Real Time Avatar Controller Uses Web Cam to Reproduce Facial Expressions, Body Language
To detect and track faces, this system uses time-series signal processing. It tracks characteristic points, including the eyes, nose, and mouth, at high speed with high precision. The white dots on the screen show the points used to track the face, and the red line shows the orientation of the face. So you can see that the system is detecting the face appropriately, in line with the way it’s facing and the movement of the mouth.
“We’re using an algorithm that gets updated in line with the motion of the face. So it can track the face very fast, with very high precision. That’s the basic technology for this avatar system.”
This system also analyzes the shape of the person’s expression. So it can reproduce how the eyebrows and mouth are moving, and whether the person is laughing, angry, or surprised.
As well as avatars, this system could also be used for games that detect and react to changes in people’s faces.
(via diginfo ht futurescope)
Transparent double-sided touchscreen display prototype
NTT docomo have developed a prototype smartphone that works through touch on the front and back, using touchpanels on both sides of a see-through display.
This smartphone is being co-developed by DoCoMo and Fujitsu. By using it from the back, you can scroll the screen without obscuring the display, and reach the slide down notification bar easily with your index finger. DoCoMo also implemented a new way of using smartphones, by touching both sides at once.
(via diginfo ht futurescope)
Mind-controlled videogames become reality
NeuroSky Inc. and Emotiv Systems Inc. are among the companies vying to emerge in the brain-wave market using electroencephalograph, or EEG, technology.
Uses include concentrating and relaxing, improving mental health, and games:
London-based MyndPlay Ltd. is using NeuroSky chips inside its own headset to enable viewers to control the outcome of movie scenes by concentrating and relaxing. Two prisons in England show inmates a gangster-themed film from MyndPlay that teaches them to stay calm during threatening situations.
Some doctors believe mind-controlled games can provide more than fun and relaxation, by improving mental health. SuperBetterLabs Inc. is attempting to introduce cognitive therapy into games optimized for NeuroSky and Emotive headsets.
Another Use Case from Japan:
NecoMiMi headset, a fashion accessory that has taken fans of Japanese animé by storm, is a set of catlike ears that perk up when the wearer’s concentration intensifies, and flatten out when relaxed.
[read more @Wall Street Journal] [NeuroSky Inc.] [Emotiv Systems Inc.] [Necomimi | Video]
(via kurzweilai, ht futurescope)
New 3D Interface Uses Levitating Metal Ball as Controller
…ZeroN is a small metal orb floating in free space that users can manipulate by moving around and placing in midair.
Suspended by a highly tuned electromagnetic field, the orb really does seem to levitate, and the degree to which the system keeps the ball stable even as it is moved around on all three axes is pretty mind-blowing. The ball floats until it is moved, and when placed in a point in space it stays there.
…with an added layer of software surrounding it, the orb becomes a tool for all sorts of applications. For instance, the ZeroN can be used as the stand-in for a camera in a 3-D scene (imagine a scale architectural model placed in the ZeroN’s working space; the ball can be moved around the model, changing the point-of-view of the 3-D representation in a graphic representation). The ZeroN can also remember how it has been moved in the past, retracing a path that it was previously moved along (the ZeroN doesn’t have to be moved by a human hand, but can also be moved around the space by the computer).
The trick to all this is a precision electromagnet fitted to a moving actuator above the ZeroN’s workspace. The electromagnet can move around the space above and rapidly adjust its magnetic pull or resistance based on where the ZeroN is in space, a value that is measured every few milliseconds by an array of IR cameras. So while the ZeroN appears to float as if in defiance of gravity, the setup is purely mechanical. All it really requires is a very precise electromagnet and the right software to keep the orb stable.
Next up: replacing the actuator with solenoids, which might allow the system to place several objects in the same ZeroN workspace at the same time, allowing for whole new applications.
(via Video: MIT’s Latest User Interface Employs Gravity-Defying, Levitating Metal Orbs | Popular Science)
Tactile Display With Directional Force Feedback
This new touch panel concept imparts a directional tactile feedback force to the user, by moving the panel surface. Developed by a research group with members from NEC and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the system uses wires to pull the four corners of the panel. The tensile force to be applied to each wire can be adjusted, so the strength of the force, as well as the direction, can be controlled.
“This system produces a sensation like when you hit an object, enabling you to understand where the object is. With vibration alone, you know you’ve hit an object, but just touching an object doesn’t enable you to understand where it is. You will know if you look at it, but the information you can sense by touch is insufficient.”
“In this demo, when you touch the ball, if it’s rolling toward you slowly, the force you feel is weak, and if it hits you quickly, you feel a strong force from it. So in that regard as well, this system differs from a tactile display using vibration.”
[more]
(via futurescope)
