10 Best Real-Life Examples of Interactive Touchscreen Experiences

Are you looking for some ideas about what’s possible when creating an interactive touchscreen experience for your customers (or visitors)?

One of the best things about touchscreens are that the only limits are your imagination.

After all, more and more audiences are seeing the digital and physical worlds as one, and with the extraordinary pace of change in technology, we’re experiencing profound shifts in user expectations – with more emphasis on personalisation, virtual reality, infrared camera tracking, multi-touch hardware, 3D models and AI (to name just a few!).

With so many different types of interactivity and experiences becoming more diverse – including digital innovation and leading-edge technologies – there are some absolutely wonderful (and extremely creative) real-life examples out there to show you just what’s possible to accomplish with an interactive touchscreen experience.

We’ve listed some of our absolute faves below!

1. Woodbots Pilots

“Relax. Take a deep breath. Spread your wings and fly like a bird. How quickly you can reach the goal?”

If gaming is your thing, Woodbots Pilots from RISE Interactive is a delightful example of interactive technology at its most playful.

Based in the reception area of Skellefteå Airport, this experience takes place on an 82-inch touchscreen. You control characters known as ‘Wood Bots’ via an uber-modern 3D camera – so your own movements control theirs, and navigate through your gaming environment.

It’s not only a lovely way to spend time waiting on your flight (or for your loved ones returning), it’s also the brainchild of a research project originally intended to tie together various industries and businesses Skellefteå innovation-driven region.

Apparently, it’s an experience “born out of pure northern creativity” – which is partly why we love it so! After all, creativity’s what we thrive on.

Check out the video below:

2. Eyecatcher

Next on our list is another beauty from RISE Interactive – this time a 3D prototype which combines eye-tracking with a gestural camera. Eyecatcher started off from the idea that dirty hands and tech aren’t a good combination – but what could human-machine interaction in the processing industry look like in the next five to 10 years?

That was the brief posed by ABB Corporate Research, and RISE got to work showing how operators can navigate on a computer using both their eyes and gestural hand movements to retrieve the data they need. The developer (formerly known as Interactive Institute) says they took inspiration from the games industry.

Here’s what Ru Zarin, an Interaction Designer at RISE, had to say about the explorative approach of the project:

“We have been working together with ABB for several years, building prototype concepts for the future, and we keep track of current technology. ABB already had connections with the Swedish company Tobii and ABB knew that we were interested in exploring the use of Microsoft’s Kinect Camera.”

You’ll see from the video below that technically it’s not exactly a touchscreen, as you don’t need to touch!

3. Valo Motion’s Augmented Climbing Wall

Wouldn’t it be great to whack a virtual bat or kick meteors before they fall to Earth in order to keep fit? We certainly think so!

Featured as a demo at ISE 2018, this augmented climbing wall from Valo Motion (a Finnish game developer and hardware manufacturer) is just so innovative and fun – essentially turning it into a massive interactive touchscreen.

The good news is, you can actually try it out here in the UK – along with other countries including France, Spain, Germany, Benelux, Canada, China, and Thailand after their partnership with Valo Motion and Entre-Prises. Pretty nifty, eh?

Gaming combined with fitness is always sure to be a winner, and we’d personally love to give this a try – doesn’t it look fun?!

4. Digital Information Wall

We call this Digital Information Wall from teamLab ‘shopping of the future’ – and we love it! This was its beta version, but it’s essentially a touchscreen building guide and display window for retail in Shibuya, Tokyo.

The result is a huge interactive touchscreen wall that individuals can use to browse products they’re interested in from every shop within the shopping centre its located in – with up to 1,000 photos being displayed on the screen at any one time.

All shoppers have to do is click on a photo to bring up more detailed information on each product, along with its sales location and related products they might also be interested in.

This is just a fantastic example of interactive digital signage for consumers. We’ll be really surprised if we don’t see more of these in shopping centres across the UK very soon!

5. The Royal Mint

When The Royal Mint wanted to connect visitors with the heritage and craftsmanship behind their coins, POP created an immersive touchscreen experience to WOW them.

Beautiful imagery and design draw visitors into our immersive and interactive experiences. Users can zoom into the detail of the coins, pull out areas of interest and tap for more information about one coin, before swiping away to learn about another.

As part of the experience, we also produced a series of beautiful films that highlight the design process and skills of those making the Mint’s iconic coins.

6. FaceTouch

Another great example from teamLab, FaceTouch is a futuristic virtual reception system that allows visitors to see the faces of every member of staff on a touch display. Selecting the person you have an appointment with will notify them directly via a PC or mobile app – or even via email.

Described as a “new way of communication suitable for a new generation of people using social media”, the app allows you to select someone just by seeing their face. The idea behind it is that we make so many connections via social media that it can be tricky to always remember someone’s name.

