Virtualized tangible programming

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• detecting an object from image data;
• recognizing the object as a numerically quantified object based on a predetermined visual characteristic;
• processing the recognized object into a command region and a quantifier region;
• identifying a command region line segment from the command region of the numerically quantified object;
• identifying a quantifier region line segment from the quantifier region of the numerically quantified object;
• identifying a first visual attribute of the command region line segment;
• identifying a second visual attribute of the quantifier region line segment;
• identifying, based on the first visual attribute of the command region line segment of the recognized object, a programming command to manipulate a virtual object rendered for display in a virtual environment displayed on a display of a computing device;
• identifying a quantifier based on the second visual attribute of the quantifier region line segment of the recognized object;
• determining a first command corresponding to the recognized object based on both the programming command and the quantifier;
• and
• executing, using a processor of the computing device, the first command to manipulate the virtual object.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• presenting a user interface including a virtual environment and a target object;
• determining an initial state of the target object in the virtual environment of the user interface;
• capturing an image of a physical activity surface;
• processing the image to detect two or more physical interface objects in a specific orientation and line segments of the two or more physical interface objects;
• identifying one or more visual attributes of the line segments of the two or more physical interface objects;
• comparing the physical interface objects in the specific orientation to a predefined set of instructions;
• determining a command represented by the physical interface objects in the specific orientation based on the comparison and the one or more visual attributes of the line segments;
• determining, based on the command represented by the physical interface objects, a path through the virtual environment for the target object to follow in the virtual environment;
• and
• displaying a path projection in the user interface along the path for presentation to a user.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving, from a video capture device, a video stream that includes a physical activity scene of a physical activity surface proximate to a display device, and one or more physical interface objects placed on the physical activity scene and physically interactable with by a user;
• processing, using one or more computing devices, the video stream to detect the one or more line segments of the physical interface objects included in the physical activity scene;
• recognizing a first object of the physical interface objects as a visually quantified object based on the one or more line segments and a second object of the physical interface objects as a visually unquantified object based on the one or more line segments;
• for the visually quantified object,
• processing a command region and a quantifier region from the visually quantified object,
• identifying one or more visual attributes of the one or more line segments
• identifying a programming command based on the one or more visual attributes of the one or more line segments of the command region of the visually quantified object,
• identifying a quantifier based on the one or more visual attributes of the one or more line segments of the quantifier region of the visually quantified object, and
• determining a first command corresponding to the visually quantified object based on both the programming command and the quantifier;
• for the visually unquantified object, identifying a second command based on a visual attribute of the visually unquantified object;
• and
• executing, using the one or more computing devices, a set of commands including the first command and the second command to present virtual information on the display device.

A visual tangible programming system comprising:

• a video capture device coupled for communication with a computing device, the video capture device being adapted to capture a video stream that includes a physical activity scene adjacent to the computing device;
• a detector coupled to the computing device, the detector being adapted to detect within the video stream one or more line segments forming a sequence of physical interface objects in the physical activity scene;
• a processor of the computing device, the processor being adapted to
• compare the one or more line segments forming the sequence of physical interface objects to a predefined set of object definitions,
• recognize a visually quantified object based on the comparison, the visually quantified object including a command region and a quantifier region,
• identify a programming command based on a visual attribute of the command region of the visually quantified object,
• identify a quantifier based on a visual attribute of the quantifier region of the visually quantified object,
• determine a first command corresponding to the visually quantified object based on both the programming command and the quantifier;
• and
• execute the first command;
• and
• a display coupled to the computing device, the display being adapted to display an interface that includes a virtual scene and update the virtual scene based on the executed first command.