Hasta La Gadget!

Disney’s Touché concept can turn many ordinary objects into touch sensors. But what if you could buy materials such as wood, foil or paper that were already touch-sensitive off the shelf? That’s one of the dreams of a group called Embodied Interaction. To prove that the idea is applicable, the group made sheets of flexible and cuttable multi-touch sensors.

According to researchers Simon Olberding, Nan-Wei Gong, John Tiab, Joseph A. Paradiso, and Dr. Jürgen Steimle, their multi-touch sensor works even when parts of it are cut because of two main factors: how the electrodes – the points that sense touch – are wired to their connectors and where the connectors are located.

As the group claimed in their research paper (pdf), in conventional touch sensors electrodes are arranged in a flat grid and are wired to the connectors and to each other, as seen above. This presents two problems. First, several electrodes are dependent on one wire. Also, because the connectors are located at the edges of the sensor, you can’t damage or cut out those edges or you’ll leave the whole sheet useless. That won’t cut it for a cuttable sensor. In addition, conventional touch sensors are not made of materials that are hard to cut using ordinary tools.

What the research team did is to come up used circuit printing technology to make flexible multi-touch sensor sheets, in which the connectors are at the center of each sheet and the wires connect to as few electrodes as possible. In what they call the star topology, each electrode has its own wire to the connector. A second arrangement called the tree topology there are a few central wires that branch out and handle their own batch of electrodes.

The end result is a multi-touch sensor that can be cut into a variety of shapes, although obviously they couldn’t cut a hole in the middle of the sheet.

Of course, the challenge of wiring these touch-sensing sheets to a microcomputer is another matter altogether. Still, it would be nice if you could build your own touch-sensitive furniture, gadget or tools. Haed to Embodied Interaction’s website for more information on the concept.

[via PSFK]

We’ve seen people use the Oculus Rift to simulate beheadings. BeAnotherLab used the virtual reality headset for something less morbid but no less interesting. The organization’s The Machine to be Another was an “artistic investigation” in which the Rift was used to give participants first person views from actual people.

In one experiment, participants were told to direct the movements of a performer – if they moved their hand, the performer would move their hand as well, if they walked, the performer walked etc. The participant wore an Oculus Rift, through which he or she saw real time footage from a camera mounted on the performer.

The participant could also make the performer pick up objects scattered throughout the experiment area, at which point the performer would say something about the object they picked up. It was like a first-person video game, except you’re controlling an actual person and exploring the real world.

In another experiment, two participants – one male and one female – became each other’s performer. The pair had to synchronize their movements, which is why you can see them being slow and tentative in the video below. The idea was to put the participant in the body of the opposite sex. Note that the video below contains nudity:

Amazing isn’t it? Perhaps studies and experiences like this will be a lot easier to pull off when computer graphics become more life-like. Imagine you’re a browser and head to The Machine to be Another website for more information.

[via The Verge]

…or do wear it. I don’t know anymore. Ubisoft’s take on assassins morphed from a dude who was at least trying to be discreet to death-dealing mob lords and empire-building pirate captains. So a large ring marked with the Assassins’ symbol – why do they even have a symbol anyway? – made from genuine sterling silver or gold is just a grain of sand in Obvious Beach.

Order the ring from Paul Michael Design for $275 (USD). Then fly a red and white plane and drop a nuclear bomb on your next target, making sure to skywrite “WE WORK IN THE DARK TO SAVE THE LIGHT WE ARE ASSASSINS” as you make your escape. I’m sure no one will notice.

Valve has a life-size model of the Sentry Gun from Team Fortress 2 to guard their office. Programmer and 3D artist Jeff Wong may not be a big shot like Gabe Newell and his employees, but he has a turret manning his house too. You just have to look closely to see it.

Jeff engineered his turret using 3D Studio Max and Photoshop…

…then sent his 3D file to Shapeways to have it printed.

Orderin’ a sentry! You too can get Jeff’s miniature Sentry Gun from Shapeways for about $24 (USD). You should also check out Jeff’s time-lapse video if you know your way around 3ds Max.

[via Reddit]

So a Predator has been spotted proposing to his human girlfriend. He was backed up by his friends: a Stormtrooper, Starcraft medic and Bumblebee. Yeah this kind of stuff happens everyday. But wait, he’s doing it all wrong.

I thought Predators proposed by ripping the spines from their prey so that they can’t get away. That’s also why no one ever says no to a Predator proposal. I don’t know. I know that Predators love their trophies, I’ve just never seen one get down on his knee before to get one.

Zhao Ming is the lucky guy who did the proposing. This almost makes me want a new superhero team with Predator, Bumblebee and that Starcraft medic. Oh yeah. Vader is there too, wearing some sort of Imperial diaper tech thing. Check out more pics of the craziness at the link.

[via Kotaku via Geekologie]