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Hitachi Projects Through Mirror

There are many ideas floating around in the heads of engineers and executives, some of them don’t make it passed the bathroom (this is where secret talks occur), while others make it into mainstream life. Hitachi has decided to invent a projection system that displays onto a mirror that you can also see yourself.

Sometimes, some of the coolest and most functional ideas don’t get pushed ahead, while other times, some weird and insane ideas make it to press releases. What makes an idea creative and interesting enough for executives to decide to invest?

The word hasn’t spread far, but Hitachi is trying to create its own buzz for its “Miragraphy” concept, and what it might yield for the retail shopping industry. Instead of relying simply on the basic touch screen, Hitachi wants consumers to be able to view and purchase items in the fitting rooms where they are trying on clothes.

The mirror that they are using to “check themselves out”, becomes a selling tool as well. The consumer gets to try on the clothes that they are considering buying, and after, may choose to peruse a selection of accessories and other retail items.

I don’t see this trend hitting the North American markets because consumers here don’t seem to like gizmos and gadgets interrupting their experience. Perhaps this trend may evolve in the Asian markets as they love to sink their teeth into fun little Hello Kitty type, technological gadgets.

The technology that Hitachi is implementing consists of a projector, a mirror, and a personal computer. The whole idea is to be able to see yourself in the mirror while viewing the image. It is hard to say how useful this technology will be, and Hitachi themselves have few answers, but you never know, you may never have to try clothes on again.

Imagine the projector being able to display the image of clothes over your torso. Could be very cool, except, you still don’t know how it really fits. You can at least see how the colors and outfits can be put together without wasting too much time searching for the clothes all over the store.

Perhaps, after choosing the outfit that is right for you, a map of the store shows you where the different items are located. I think we are going a little too far, but maybe Hitachi is listening and getting some ideas from this.

The mirror that Hitachi incorporates must be very special, and the projector lamp will have to be very powerful because their will be much ambient light present. The mirror must then also contain the projected light from the projector lamp so that it does not irritate the person looking at the mirror. Hitachi has certainly been doing some research and spending lots of money on this nefarious projection system.