A new ‘Sixth-Sense’
A clip from the movie ‘Minority Report’ starring Tom Cruise. From YouTube
Have you ever seem the movie The Minority Report starring Tom Cruise? In the movie, he plays Chief John Anderton who uses out-of–this world technology to find criminals and solve ‘pre-crimes.’ Well, modern science is not that far off from making Chief Anderton’s technology a reality.
Human Interface?
Scientists are working hard on creating a ‘seamless’ sixth-sense connection with the world around us. Sound crazy? Well it’s not that far fetched. Science is actually on the verge of making it a reality; in fact it’s so close you can touch it, literally. The goal of this sixth-sense technology is to provide the user with easy access to relevant information from the user’s environment and allow him or her to interact with the data by the touch of a finger. And the best part of this technology is that when it is fully operational it will cost no more than your average cell phone.
The system being demonstrated at a TED conference in 2009. (Eaton 2009)
Now, we’re not talking about a 50-year time schedule. No, scientists are only a few years away from making this ‘movie dream’ a reality. Already, Microsoft has created surface-interface display technology that’s able to project information onto a surface for the user to interact with via their hands.
MIT student demonstrating the capabilities of their device. (Eaton 2009)
A recipe for success
Sounds pretty cool right? However, this still isn’t quite up to our ‘Tom Cruise’ standard. At MIT, the fluid interface group at the University’s Media Lab is in the process of completing their version of this ‘sixth-sense’ technology. It combines a GPS-capable cell phone that gathers data from the environment, searches the Internet, collects the results and projects the information back to the user. It really is a “metadata system for real life” (Eaton 2009). The model includes a webcam, mirrors, a Smartphone and a pico-projector all hung together on a lanyard, and all available for a combined price of $350. Which makes this technology portable and able to work on any available surface, including your hands!
At MIT, the fluid interface group at the University’s Media Lab is in the process of completing their version of this ‘sixth-sense’ technology. It combines a GPS-capable cell phone that gathers data from the environment, searches the Internet, collects the results and projects the information back to the user. It really is a “metadata system for real life” (Eaton 2009). The model includes a webcam, mirrors, a Smartphone and a pico-projector all hung together on a lanyard, and all available for a combined price of $350. Therefore this technology is not only portable, but also able to work on any available surface, including your hands, and best of all it is affordable!
Demonstration on how the 'sixth-sense' can be used to view video clips related to certain newspaper articles. (photo credit: Sam Ogden)
'Sixth-sense' being used to sort and resize photos. (photo credit: Sam Ogden)
What does it do?
The system recognizes colored caps on the thumbs and index fingers via a webcam, and tracks their movements as a way of interacting with the projections. If this isn’t quite stylish enough for you, you could instead paint your nails in the same colors as the caps. Sounds all very techie, but what can it actually do? Well let’s say you’re taking a walk and want to take a photo, instead of taking out your camera, it’s as simple as making that iconic photo gesture with your hands and the interface will take the picture for you. Or, what if you want information on a book? A quick glance at the cover will give you a rating and a flip to the inside page will give you comments by critics. Even reading the newspaper becomes more exciting, with relevant video clips on the articles.
It’s even able to take social networking to the real world, literally. When meeting new people, the phone will look-up and project relevant information on them, including their name, contact details and tags associated with them from blog posts like this one. And it doesn’t stop there, how about finding out the time by simply drawing a circle on your wrist and having a watch projected? There are many more uses and applications for this sixth-sense technology and in a few years for the cost of a cell phone, we could all be as cool as Chief Anderton.
References and Further Reading:
Dr. Pattie Maes talks about the technology during TED talks
previous review made by Kit Eaton on Feb 5, 2009
More photos and video\’s on MIT\’s Sixth-Sense technology
Video on more applications of \’Sixth-Sense\’ (Really Worth A Look)
November 14th, 2011 at 10:38 am
I watched minotrity report when I was doing my first report on the brain related topic. I noticed that the movie (2002?) features different things that we have/ or will be having soon. I believe that this kinds of technology will be out soon. I hope to see those cool things!
November 14th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
The world of blind dating will be forever changed. The technology looks really cool, I wonder how else this technology will be used. It’d be amusing to see a housewife using a hologram cook book with the same dramatic flair as Tom Cruise in the video clip.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
This looks amazing. I still don’t quite fully understand it but its amazing that all this technology will be so accessible to the public. Really cool. And now I have a new movie I have to watch on my list!