Technology that allows projections to be interactive has been available
on the market for some time. While interactive whiteboards and projectors have
found their place in the market, smart projectors have not yet succeeded due to
their high cost. These devices maximize the possibilities of interacting with
the environment by making it tactile. Children and adults can enjoy and learn
at the same time thanks to these devices.
To "create new and unusual things," the Bolivian telecommunications engineer Sergio Alcázar has created the start-up, OloTech; the result of the rebelliousness of having heard many times "that cannot be created in Bolivia or Latin America." From there, he has devised a prototype of a projector that makes rooms intelligent. Thanks to him, MIT Technology Review in Spanish has selected Alcázar as one of the Innovators under 35 Latin America 2022.
Interactive or immersive projection requires a computer, projector,
sensors, and software. These requirements raise its cost to the point of making
it prohibitive for many audiences. The young man details: "Instead of
having a table or a smart board, that each team is an expense and consumption
of electricity and bandwidth, I thought why not a single team that can turn all
these spaces into intelligent. Thus, was born his kind of ceiling lamp that
projects in 360 degrees and thanks to its sensors turns any surface into a
tactile one.
In addition, thanks to the QR architecture, it can convert analog
objects into digital ones without the need to buy more equipment. Alcazar has
developed both the hardware and the software that has allowed him to make his
dream of winning the Innovators under 35 Latin America: "The idea was born
in 2015 and when I found out in 2016 about these MIT Technology Review awards
in Spanish I applied, but they did not accept concepts but projects. That
initial rejection led me to continue researching, developing, making the
prototype, launching the company, and now I have managed to finally be awarded
with this device."
Still in the prototype phase, this computer with a rotation system with
integrated projection and motion sensor will soon be on the market thanks to
crowdfunding. The first market in which Alcázar will seek to sell OloTech, an
already patented product, will be the United States. Then Latin America before
jumping to Europe. The engineer adds, "I think we should take advantage of
the technology."
