Like many auto manufacturers, Ford is hard at work on technology that will help drivers to avoid accidents on the roads. Ford unveiled its Fusion hybrid research vehicle for helping the company build more driver assist tech into their cars. Ford is also talking up some other tech it is working on including a car […]
As shown by the Kinect, today’s cameras are powerful and cheap enough to provide accurate motion tracking. The same feat can be achieved by making the subject carry a motion sensor or a tracking device of some sort. But a group at MIT CSAIL led by Dina Katabi have come up with a way to track motion and body parts in 3D using only radio signals.
Katabi et al call their technology WiTrack. The current prototype uses four antennas, one to transmit the signals and three to receive the signals that bounce back from subjects. The radio signals that WiTrack uses are apparently a hundred times weaker than Wi-Fi signals. Because it doesn’t require a camera to work, WiTrack can work through walls, assuming the wall lets the signal pass through. For instance, it can be used to interact with devices even if you’re not in the same room as them. Also, because the subject doesn’t need to carry any tracking device, it might be more suited to full motion gaming compared to the likes of the Wii, the PS Move and even newer tech like the PrioVR.
While WiTrack seems really practical, after watching that video I think we all quickly realized that it can be used to discreetly violate our privacy as well. Forget about tinfoil hats, we might need to make lead-lined houses.
Emotional eating is more common than you think. Some people sing their worries away, while others find that they’re calmer when they’re eating a cookie. Then a salad. Then a bowl of noodles. And so on and so forth.
Women aren’t the only ones who eat when they’re stressed, but men don’t really wear anything like a bra, do they? The reason why researchers from Microsoft, the University of Rochester and the University of Southampton, UK went with the bra is that it’s an article of clothing that rests over the heart, which allows it sensors to conveniently monitor its wearer’s heartbeat, and not because they had any thoughts on women being more emotional eaters than men.
The on-board sensors record the heartbeat and emotional state of its wearer. It hooks up with a smartphone app that uses the data gathered to determine whether its wearer is eating because of fluctuating emotions or not. If it’s the former, then it’ll send the user a message to let her know just that.
After it was put to the test, the bra was found to be 75% accurate when it came to predicting its wearer’s emotional state. Microsoft doesn’t have definitive plans to release this technology in a consumer product, but continues to research devices which react based on users’ moods, or so called “affective computing.”
We’ve seen a variety of 3D printers designed to make food, but most of them either make only one kind of food or are designed for professional use, like serving astronauts in space. A company called Natural Machines is working on a food printer that will be easy enough for ordinary people to use and will be able to make a variety of dishes.
BBC reports that Natural Machines’ Foodini printer can combine up to six ingredients. Couple that with the ability to swap cartridges and you get a printer that can make a variety of food. But don’t expect the Foodini to be a do-it-all cook. As BBC notes, it can only combine ingredients and not actually cook them. Plus it can only make food using paste-like ingredients.
The Foodini may not make stoves, grills and ovens obsolete, but it could make it easier to prepare complex dishes. The thought of downloading recipes online also makes it easier to try new meals or prepare difficult ones that you may not have the time or skill to do on your own. Natural Machines chief executive Emilio Sepulveda estimates that the Foodini will cost around $1,400 (USD), although they didn’t say when they will release the printer.
Google’s Andy Rubin is the father of Android, but he is no longer working on the Android operating system. Rubin is now the engineer in charge of a new undertaking at Google that the company is calling a moonshot. Rubin is now in charge of Google’s robotics effort. Google has been buying up robotics firms […]
Drones are often thought of as weapons of war, but a few years from now people may come to know them as delivery bots. In a recent interview with CBS show 60 Minutes, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled Amazon Prime Air, a futuristic service in development that would use unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver goods to customers in just 30 minutes after they order.
In the interview, Bezos explained that the drones will be able to operate in a 10 mile radius from its shipping centers and will be able to carry goods weighing up to five pounds. While that means you can’t expect your future TV to be airlifted to your house, Bezos says that 86% of the goods they sell are under that weight limit, so it’s not such a significant limitation. More importantly, that means tacos and burritos are not out of the question.
Bezos also said that the delivery drones won’t be controlled manually. Instead they’ll be given the customer’s coordinates and the robots will be smart enough to figure out how to get there on their own, avoiding obstacles and hopefully foiling thieves and pranksters trying to shoot them down.
