A research group at Tokyo’s Keio University successfully developed an interactive poster of a pretty female model who reacts when kissed by a passerby. Although it sounds a bit weird to kiss a poster, the technology may actually prove to be useful for interactive marketing campaigns or tablet app development.

The digital poster works by calculating the distance between the kisser and the screen itself. As you move in for the kiss, the digital woman in the poster shows a sense of anticipation followed by giggling and blushing once you actually lay it on her.

Keidai Ogawa, a researcher from Keio University, spoke at the University’s XD Exhibition, “I’m a big fan of pop idols, and I have posters of them in my room. It bugged me that the posters didn’t move at all. We built this system because we thought, if a poster could move to match people’s movements, that would be interactive and fun.”

The research group mentioned other applications of this technology, such as iPad app development or digital advertising applications. However, the researchers must first figure out how to get the iPad’s camera to recognize distance before an iPad version of the digital poster can hit the tablet market.

While the current technology in this digital poster only recognizes visual changes, the research group hopes to develop new technology with the ability to detect smells, taste and sound.

The idea of hundreds or thousands of people kissing a screen brings up an obvious hygiene roadblock, but the technology nonetheless can be utilized in other ways aside from kissing. Motion detection technology could be used in similar interactive posters to change the imagery as a person walks by it, for instance. Advertising could become more interactive to engage potential customers more effectively.

Digital Trends has a video of the interactive poster demonstration at the XD Exhibition.