• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 3, 2008

Samsung is putting its technology together with Reactrix to bring interactive displays to Hilton hotels in the second quarter of this year, with a preview to be displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.

The interactive WaveScape installations combine Reactrix's gesture-based technology, which allows passers-by to control and manipulate digital displays, with Samsung's LCD 570DX digital displays.

In coordination with the rollout of WaveScape, Reactrix is also stepping up efforts to integrate mobile device interactivity with its ad displays, via cellular broadband. On the theme "unplug and play," the mobile interactivity will eventually be featured at malls and movie theaters throughout the top 25 DMAs.

The interactive display can first be triggered up to 15 feet away; like other Reactrix installations, the displays beckon the passerby closer by demonstrating their interactive potential. Once the passerby is engaged, the connection between their movements and the movements on the screen is intuitive, based on sensors that detect their gestures.

By calibrating the displays so the interactivity "scales up" as an individual approaches, the Reactrix-Samsung installations make it possible to engage groups of people. For example, several people might manipulate the display as a group looks on, taking turns to see what different effects can be produced, including how objects interact on the screen.

The new displays will be installed in some of Hilton's larger "hub" hotels around the world, allowing guests to navigate an array of information about hotel services and facilities, as well as electronic check-in. Hilton hopes the displays will eventually function as kind of "virtual concierge."