Archive for June, 2009
Toyota’s Mind Controlled Wheelchair
Posted by Tom Carpenter in digital singularity on June 30th, 2009
While mind control has more immediate applications for people with disabilities, I also expect it will be a way to control our AR interfaces in the future. The researchers report they have reduced the reaction time down to milliseconds which helps make the technology more reactive and therefore, more usable.
It’s hard to say how long until a thought-based interface will become available, but I’m hoping for sooner rather than later.
And if you want to see current commercial products…
Popularity: 3% [?]
Another Astronomy AR App
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 29th, 2009
Similar to Sky Map, this iPhone 3GS app (needs the compass to function properly) gives you complete knowledge of the night sky. Though technically you can use it in daylight or in your living room and get the same results.
While some might not consider it AR (I do, but only tenuously), it does interact with your environment to give you real world information including Wiki access, moon cycles and an object finder. N0 matter how you might classify the app, it still looks pretty cool.
Popularity: 2% [?]
AR & Education
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 28th, 2009
One of the most promising uses of augmented reality is in the field of education. While some might think that using AR for education is just a gimmick designed to trick kids into learning, there is a scientific basis for why using visual information is important.
Communication occurs through our senses. We have five senses, but we don’t use them equally. This is how we use them:
Visual – 75%
Hearing – 13%
Touch – 6%
Smell – 3%
Taste – 3%
As you see the sense we use the most, overwhelmingly so, is vision. We get most of our information through the eyes.
At Toyota, my employer, we put this into practice by requiring all papers to be condensed into one page. We use lots of graphs, diagrams and as little words as possible. We teach people to communicate through visualization, a prized skill in Toyota, because you can quickly convey a lot of information in a short time. Even multi-million dollar projects are funded from one-page presentations given in less than five minutes.
This holds true for education. So much is lost when a teacher stands at the board and lectures. Little of the information gets through to the subjects, resulting in wasted time and uninterested students. A recent post from Immersive Tech reminded me of the power of visualization. While the video is from last November, it helps illustrate my words (yet again proving the point), so I’m reposting it.
I’m impressed by the interactivity of the molecular structure lessons, illustrating beautifully the complex nature of atoms with simple sweeps of the hand. Seeing is believing and by seeing the lesson at a desk or on the projector, the students can stay engaged in the lessons.
There’s a reason the phrase, “Do what I say and not what I do,” exists.
We’re recognize the power of our actions outweighs the power of our words.
Popularity: 1% [?]
The Augmented Future
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 26th, 2009
Jamais Cascio brings us his view of the future with Augmented Reality as the glue. The video comes from Mobile Monday Amsterdam (the same place that brought us the Robert Rice video). The video is about 45 minutes long (23 minutes for the presentation and the rest for questions.)
Using a broad paintbrush, Jamais gives us the challenges of the future and AR’s role in it. I particularly enjoyed the discussion, because similar thoughts helped me develop the ideas for my novel The Digital Sea. While its easy to get into the nuts-and-bolts of augmented reality, its good to take a step back and look at the broader picture.
We have to remember that the Internet and AR will bring together people in unexpected ways and with unexpected consequences. How many of you laughed the first time you heard about the 140 character limit for Twitter? Few in Iran would laugh about Twitter now. Like Twitter (and Facebook and MySpace and Napster and…), I expect AR to influence our lives in ways we have yet to conceive.
[Via IEET]
Popularity: 1% [?]
100th Post
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 26th, 2009
Wanted to take this moment to say thanks to all those that stop by to read this blog and to those that comment. As I’ve said before, I didn’t think I’d be posting so much, but each week brings new and interesting things to talk about. I hope you’re all enjoying it as much as I am.
I’d also like to extend thanks to Rouli at Augmented Times, Ori at Games Alfresco, and Jan at Augmented Reality Blog, for their support and answers to my occasional questions. And especially my wife for being so understanding of my obsessions. 
Popularity: 1% [?]
Touchless Interface Glove
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 25th, 2009
At the 2009 NotACon live Fat Man and Circuit Girl show, Noah from Augmentation Blog debuted his “Wireless Glove.” He doesn’t give us the end use intent of his project, but I could see it as a touchless interface with an AR system (either through an iPhone camera or with the Vuzix AR glasses to be released in the fall).
I was mostly impressed by the scope of the project–all done by only one person. He explains his potential product could be sold for around $200, but that’s a steep price to pay for an accessory. The recent Zugara Webcam Social Shopper shows that you can use motion based touchless interface even with current technologies. However, the Zugara system is limited to 2D space. The advantage of Noah’s wireless glove is that tracks in three dimensional space giving the user (and developers) more options of control.
