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Thursday, 19 December 2013

World's First Camouflage Clothing


You may wonder why I said World's First Camouflage Clothing when we have a lot of camouflage clothing available in the market. Yes, you are right. There are a lot of camouflage clothings available but they are used only for a single camouflage purpose. What if the season changes? There comes the relevance of Cabela's new color-changing ColorPhase apparel. Now wonder why it became the first of its kind. 

According to Cabela, ColorPhase is the world's first camouflage clothing printed with rapid-change, temperature-activated dye. This means based on seasons temperature the colour of the fabric changes. ColorPhase camo will begin changing colours at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This allows soldiers as well as hunters to blend perfectly with the environment. 


                                                        Watch this video

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

Google Cloud Print - Easier life for Users and Administrators


Google have always played an important role is developing web related applications making the life of users and administrators simple and easier. A new technology has been developed which helps to connect your printers to the web. It is called 'Google Cloud Print'. With the help of this technology we can make our printers available for us as well as for others whom we decide to choose, from the applications. This technology works on our phone, tablet, Chromebook, PC, and any other web-connected devices were we want to print from. Google Cloud Print works with all printers, but its always recommended to use a Cloud Ready Printer, since it can give us best printing performance. 

HOW TO SET UP A GOOGLE CLOUD READY PRINTER

It always easy to get start with a printer that's Google Cloud Ready. Consider an example where we try to set up a Canon Pixma MX922 as the Google Cloud Ready Printer. Each printer set up varies, but most of the times the instructions are easier to follow and I do believe you will not have any problems in setting up a printer. 

First we have to connect the printer to broadband or Wi-Fi network and register it with Google through the printer's onboard menu system. It will give us a shortened URL and QR Code which we can use on our phone or computer to log into our Google account and complete the registration. Its always better to finish registration quickly since we have only 14 minutes to do it. After registration is completed, we can go to this Google page to manage all of our printers. There we can see which printers we have, when they were added, the print jobs that have been completed etc. Its pretty a decent brief which can be used in future too. 



ADDING A STANDARD PRINTER TO GOOGLE CLOUD PRINT

If you dont already have a Google Cloud Ready printer, we can set up a regular one. First we have to make sure the printer is connected to the computer and make sure the latest printer drivers and Google's Chrome browser are installed. 

Using Chrome, log into the Google account and go to Settings>Show Advanced Settings. Then scroll under the Google cloud Print section and click the Manage button. 


Here we can see all our printers listed under My devices. Under Classic printers, click the Add printers button. 



For example if we are adding Canon MP495, make sure its checked and Click the Add printers(s) button at the bottom. For convenience we can also select automatically register new printers. 



This technology is easy to be used through mobiles as well as i-pads. There are a lot capabilities that Google Cloud Ready provide us. Some of them are 
  • Convenience: Cloud Ready Printers can also register themselves directly with the Google Cloud Print service over the home or wireless network. Since they are connected to the web, they can keep their drivers and firmware up to date. Google Cloud Print also works with conventional non-cloud printers, so that we can start with any printer that we own. 
  • Safe: Google Cloud Print takes security very seriously. Documents are transferred over a secure HTTPS web connection. After the job is completed the file is automatically deleted from the servers. In addition we can also delete jobs and their history, at any time. 
  • Share with you friends: Google Cloud Print allows you to share printers with friends, family and co-workers. We can also track the jobs done by these printers, share with trusted individuals etc. 
  • Chromebook ready and Enterprise ready: Google Cloud Print is the standard printing technology used by ChromeOS on Chromebooks. In the enterprise level, the Google Cloud print is used on over a thousand printers. It can meet the organization's requirements easily. 
At the end I would say, the Google Cloud Print makes the life easier of both system administrators and users. Not only that, less headache for organizations. :) :D 





Tuesday, 17 December 2013

A new promise for Electronics

Comparison of graphene oxide before (left) and after (right)
A team of researchers from MIT and University of Berkeley have found a new simple inexpensive method for a variety of applications. 

Do you wanna know the Hero of the Story? :) Yes, Ofcourse. Its Graphene, a two-dimensional array of carbon atoms. The new method was published in Journal Nature Chemistry  which was co-authored by MIT students Priyank Kumar, Neelkanth Bardhan and MIT professors Jeffrey Grossman and Angela Belcher and other two authors from Berkley. 

