Real object to 3D Model

We talked about objects in real world mapped to virtual world today. And while browsing I found this 2009 work by someone in University of Cambridge of a fast way to model your object and use the real object to interact with your virtual object..which can be whatever you want..with different textures. For people who want to see the video before the details: here's one on youtube. And here's : link to university for further reading.