prosthetic knowledge

Prototype Real / Digital Info Interface System

Using projection and gestures to create interactive relationship with information - video embedded below:

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a next generation user interface which can accurately detect the users finger and what it is touching, creating an interactive touchscreen-like system, using objects in the real word.

“We think paper and many other objects could be manipulated by touching them, as with a touchscreen. This system doesn’t use any special hardware; it consists of just a device like an ordinary webcam, plus a commercial projector. Its capabilities are achieved by image processing technology.”

Using this technology, information can be imported from a document as data, by selecting the necessary parts with your finger.

More at DigInfo here

RELATED: This is very similar to a concept developed in 1991 called ‘The Digital Desk’ [link]

Hand Drawn Maze on A1 Paper Took 7 Years to Make

Via Spoon and Tamago:

Some people have hobbies. Other people are obsessive. But when the two cross paths, this is what you get. Japanese twitter user @Kya7y recently unearthed an incredibly detailed maze that her father created almost 30 years ago. When pressed for details, the father explained that he spent 7 years creating the map on A1 size paper, which is about 33 x 23 inches.

More Here

Re: Sound Bottle 

An electronic sound sampler in a bottle which constructs music from the sounds you give it, by Jun Fujiwara - video embedded below:

Re: Sound Bottle from Jun Fujiwara on Vimeo.

This is a music medium that can reproduce a recorded voice as music. It makes a database of sound sources that is managed and used as formal and automatic repetitions, and forms a music medium of the day. I felt something missing in the habitual use of music reproduction media, so I thought to create an interactive music medium that changes. By using everyday voices as sources of music, the sounds that are heard all the time every day carry infinite possibilities and help us reaffirm the enjoyment of music. I hope people can experience their own music.

Link

BRAVE ROBOTICS 

A remote control 1/12 scale transformer car / robot. Movement is available in both car and robot forms and can fire missiles from it’s arms. These things have been seen before in Japanese hobbyist robot battles, but this one has a wifi camera fitted in it’s front. Here is a video of it in action:

You can find out more about it at the project’s website here (in both Japanese and English)

dePENd 

A system designed to draw straight lines and perfect circles freehand - video embedded below:

Via DigInfo:

This table helps you to draw precise freehand circles and lines. It is under development by a group in the Yasuaki Kakehi Lab at Keio University.

By using a computer to control the XY position of a magnet under the surface of the table, it implements, on paper, drawing methods utilized in computer graphics.

“I’ll place an ordinary ballpoint pen on the table. Now, I can semi-automatically draw a precise circle, or a straight line, or an illustration prepared in advance. In other words, while I draw with the pen, this system lets me switch to accurate rendering like in computer graphics, such as drawing a precise circle, by assisting me with the pen.”

When drawing, you can use a regular ballpoint pen with a metal tip, or a digital pen. If you use a ballpoint pen, the position where you start drawing has to correspond with the origin on the XY grid, but if you use a digital pen, the system recognizes its location and you can start drawing from any position.

More Here

In-Store Facial Recognition Market Research 

New technology from Japan can monitor all shop visitors, discerning age, gender, and visiting frequency, and measures the data with a system called ‘NeoFace’, all with a normal PC and webcam - via DigInfo (video embedded below):

NEC has developed a marketing service that utilizes facial recognition technology to estimates the age and gender of customers, and accumulates the data, along with the dates and times that customers visit stores. This data is then used to analyze trends in customer behavior and visit frequency.

This service is provided in Japan via NEC’s cloud computing technology, only requires a regular PC and video camera, and is available for approximately $880 (70,000 yen) per month per store.

“This service is mainly intended for retailers that have several stores. It provides retailers with customer attributes based on facial images. That information is helpful for sales strategies.”

This service can also detect repeat customers across multiple stores. It uses a face detection and comparison engine developed by NEC, called NeoFace.

More Here

Gocen 

A developing handheld optical device which can read and play handwritten musical scores in real-time - via DigInfo:

The Gocen is a device which scans and plays handwritten sheet music in real time. It is being developed by a group at the Tokyo Metropolitan University led by Assistant Professor Tetsuaki Baba.

“First, the system looks at the stave, then at the notes, then at the position of the notes, to determine the high notes. In addition, it directly reads words such as piano or guitar. The computer automatically recognizes them, and changes the instrument. Also, for example, if this melody is in F minor, rather than C major, when the system reads the letters Fm, it has the ability to add four flats.”

The sheet music image is analyzed using the OpenCV library in combination with a unique algorithm. While the play head is above a note it will continue to sound that key, and in the case of stringed instruments, if you move it up and down it can make the pitch fluctuate. Also, the size of the notes determines the volume level and it can handle chords as well.