In fact, pure graphene lacks some key properties needed for electronic devices, solar power and sensors. But when it is modified through the addition of oxygen, it can provide all the essential properties required. The group did a new approach in which they exposed the material to relatively low temperatures. But the key point is, they havent used any chemical treatments. The low-temperature annealing process itself modified the distribution of the oxygen atoms, causing them to form clusters and leaving the areas of pure graphene between them without introducing any sort of disorder to its structure. The material earns a lot of capabilities such as ability to absorb visible light, becomes much electrical sensitive and further more which can be used in wide variety of applications such as solar cells etc. 

Monday, 16 December 2013

Bluetooth Smart Radio


Imec, Holst Centre and Wicentric introduced an ultra-low power Bluetooth Smart radio with a power consumption up to five times lower than radios. They can play an important role in applications such as personal health monitoring systems and smart home applications.



Living Shoes- Dont miss this!!!!!


A mind-blowing discovery have been made. A self-healing shoe printed to fit your foot from building blocks of life itself. At first when I heard about this news I didnt believe at all. But when I came to know the facts I got really surprised. 

Shamees Adens exhibited this product as a part of Wearable Futures event that held in London. It was like a science fiction. Currently scientists have begun to create and utilize the bio-links in the lab, in between Aden has looked all the way down where it can be created along with biological structures. Protocells are tiny structures which can be designed to take on the aspects of life when they are put together. They are tiny, synthetic quasi-living structures which can sense pressure and be the sole of your shoe, cushioning your every step. But when we are not wearing the shoes, they gets into a dormant stage. Once we have stopped using the shoes it can be put into a jay filled with protocell liquid that would allow the shoes to heal itself. 

I would say, science is just beginning to unravel its potential and I hope a lot of things coming up on our way, a day when the injuries are even self healed. Cant say no to that at this point of time. 




Sunday, 8 December 2013

Crystal-Snow Fantasy, I love it


There are times when I really felt to be in snow. Playing around, wandering around and feeling the snow, its touch and enjoy the beauty in its pure white form. During my time in England, Wales and Scotland, I have felt it. Sometimes while watching movies (such as Chronicles of Narnia etc..) I have felt the same. Now the Japanese Designer Tokujin Yoshioka's Spider's Thread is a full-on crystalline fantasy scape, taking his previous work Crystallised Project to a whole new level. Developed via chemical synthesis, Yoshioka's signature crystals are formed through methodical cultivation on the surfaces of select materials. 

The inspiration for the project was a traditional Japanese story, The Spider's Thread, by writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa, widely considered to be the father of Japanese short story. In Japanese Culture, a spider's thread represents hope and fragility, two key elements to Yoshioka's work. 

Take a look below as a snowflake in the studio becomes a crystal forest in a gallery: 

















Advanced medical imaging, a new hope for medical field!!!!!

A research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Extreme Light Laboratory had developed a new way to generate synchroton x-rays, which are high enough in quality for advanced medical imaging, among other applications. 

Physics Professor Donald Umstadter, director of the Lab, led this research project. He compares the synchroton x-ray breakthrough to the development of personal computers, giving more people access to computing power once available only via large and costly mainframe computers. Shrinking components of advanced laser-based technology will increase the feasibility of producing high-quality x-rays in medical and university research laboratories, which in turn lead to new applications for the x-rays. 

The new x-ray device could be small enough to fit in a hospital. This can increase the usage in wide range of applications. 
Doctoral student Nathan displays the electron accelerator used to generate x-ray light

Do you wanna see your muscles in motion while rehab?

Associate Professor Toshiakio Tsuji's Lab at Saitama University has developed R-cloud, a rehabilitation support robot that enables the patient to view how their own muscles move during rehabilitation and training. 

R-cloud calculates subtle muscles movements and quantifies this into data, which helps physiotherapists to provide accurate instruction on movement, and patient to confirm their own movements. This robot has a sensor and a sensor to measure the arm angle. Based on the data collected from these sensors, conclusions are made on the force of muscle contraction within the arm, as well as on the amount of calories consumed by each muscle during training. 


Friday, 29 November 2013

"Skullcap" for Athlete's Protection


Most of the researches in the past shows athletes who are involved in impact sports are prone to long-term brain injuries. Until now there wasnt any solution other than watching from the sidelines even if it is a coach or a physical trainer. 