Even if his project doesn’t go beyond development, its an impressive calling card to show potential employers in field with a lot of potential. Nice work, Noah.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Zugara Social Shopper
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 24th, 2009
Zugara brings us the next installment of AR shopping. The company is an advertising agency that uses interactive marketing. They have an impressive client list including the company I work for, Toyota.
Their new AR product – The Webcam Social Shopper uses AR markers with motion capture to help the shopper “try-on” different clothing. I like the way you only have to use the AR marker to set up the 3D plane, then once it captures the location, you can go markerless. Also, it uses motion capture so you can scroll through the clothing choices without having to run back to your computer each time.
The markerless and motion capture scrolling gives the Webcam Social Shopper an easy-to-use feel that I think is important for any product, especially AR. The more steps it involves, the less chance people will bother to use it.
[Via Disrpution]
Popularity: 4% [?]
Leverage The Crowd To Fill The Cloud
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 23rd, 2009
Augmented reality is only a medium (actually just a mashing together of other media), but content is king.
To make use of computer data and images superimposed on real life we need content, but creating that content can be time consuming and expensive. Instead, we have to find ways of leveraging the crowd to fill the cloud. As I’ve explained before, cataloging image databases will be one way we can build digital versions of the world.
Today, researchers at Google are presenting a paper on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) in Miami, Florida. Using 40 million GPS tagged photos from Picasa and Panoramio and online tour webpages, they’ve been able to improve computer vision of major landmarks. The technology sounds similar to Microsoft’s Photosynth, but they may have different implications based on the form of the data.
The key point is that these technologies (either Google’s or Microsoft’s) will allow for the leveraging of information (in the form of pictures) being created daily and stored on the web. Not only is this data available, but due to its time signature, it can also help us reconstruct past events of significant importance. This will give us powerful tools for creating huge chunks of content for the cloud.
The below picture shows the visual representation of how their cluster recognition model works.
Google has shown us another way to use large, noisy datasets to automate the digitalization of the world.
Via Spatial Sustain.
Popularity: 1% [?]
What AR Devs Want From Smartphones
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 22nd, 2009
With three smartphones on the market: iPhone, Android and Pre; the opportunities for augmented reality apps have opened up.
I asked a couple of AR developers what they wanted from smartphones and I recieved some interesting answers. I’ve summarized the information for easier digestion.
Processing Power: Overall processing power is at a usable level, but more is always better. With the ability to use cloud computing, the heavy lifting can be done by processors not in the phone.
Graphics: High quality graphics with acceleration to achieve good frames per second (fps) and resolution will be needed for real time image processing. This will be especially important for AR smartphone game developers.
Integrated Camera: Most thought the cameras were fine, but like processing power, can always be better.
Other Hardware: GPS, compass, accelerometer and tilt sensors are all useful for direction finding.
Software: Developing apps for multiple platforms (iPhone, Android and Pre) due to the varying nature of their specific phones (processor speed, camera functions, etc) is challenging. So platform designers should make sure the SDK (Software Development Kit) are easy-to-use and have good APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to access the video stream.
Power: AR requires lots of graphics which is an energy-hog, so smartphones should be efficient.
All these requested features aren’t yet available in total, but each smartphone is moving in the right direction. For instance, the new iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre both have cameras that don’t give fuzzy pictures like the initial iPhone release one year ago.
While its easy to be a kid before Christmas and ask for lots of things you know you won’t get (yet). I liked what Seinichi Kanemura from Sein Blog had to say about smartphone development:
So what is next step of AR application?
I do believe that it will be not full AR.
It would be something semi-AR application.
Otherwise, just limited users who have high literacy in IT will love it.
So I focus on easy & simple AR application.
Probably, I’ll write the entry on my blog within a few months.
Very much a pragmatist about the development of a technology still in its infancy. Looking forward to his next blog entry.
Special thanks to Farooq, Sein and Jan from Metaio for answering my questions.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha + ARToolKit
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on June 21st, 2009
Dedicated fans are powerful forces. A super-fan will collect every commercial product of an imaginary character because they enjoy the break from their normal everyday reality.
This video is a combination of a few other videos made about Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Interestingly, we never actually see Nanoha Takamachi in the video. Instead we see someone wielding all the weapons and powers that Nanoha possesses in the show.
This is the allure of video games of popular imaginary heroes. People want to be the hero for a time. Experience the extraordinary.
Normal video games allow you to play the character on the screen. Augmented reality will give the oppertunity to “be” the character on the screen. The company that does that will bring to legions of fans to the technology.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Recent Comments