Portal boxes let you reach inside the screen

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The real potential comes from connecting two Portal boxes through the internet, allowing two people anywhere in the world to interact with the same virtual space from a distance

With Portal boxes, two people connected to the internet can literally reach behind a screen to interact with the virtual world inside together

Users can add other physical objects to the Portal box's environment and adjust the scene to their liking

The word "portal" conjures up an image of a hole leading from one world into another, and in a way, that's exactly how these Portal boxes work

With Portal boxes, two people connected to the internet can literally reach behind a screen to interact with the virtual world inside together

With Portal boxes, two people connected to the internet can literally reach behind a video screen to interact with the virtual world inside together

Using a simple setup of a webcam, a monitor, and a green screen, Vidheecharoen built a television-looking device with a hole on the side, dubbed a "Portal box"

Article Summary

Thanks to touchscreens and motion controls, we're able to interact with anything with a screen like never before; but this still leaves that glass barrier between us and the virtual world that we see behind it. We can't just leap into our televisions or computers like Mike Teavee in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and we certainly can't jump into the same space as someone else on the other side of the world. Now though, thanks to one design student's Portal boxes, we can at least reach our hands behind the screen along with another person connected to the internet, and interact with a virtual world together.

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