But now time changed. There is a good news coming up for the everyone. An IEEE member Roozbeh Ghaffari, a biomedical engineer, also co-founder of the five-year old Materials Company (MC10), in Cambridge,  have developed a skullcap which can be worn alone or underneath a helmet. It detects how hard a player is hit. Depending on the impact severity, different coloured LEDs light up on the back of the cap for all to see. 

According to the Brain Trauma Foundation, in New York City, almost 2 to 4 million sports-related brain injuries occur around the world each year. All these lead to the research conducted by MC10  In the early days of their research they already mentioned that a cap worn close to the head would be better for monitoring hard hits than a helmet embedded with sensors. But for athletes to wear the cap, MC10 had to make it comfortable as well as practical. With the help and collaboration of Reebok, MC10 modelled its cap after the beanie, or skullcap, made with elastic that many athletes wear alone or under their helmets to keep hair and sweat from their faces. 

The researchers then developed an electronic monitor packed with sensors that fits inside the cap. The device incorporates a semiconductor tri-axial accelerometer to measure acceleration of the skull, which occurs when the head is hit hard. There is also a semi-conductor gyroscope to measure rotational acceleration when an athlete's head snaps back or hits the ground after a fall. These sensors are integrated with a microprocessor that calculates the impact using an algorithm similar to the head injury criterion used to assess the intensity of impact in sports. The cap has three LEDs that appear below the helmet line on the back of the neck. The GREEN light represents the cap is on and working, YELLOW indicates that the player experienced a moderate impact and RED indicates that the head has received a severe hit.  

                                                           Check out this video

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

"Nano-camera" that can operate at speed of light


A new device that can play a major role in medical imaging, collision-avoidance for cars, interacting gaming and further more have been developed by a group of researchers at MIT Media Lab. 

The three dimensional camera was presented last week at Siggraph Asia in Hong Kong. The camera works on the concept "Time of Flight" technology like the one used in Microsoft's recently launched second generation Kinect device. 

In a conventional Time of Flight camera, a light signal is fired at a scene, where it bounces off an object and returns to strike the pixel. Since the speed of light is known, it is then simple for the camera to calculate the distance the signal has travelled and therefore the depth of the object it has been reflected from. But there were some issues when the environment changes, different surfaces in contact etc. It made it difficult to determine the correct measurement etc. 

But now time changed. The new device uses an encoding technique commonly used in the telecommunications industry to calculate the distance a signal has travelled. The idea is similar to existing techniques that clear blurring in photographs. This development gives us a lot of hopes in my variety of fields. We can expect a commercial version soon. :) :D 

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

3Doodler : Pen Draw objects in Midair


3Doodler is the world's first 3D printing pen. This device is so user friendly that we doesnt need any technical knowledge, software or computers to learn its usage. This amazing device was developed by WobbleWorks, founded in 2010 with big ideas. The company is a combined effort of Maxwell Bogue (the maker of 3Doodler), Peter Dilworth (Chief inventer and CTO) and Daniel Cowen (Co-founder of 3Doodler). 


So how does it works? 
                              As a 3Doodler draws, it extrudes heated plastic, which quickly cools and solidifies into a strong stable structure. This allows you to build an infinite variety of shapes and items with ease. Most people will instantly be able to trace objects on paper, and after only a few hours of practice you will be able to make far more intricate objects. 3Doodlers can be created as flat forms and peeled off a piece of paper, as freestyle 3D objects, or in separate parts, ready to be joined together using the 3Doodler. 



3Doodler Trailor Video

Monday, 25 November 2013

World's First Magnetic Ultra thin Cellulose Loudspeakers


Throughout the ages, Swedes have relied on their country's vast forests as a source of sustenance and economic growth. A new development adds to their credit. A research team at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, have developed the world's first magnetic cellulose loudspeakers.

These speakers are made with a new material derived from pulp-magnetic cellulose gel. Hence they are eco-friendly as well as cancels out noise too. Currently the speakers are producing a good quality sound when compared to conventional speakers. But the main idea behind this development is to show the potential of natural and eco-friendly sustainable materials in everyday products. This new material can open the way for innovations in areas such as acoustic applications for auto mobiles which also includes more research in the form of damping for cars and trains.  

The  KTH speaker has coil, but it has no direct contact with the cone, so the only thing that creates sound is the movement of air. All of these components can be manufactured in a very small scale. This is a major breakthrough and you can read more about it on Cellulose loud speakers

Do you wanna protect your gadgets???


