# Sketched Reality: Sketching Bi-Directional Interactions Between Virtual and Physical Worlds with AR and Actuated Tangible UI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.06341 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.06341/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 12 Aug 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Teachable Reality: Prototyping Tangible Augmented Reality with Everyday Objects by Leveraging Interactive Machine Teaching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.11046/) (2023)
- [Augmented Math: Authoring AR-Based Explorable Explanations by Augmenting Static Math Textbooks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.16112/) (2023)
- [Augmented Physics: Creating Interactive and Embedded Physics Simulations from Static Textbook Diagrams](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.18614/) (2024)
- [Toyteller: AI-powered Visual Storytelling Through Toy-Playing with Character Symbols](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.13284/) (2025)
- [AI-Gadget Kit: Integrating Swarm User Interfaces with LLM-driven Agents for Rich Tabletop Game Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.17086/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper introduces Sketched Reality, an approach that combines AR sketching and actuated tangible user interfaces (TUI) for bidirectional sketching interaction. Bi-directional sketching enables virtual sketches and physical objects to "affect" each other through physical actuation and digital computation. In the existing AR sketching, the relationship between virtual and physical worlds is only one-directional -- while physical interaction can affect virtual sketches, virtual sketches have no return effect on the physical objects or environment. In contrast, bi-directional sketching interaction allows the seamless coupling between sketches and actuated TUIs. In this paper, we employ tabletop-size small robots (Sony Toio) and an iPad-based AR sketching tool to demonstrate the concept. In our system, virtual sketches drawn and simulated on an iPad (e.g., lines, walls, pendulums, and springs) can move, actuate, collide, and constrain physical Toio robots, as if virtual sketches and the physical objects exist in the same space through seamless coupling between AR and robot motion. This paper contributes a set of novel interactions and a design space of bi-directional AR sketching. We demonstrate a series of potential applications, such as tangible physics education, explorable mechanism, tangible gaming for children, and in-situ robot programming via sketching.