The future of kids toys isn't that far in the future, it turns out, and it's being brought to you by a Winnipeg company that believes it has the next big thing sitting in its Exchange District office.

PO-MO, Inc., is bringing the world LUMO, an interactive projector that can turn a child's bedroom into a personal playground, casting images on the floor and interacting with the child's movements. Games like Hungry Hungry Hippo and air hockey can be played just by stepping in certain spots, and more grandiose plans call for the entire room to be turned into a projection image, allowing kids to virtually paint their walls.

"After watching how physically engaged kids get, we decided it would be really cool to make a toy and make it available to have in their rooms and provide them with tools so they can make their own games in their rooms," CEO Meg Athavale said. "It turns their room into an interactive playground."

The company was incorporated in 2010 shortly after landing a big contract for a job at the University of Reno and has since done instalments for Google Tokyo and Coca Cola's new building in Capetown, South Africa, among others.

"We did a big installation at the Children's Museum one summer that I think a lot of people saw, but they don't associate that with a Winnipeg company," she said. "Usually when they see that, they think it's been brought in from somewhere else. It's a challenge for us."

PO-MO is hoping to fund the $200,000 LUMO project through crowd-sourcing web site Kickstarter, which Athavale hopes will help the company stay local, as well.

"Most of the (outside) investors that we've spoken to want us to move the company out of Winnipeg and we don't want to do that," she said. "Kickstarter gives us a chance to get the community around the project ... and hopefully we can raise the funds ourselves so we can make the decision to stay here."

david.larkins@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @LarkinsWSun