A new super weird (what I felt when I first saw it :D :D ), rubbery non-Newtonian fluid have been developed, which could be the next great material to protect your gadgets. This crazy material was seen in one of the CES's auxiliary events. When one of the tech teams arrived there in centre of attraction, they noticed a guy standing with his finger wrapped with a handful of orange goo. He was also having a hammer to hit. When the tech team asked what they were selling, the answer was a great surprise. It was a company called Tech21 and they make protective cases out of this crazy goo and the guy was showing a demonstration about this crazy protective material. :D :) 

Tech21 has been around for a long time now, starting as a supplier to OEMs who wanted to offer protection for their laptops and notebooks. But when the iPhone 3G came out in 2007, the company saw an opening for something more. The original impact earned due fame when they introduced this shock-absorbing material into a protective band. They were experimenting a lot such things until they introduced this idea based on non-Newtonian fluid, which is soft to be pliable, but then locks up firmly upon impact. What I said crazy before, now became impressive, right? Yes, it is. Really an impressive development and Tech21 is expecting a lot of magic from this material in the future soon. Cant wait.... :D 




Monday, 18 November 2013

"Choo-choo" Nanotrain on the way


"Attention Please! All board the nanotrain asap" :D :) 

You may 'wonder' what I am talking about? Everyone have run their on train in their childhood. Holding the shirt one behind the other....mimicking the sound of train and running around. Quite fun.. isn't it? I really miss those days!!! :D 

Scientists at Oxford University and Warwick University have developed tiny self-assembling transport networks, powered by nano-scale motors and controlled by DNA. The system can construct its own network of tracks spanning tens of micrometers in length, transport cargo across network and even dismantle the tracks. 

The news came in Nature Nanotechnology and was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. 

So, From where the researchers got such an inspiration? They were inspired by the 'Melanophore', used by fish cells to control their colour. Tracks in the network all come from a central point, like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Motor proteins transport pigment around the network, either concentrating it in the centre or spreading it throughout the network. Concentrating pigment in the centre makes the cells lighter, as the surrounding space is left empty and transparent. 
Green dye-carrying shuttles sit idle on the tracks before refuelling
The system uses 'Kinesin', a motor protein, powered by ATP fuels. Kinesins move along the micro-tracks carrying control modules made from short strands of DNA. 'Assembler' nanobots are made with two kinesin proteins, allowing them to move tracks around to assemble the network, whereas the 'shuttles' only need one kinesin protein to travel along the tracks. 

'DNA' is an excellent building block for constructing synthetic molecular systems, as we can program it to do whatever we need,'said Adam Wollman, who conducted the research at Oxford University's Department of Physics. 'We design the chemical structures of the DNA strands to control how they interact with each other. The shuttles can be used to either carry cargo or deliver signals to tell other shuttles what to do. 

'We first use assemblers to arrange the tracks into 'spokes', triggered by the introduction of ATP. We then send in shuttles with fluorescent green cargo which spread out across the track, covering it evenly. When we add more ATP, the shuttles all cluster in the center of the track where the spokes meet. Next, we send signal shuttles along the tracks to tell the cargo-carrying shuttles to release the fluorescent cargo into the environment, where it disperse. We can also send shuttles programmed with 'dismantle' signals to the central hub, telling the tracks to break up.' 

Their demonstration used fluorescent green as cargo, but the same methods could be applied to to other compounds. As well as colour changes, spoke-like track systems could be used to speed up chemical reactions by bringing the necessary compounds together at the central hub. More broadly, using DNA to control motor proteins could enable the development of more sophisticated self-assembling systems for a variety of applications. 

A lot to come on our way and we might see some unimaginable applications on the way. For the moment... keep guessing...!!! :D :) 

Notes:

Melanophores: Fishes and amphibians possess specialized cells called Melanophores which contains hundreds of melanin-filled pigment granules termed melanosomes. The sole function of these cells is pigment aggregation in the center of the cell or dispersion throughout the cytoplasm. This alternative transport of pigment allows the animal to effect colour changes important for their camouflage and social interactions. They also transport their pigment in response to extracellular cues: neurotransmitters in the case of fish and hormonal stimuli in the case of frogs. In both cases, melanosome dispersion is induced by elevation of intracellular cAMP (Cyclic adenosine monophophate) levels, while aggregation is triggered by depression of cAMP. 