Here’s the full version of the video that Bezos showed off:
If it gets the approval of the FAA, Amazon could theoretically launch Prime Air as early as 2015, though it’s likely to take a few more years than that. Your move, FedEx.
[via Amazon & 60 Minutes via Mashable]
The Shirai Lab at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology have developed a way to simultaneously display 2D and 3D video on the same screen without producing a blurry double image. The technology is called 2x3D or Scritter. It uses two projectors to beam the videos and graphics processors that cancel out one of the videos being displayed, so that the 2D video can clearly be seen with the naked eye. The 3D video will become visible once the viewer wears a polarized filter on his right eye.
Kanagawa Institute of Technology Associate Professor Akihiki Shirai noted that their technology also has many other practical applications beyond displaying 2D and 3D video at once. 2x3D can be used to display text in different languages or show different layers of an object, e.g. superimposing the different systems of the body. The drawback to 2x3D is that it results in videos with relatively low contrast, but Shirai also said that that may be countered by using more projectors.
You can learn more about 2x3D on Shirai Lab’s website.
Janus gives interactive fabric a whole new meaning. Not only is it strong and versatile, but it also comes with integrated heating or lighting capabilities. It sounds like something from the future, and it probably is, but here’s to hoping someone can actually turn it into a reality.
Janus is a concept desibn for a textile that could be integrated into a variety of base materials, such as fabrics, leather, or film. After the material is decided, a lighting or heating system can be applied before using the textile to create the intended product.
So far, three products have been designed with the special features of Janus in mind: an umbrella with an integrated lighting system, bulb-less light that uses the material’s lighting properties to provide illumination, and a wheelchair with integrated heating in its seat.
The lighting or heating system is basically sandwiched in between a layer of polyurethane and polyester. For example, for the umbrella, the system is described as follows:
In the rain, the city seems to be darker and gloomier than usual. Janus Fabric senses the sounds on the street and expresses various light patterns in response.
Futuristic? Yes. Impossible? We’re hoping it isn’t.
Janus Fabric is a Red Dot Design Award 2013 winner and was designed by Kim Hyemin, Kim Minki, and Lee Jisu.
A materials scientist from Harvard University named Jennifer Lewis and her team have invented a new ink and printing process that allows or the manufacture of 3D printed batteries at room temperature. The scientists say that the tech is still at an early stage, but shows promise. The ink created for printing battery anodes uses nanoparticles of lithium-ion titanium extruded by a commercial 3D printer.
The material is added to a vial of deionized water and ethylene glycol. Ceramic balls are then added to help mix the solution and it’s put on a spinner for 24 hours. The resulting ink is a solid when left alone, but can be forced out of tiny openings in needles under high pressure. As soon as the material is extruded through the tiny opening in the 3D printer needle, it become solid again.
The team thinks that the technology will make it easier to 3D print electronics with their battery as one seamless piece. The lithium-ion batteries that the team is printing are as small as one square millimeter, but perform as well as commercial batteries. The tools the scientists are designing are meant to be used in manufacturing, but it’s possible they could someday produce a low-end printer for hobbyists.
[via MIT Technology Review]
When the Omni VR treadmill was announced, many anointed it as the perfect companion to the much-awaited Oculus Rift. But a group of students at the Vienna University of Technology may have a better VR treadmill at their hands (and feet). They call it the Cyberith Virtualizer.
Much like the Omni VR, the Virtualizer is an omnidirectional motion sensor. It allows the user to walk or run in any direction, as well as jump, crouch and strafe. However, unlike the Omni VR, the Virtualizer also lets the user play while sitting. Another big difference is that its walking surface is flat, makes no sound and only requires that the user wear socks. The Omni VR on the other hand requires users to wear a custom pair of low friction shoes and it makes a considerable amount of noise when used. The video below shows Cyberith founder Tuncay Cakmak play a modified version of Grand Theft Auto IV using the Virtualizer, a Wiimote and of course an Oculus Rift headset.
I’d still rather have wearable motion sensors if I’m ever going to play a VR game, but I think the Virtualizer has great potential. Hopefully someday all of its electronics can be embedded in a less conspicuous form.
[Cyberith via Reddit & Oculus Rift]
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