The convergence of the physical and digital realms has ushered in a new era of immersive experiences and seamless interactions. As the boundaries between the real world and virtual environments blur and result in a "mixed reality," there arises a need for robust and efficient methods to connect physical objects with their virtual counterparts. In this thesis, we present a novel approach to bridging this gap through the design, fabrication, and detection of embedded machine-readable markers. We categorize the proposed marking approaches into three distinct categories: natural markers, structural markers, and internal markers. Natural markers, such as those used in SensiCut, are inherent fingerprints of objects repurposed as machine-readable identifiers, while structural markers, such as StructCode and G-ID, leverage the structural artifacts in objects that emerge during the fabrication process itself. Internal markers, such as InfraredTag and BrightMarker, are embedded inside fabricated objects using specialized materials. Leveraging a combination of methods from computer vision, machine learning, computational imaging, and material science, the presented approaches offer robust and versatile solutions for object identification, tracking, and interaction. These markers, seamlessly integrated into real-world objects, effectively communicate an object's identity, origin, function, and interaction, functioning as gateways to "ubiquitous metadata" - a concept where metadata is embedded into physical objects, similar to metadata in digital files. Across the different chapters, we demonstrate the applications of the presented methods in diverse domains, including product design, manufacturing, retail, logistics, education, entertainment, security, and sustainability.

翻译：物理世界与数字世界的融合开启了沉浸式体验与无缝交互的新纪元。随着现实世界与虚拟环境之间的界限逐渐模糊并形成"混合现实"，亟需开发稳健高效的方法来建立物理对象与其虚拟对应物之间的关联。本论文提出一种通过嵌入式机器可读标记的设计、制造与检测来弥合这一鸿沟的创新方法。我们将提出的标记方法归纳为三个不同类别：自然标记、结构标记与内部标记。自然标记（如SensiCut所采用的）是物体固有特征被重新用作机器可读标识符；结构标记（如StructCode和G-ID）则利用物体在制造过程中自然形成的结构特征；内部标记（如InfraredTag和BrightMarker）通过特殊材料嵌入制造物体内部。通过综合运用计算机视觉、机器学习、计算成像与材料科学的方法，所提出的技术为物体识别、追踪与交互提供了稳健且通用的解决方案。这些标记无缝集成于现实物体中，能有效传递物体的身份、来源、功能及交互信息，成为通往"无处不在的元数据"的桥梁——该概念指元数据如同数字文件中的元数据般嵌入物理对象中。在各个章节中，我们展示了所提方法在产品设计、制造、零售、物流、教育、娱乐、安全及可持续发展等多个领域的应用。