Kinesin: It is a protein belonging to a class of motor proteins found in eukaryotic cells. Kinesins move along microtubule filaments, and are powered by thr hydrolysis of ATP. The active movement of kinesins supports several cellular functions including mitosis, meiosis and transport of cellular cargo such as axonal transport. 
Animation of Kinesin walking on a microtubule
Kinesin dimer attaches to, and moves along, microtubules





Sunday, 17 November 2013

Wanna Suck Wine Without Removing the Cork? I have a solution for you.


Do you want to suck wine without removing the cork? It's a very strange question, but its possible. And I do have a solution for you. Greg Lembrecht, a medical-device entrepreneur, figured out a way to do this. His Coravin Wine Access System uses the technique to draw wine from a bottle without uncorking it. 

So why do we need such a system? I know this will be the question for most of the people. Once the wine bottle is opened, the wine starts to oxidise and lose its flavour. No rubber stopper can stop this process, leaving most of the opened bottles to waste. So this system help to keep the wine with its flavour at the same time we can enjoy the moment. To pour a glass, a user places the Coravin on top of a bottle, pushing its hollow 2mm-thick needle through the cork. A capsule then releases argon, an inert non poisonous gas, into the bottle. The pressure forces out the wine. In all, it takes about 20 seconds per pour, when the needle is removed, the cork reseals itself. 

Next time try this Coravin and enjoy the moment. One more thing, you doesn't have to waste wine heart broke. 

Boosting batteries with the help of Biology? Electric cars with longer driving range? Really???


Research in Lithium-air batteries have been going on for a long time. The area of research was so hot mainly due to its application in electric cars and so on. Just imagine if these batteries were much more powerful, it may have lead to greater driving range etc. But there were a lot of challenges to bring this dream into reality. 

Time changed. :D :) MIT researchers have found a way to add genetically modified viruses to the production of nanowires- the wires that are about the width of a red blood cell, and which can serve as on of a battery's electrodes-could help to solve these problems. 

The new work is described in a paper published in journal Nature Communications. The key area of their work was to increase the surface area of the wire, thus increasing the area where electrochemical activity takes place during discharging or charging of the battery. The researchers produced an array of nanowires, each about 80 nanometers across, using a genetically modified virus called M13, which can capture molecules of metals from water and blind them into structural shapes. Another important point is the ability of the viruses to increase the surface area of nanowires which posses a rough, spiky surface due to its effect. The viruses naturally produce a three-dimensional structure of cross-linked wires, which provides greater stability for an electrode. 

In lithium-air batteries this method of increasing the surface area can provide a big advantage, says the co-author Professor Belcher. Not only that, this process can be carried out at room temperature using a water-based process. 

A final part of the process includes addition of a small amount of metal, such as palladium, which greatly increases the electrical conductivity of the nanowires and allows them to catalyze reactions that takes place during charging and discharging. Altogether we can say that these batteries with modifications have the potential to produce a battery that could provide two or three times greater density which in turn increases the amount of energy stored. 

There is a lot of research still going on in this field so that it can be introduced for commercial production. We can hope for a eco-friendly less polluted future where cars run a longer distance without petrol or diesel and a safe Mother Earth.  




Saturday, 16 November 2013

"inFORM" to "Wolverine" & more: a new interaction technique

I was always a great fan of Hugh Jackman and one of his iconic characters "Logan" in the movie named "Wolverine". Even though its a movie involved as action, adventure and fantasy, it's a pretty decent work. When I saw the latest release in 2013, there were some impressive techniques which caught my attention. In fact, some amazing works. In those, one of the scene which I saw, the character who is also the villain ( Hal Yamanouchi as Yashida) of the movie meeting our Hero, inside a lab. While their conversation were going on, Yashida suddenly got up with a special technique that supported his entire body. That impressive technique got my attention and I had a research on it. It was inspiring and pretty impressive.

The scene from the movie Wolverine, where Yashida tries to get up with the help of a technique to have a conversation with Wolverine character Hero Logan
Ok! Now let us go through the impressive technique which I was talking about. "inFORM" system is a state of art 2.5D shape display that enables dynamic affordances, constraints and actuation of passive objects. Its too scientific. Let me make it simple for you. Its a technique that create an interface that brings computer generated 3D objects and motions to life via real world shapes and movements. It's a technique where we can even control 3D objects virtually through the help of a computer and actuators. Pretty amazing, right? :D :) 

inFORM new interaction techniques for shape changing
"inFORM system" was born in an MIT lab under the team Sean Follmer, Daniel Leithinger, Alex Olwal, Akimitsu Hogge and Hiroshi Ishii. Past researches were primarily focused on rendering content and user interface elements through shape out-put, with less dynamically changing User Interfaces. But this research propose on utilizing shape displays in three different ways to mediate interaction: 1) To facilitate by providing dynamic physical affordances through shape change 2) To restrict by guiding users with dynamic physical constraints 3) To manipulate by actuating physical objects. They introduced Dynamic affordances and Constraints with their inFORM system. 

