places.

The group is also working on developing "improvements" to the posters, as requested by focus groups:

"The current system only produces visual changes, but we could also include the scent of shampoo from the person's hair, or a lemon-flavored film on the lips, or a speaker that whispers 'I love you,'" said Ogawa to Diginfo TV.

In the meantime, the group at Keio University is working on an iPad application with images that react the same way, using either the camera or the light sensor to detect how close a person is to the screen.

Personally, I could see this technology being a lot more fun and a lot less gross if the proximity sensors could also sense certain motions, like dancing. How cool would it be to dance along with your favourite pop star in your bedroom when listening to their song on the radio?