This solution may be an ideal fit for busy offices and even a way of streamlining corporate communications within larger organisations. Another important thing to mention about this app is that it can only be used to call members of staff, so there is no risk of information or data leaks.

Got to say, we’re totally on-board!

7. Collect & Connect Multi-User Interactive Table

Developed by New Zealand Company Flightless, this Collect & Connect Multi-User Interactive Table was developed for Auckland Stories Exhibition and is just a really lovely example of an interactive table game for 9 to 12-year-olds.

Using 3D models to bring together a treasure hunt feel, players find themselves in the role of ‘curators’ who have to hunt down objects related to specified topics using clues, colour coding and iconography whilst moving around the table to get the most out of the experience.

It may be fun, but it’s also a way to introduce visitors to the method museums use to collect, curate and view data.

The winner finds the correct set of objects as quickly as possible, to have their time entered into a daily ranking. However, once you’ve collected the objects, you can also interact with them and learn more – as each is an actual record of an item held within the museum’s digital collection.

So, it’s a learning experience, too!

8. A Musical Wall Where Little People Live

Another fantastic example from teamLab, this delightful and utterly charming Musical Wall Where Little People Live plays sounds and allows people to attach various different objects to the wall, so little people living there (oblivious to us, the audience) can play with them.

Depending on what you’ve stuck on the wall, the little people can jump, slide or climb on them whilst smiley face seeds descend from above. When the smiley faces land on the mushrooms, trees or long sticks of ice, they play different corresponding tones! The pitch will also change depending on how high the objects have been placed on the wall.

There’s also ladders, birds and cows, and all sorts of other fascinating details to capture your attention!

This is such an immersive and gorgeous experience to be a part of, which is why we definitely had to include it on our list. We could easily spend hours playing about with this!

9. Connecting! Block Town

If you’ve ever played about with toy cars or trains as a kid, Connecting! Block Town is a fabulous digital example of what’s possible with an interactive touch table.

Essentially, cars, trains and even planes are digitally projected running over roads, railroad tracks and lands on the massive screen – but they’re also connected by physical wooden blocks that you can pick up and move around the table.

So, when children place different blocks onto the table, the townscape changes and more cars and trains turn up. By working as a team, children can create entire lovely little towns together that function perfectly whilst also being bright and engaging to look at.

There are so many fun interactive experiences for kids these days – but we can tell it’s probably be fun for grown-up kids, as well!

10. Interactive Magnetic Field Theatre

Last but certainly not least, this beautiful Interactive Magnetic Field Theatre is an art installation that’s really out of this world!

Actually based on three separate ‘worlds’ – Space, Earth and Electrons – this digital interactive installation reacts to the way you move around freely within the art space, building up a visual display demonstrating the various forces of magnetism that are usually invisible to the naked eye.

The artwork is rendered in real-time – no pre-recorded animations – and changes depending on your position and behaviour within the space. That’s what makes this installation so special – the artwork you create just by being there is completely unique, and no-one else will have exactly the same experience as you have (as it can never be replicated).

There’s also a Spintronics mode where you can direct and rotate electrons to see how they react (they may be fast or slow depending on the direction).

Again, something we could easily spend hours taking in.

Could an interactive touchscreen experience be a good fit for your business?

If like us, you’ve fallen in love with some of the examples above, you might want to see what might be possible when creating an interactive touchscreen experience of your own.

There’s no harm in being inspired by some of these gorgeous examples – or perhaps you have an idea that could be an amazing fit for your business (or museum, gallery or archives) and get your customers/audience interacting in new and fun ways!

If you’d like to know more or where to start, the best advice we have for you is to seek out an interactive design agency – or touchscreen developer who specialises in interactive experiences (rather than just hardware) – so you can have an initial chat and get a better idea of what’s possible. You should also be able to see previous examples of their work.

Remember, with all the latest innovations in technology, the only limit’s your imagination!

Turn your vision into a reality

We really hope you’ve enjoyed looking at some of these inspiring and memorable interactive touchscreen experiences and artworks. Some of these are just stunning to look at – whereas others are not only fun, but also very educational!

Regardless of the kind of experience you want customers to take away, there are plenty of options to choose from when creating an interactive touchscreen experience. And those options are literally expanding all the time.

If you’d like to create an engaging and immersive touchscreen experience, we’d recommend finding an interactive touchscreen specialist or developer who can talk you through your options and tell you more about what’s possible. And remember, if you have something you really want to try, don’t be afraid to ask!

If you’d like to find out more about what’s possible with an interactive touchscreen experience like the ones on this list, the team at POPcomms is ready and waiting to help. Contact us on +44 (0)117 329 1712 or hello@popcomms.com to discuss your ideas.