Dynamic affordances function both as perceived affordances and "real" affordances. They are rendered physically and provide mechanical support for interaction. The team combined the graphical perceived affordances with Dynamic Affordances and sometimes switching between the states. Some of the User Interface controls that the system support with respect to dynamic affordances are 
  • Binary switches:Buttons- Buttons are formed by raising pins from the surrounding surface. Users activate a button by touching it or by pushing it into the surface, which is registered as binary input. 
Button
  • 1D input: Touch tracks- Touch tracks consists of a line or curve of adjacent raised pins which the user can touch at different locations or slide over. 
ID Touch Track
  • 2D input: Touch surfaces- Touch surfaces are created using multiple pins, which are aligned to form surfaces.
  • 2D touch surface
  • Handles- They provide interaction in the Z dimension. These raised pins can be grabbed and then pulled up or pushed down along with one dimension. 
Handles
  • Interactions with dynamic affordances can change shape or to reflect a changing program state. While dynamic affordances facilitate user interactions, dynamic constraints limit the possibilities, making some interactions difficult or impossible to perform. The dynamic constraints make the system more legible, but also guide the user in performing certain interactions through physical interaction with the constraints. They can also mediate interactions through tangible tokens or tools. 
  • The system can sense how tokens interact with constraints. Some of the techniques include: Holding tokens and sensing presence, restricting movement to 1D, affecting movements, interaction with dynamic physical constraints etc. 
The depth of a well affords if the user can grasp a token contained in it.
Slots with indentations and ramps can be used to guide the user's interactions or to provide haptic feedback
There are a lot of parameters that are take into account while implementing this system. For example, let us consider the implementation of Shape Display. The system uses 30by30 motorized white polystyrene pins, in a 381by381 mm area. The pins have a 9.525 mm square foot print, with 3.175 mm inter-pin spacing, and can extend up to 100 mm from the surface. Push-Pull rods are used to link each pin with an actuator, to enable a dense pin arrangement independent of actuator sixe, giving the system a height of 1100mm. The linkage, a nylon rod inside a plastic housing, transmits bi-directional force from a motorized slide potentiometer through a bend. Six slide potentiometers are mounted onto a custom-deigned PCB, powered by an Atmel ATMega 2560 and specialist motor drivers. The linear positions are read by the 10 bit A/D converters on the microcontroller, and allow for user input, in addition to servoing their position using PID control. 150 borads are arranged in 15 rows of vertical panels, each with 5by2 boards. The boards communicate with a PC over five buses bridged to USB. For each pin, we can update the position and PID terms to provide haptic feedback and variable stiffness. The system interact with different application with minimal power consumption based on the requirements. 
The inFORM system actuates and detects shape change with 900 mechanical actuators, while user interaction and objects are tracked with an overhead depth camera. A projector provides visual feedback. 
The system uses an overhead depth camera to track user's hands and surface objects. A Microsoft Kinect with a depth sensor is mounted above the surface and caliberated for extrinsic and intrinsic camera parameters. "We are using two Kinects- one mounted in a remote location to capture the remote user, who had two video screens so they can see both the inFORM table surface and other participants," said Follmer. He said that the remote Kinect is mounted on the ceiling and captures the depth image and 2D colour image of the user's hands or any other objects placed under it. This captured data is sent over the network to the inFORM surface, which renders it physically on the inFORM pins. A projector above the inFORM projects the colour image of the remote user's hands onto the rendered shape. The second Kinect is mounted above the inFORM surface. This allows users collocated with the inFORM to interact with the inFORM gesturally.
inFORM actuate devices, for example by sliding and tilting a tablet towards the user
The development is a major breakthrough and I can say what we saw in Wolverine can be just a beginner's application and more to come. Shape displays allow for new ways to create physical interactions beyond functionality alone. We can hope a major development in this field which can be a major breakthrough in a wide variety of applications and helpful in medical, IT and industrial fields. Let's hope for the best. :D :)