More at DigInfo here

OMOTE 3D 

A Pop-Up Shop in Japan which acts as a 3D Printing photobooth - via Spoon and Tamago:

… what’s being called the world’s first 3D printing photo booth is set to open for a limited time at the exhibition space EYE OF GYRE in Harajuku. From November 24 to January 14, 2013, people with reservations can go and have their portraits taken. Except, instead of a photograph, you’ll receive miniature replicas of yourselves.

Reservations are taken only through the website. You can pick from 3 sizes, S (10cm), M (15cm) and L (20cm) for 21,000 yen, 32,000 yen and 42,000 yen, respectively. But there are group discounts! This would be really fun to do with your kids, who seem to grow up just way too fast.

The project was brought to you by the creative powerhouse PARTY.

You can visit the Omate 3D website (in Japanese) here

Paper Computing Technology 

This relates to my previous post in a way; a ‘paper computing’ technology developed by the University of Tokyo in which you can edit a piece of special sheet by hand or by computer interface - via DigInfo:

At the University of Tokyo, the Naemura Group is developing paper computing technology, which can automatically erase, copy and print hand-drawn sketches on paper.

As well as using a camera and computer, this system uses a laser and UV light, making it possible to work directly with the hand-drawn sketches using the computer.

So for example, the user can leave only the edges of hand-written characters, creating 3D like text, or draw a figure by hand and color it in automatically.

You can find out more at DigInfo here

QUMARION

Japanese articulate mannequin designed to create poses for 3D virtual models, a sci-fi looking input device in itself:

The news of this came out over a year ago, but it’s company started taking reservations in June this year. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, shipping is limited to Japan only.

You can find out more about it here

Tai Chi - 5 Panel Display 

Tai Chi master is motion-captured and represented in different abstract generative ways, but together by Universal Everything. Here is a trailer for the work currently shown at the Framed Gallery, Tokyo: 

Tai Chi / 5 video artworks for the Framed digital art display

Using body motion captured from a Tai Chi master,
a series of impossible physical sculptures embodying the human spirit.
The abstract anthropomorphic forms only emerge through movement.

Framed* Space
Omotesando / Tokyo
Oct 12 - 26 2012

More Here and Here

Calligraphy robot uses a Motion Copy System to reproduce detailed brushwork 

A week ago I posted the news of a robotic system that can record the brushwork input of calligraphy and technically reproduce it as well as the human artist. Now, DigInfo have a video demonstration of the technology in action:

A research group at Keio University, led by Seiichiro Katsura, has developed the Motion Copy System. This system can identify and store detailed brush strokes, based on information about movement in calligraphy. This enables a robot to faithfully reproduce the detailed brush strokes.

This system stores calligraphy movements by using a brush where the handle and tip are separate. The two parts are connected, with the head as the master system and the tip as the slave system. Characters can be written by handling the device in the same way as an ordinary brush.

Unlike conventional motion capture systems, a feature of this one is, it can record and reproduce the force applied to the brush as well as the sensation when you touch something. Until now, passing on traditional skills has depended on intuition and experience. It’s hoped that this new system will enable skills to be learned more efficiently.

More at DigInfo here

Hands-Free Videophone 

Prototype from Japan worn as glasses, with cameras INSIDE it capture and project real-time facial information onto a 3D avatar - via DigInfo:

NTT Docomo has developed the Hands-Free Videophone, which enables video calls without having to hold the camera. This is part of docomo’s research on creating future glasses-type devices.

The Hands-Free Videophone captures the user’s face with three cameras in each of the left and right sides of the frames. The video sent to the other person is created by combining the pictures with a pre-rendered 3D model of the users face.

“Each camera has 720p resolution, and a fish-eye lens, with a 180-degree field of view. This is the High Definition picture currently being captured in real time. If you look at the face, you can see it’s really distorted, because the fish-eye lens is so close. The distortion is compensated, and the picture is combined with a 3D model of the person in the computer. Currently, priority is given to the part around the eyes. As you can see when the man closes his eyes, the eyelids and the corners of the eyes appear quite realistic. Such a level of realism is hard to achieve with models like CG-based avatars, where parts are overlaid on the face.”

More at DigInfo here

LEGO Great Ball Contraption 

A spectacle of modern large-scale pointless LEGO engineering, a 500-ball 17 module ball moving machine from Japan - video embedded below:

Lego Great Ball Contraption (GBC) in my house.
my own 17 modules

tracking the blue and red balls.

running at 1.0 balls/sec
500 balls
size : 1.5m×6.5m
path length : 31m
construction time : 600 hours

my blog http://legokarakuri.blog91.fc2.com/

Thanks to tomhardyav for the heads up :D