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 specific command for manipulating, based on a visual attribute of the command region, a virtual object rendered for display in a virtual environment displayed on a display of the competing device;
• identifying a quantifier for the specific command based on a visual attribute of the quantifier region;
• and
• executing, using a processor of the computing device, the specific command based on the quantifier 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;
• 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;
• determining a path through the virtual environment for the target object using the command;
• 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 physical interface objects included in the physical activity scene;
• recognizing each of the physical interface objects as a visually quantified object or a visually unquantified object based on the comparisons;
• for each of the physical interface objects that is recognized as a visually quantified object, processing a command region and a quantifier region from the object, identifying a corresponding command for the physical interface object based on a particular visual attribute of the command region, and identifying a quantifier for the command based on a particular visual attribute of the quantifier region;
• for each of the physical interface objects that is recognized as a visually unquantified object, identifying a corresponding command for the physical interface object based on a particular visual attribute of the object;
• and
• executing, using the one or more computing devices, a set of commands including the corresponding command for each of the objects detected in the image data 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 a sequence of physical interface objects in the physical activity scene;
• a processor of the computing device, the processor being adapted to compare the sequence of physical interface objects to a predefined set of object definitions and recognize visually quantified objects and visually unquantified objects based on the comparison, and execute a set of commands based the visually quantified objects and visually unquantified objects;
• 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 set of commands.

A physical interface object for constructing a computer program in a physical space comprising:

• a housing including a top surface, a lower side surface, an upper side surface, a left side surface, a right side surface, and a bottom surface;
• the top surface including one or more visual aspects;
• one or more of the lower side surface, the upper side surface, the left side surface, and the right side surface including one or more magnetic fasteners configured to couple to a corresponding side surface of a compatible physical interface object;
• lower side surface, the upper side surface, the left side surface, and the right side surface including an alignment mechanism for coupling to a compatible alignment mechanism of a compatible physical interface object.