Showing posts with label MIT Media Lab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MIT Media Lab. Show all posts

2012-05-28

ZeroN - Levitated Interaction Element

LabCAST - The MIT Media Lab Video Podcast » Archive » #61 ZeroN

What if materials could defy gravity, so that we could leave them suspended in mid-air? ZeroN is a physical and digital interaction element that floats and moves in space by computer-controlled magnetic levitation.


ZeroN - Jinha Lee MIT Media Lab


From Levitating Point to Levitating Space

To realize such interactions, we developed a magnetic control system that can levitate and actuate a permanent magnet in a pre- defined 3D volume. This is combined with an optical tracking and display system that projects images on the levitating object. Conventional levitation is for levitating an object at one point. In ZeroN Project, users can move a levitated object to anywhere in a predefined 3D space and leave it there without dropping it since the system constantly readjusts both magnetically and mechanically. It is about turning 3D space into levitating space.



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2012-01-07

3D Cameras for Cellphones with CoDAC: Compressive Depth Acquisition

Depth map - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 3D computer graphics a depth map is an image or image channel that contains information relating to the distance of the surfaces of scene objects from a viewpoint.

Depth Map: Nearer is darker


3-D cameras for cellphones - MIT News Office

Clever math could enable a high-quality 3-D camera so simple, cheap and power-efficient that it could be incorporated into handheld devices.
The MIT researchers’ system [...] uses only a single light detector — a one-pixel camera. But by using some clever mathematical tricks, it can get away with firing the laser a limited number of times.
[...]
Indeed, the algorithm lets the researchers get away with relatively crude hardware. Their system measures the time of flight of photons using a cheap photodetector and an ordinary analog-to-digital converter — an off-the-shelf component already found in all cellphones. The sensor takes about 0.7 nanoseconds to register a change to its input.

STIR CoDAC Project Page


CoDAC: Compressive Depth Acquisition Camera
CoDAC is a new time-of-flight based range measurement system for acquiring depth maps of piecewise-planar scenes with high spatial resolution using a single, omnidirectional, time-resolved photodetector and no scanning components. [...]
[...]
Our technique, CoDAC, is based on the TOF distance measurement principle. In contrast to a regular TOF camera, CoDAC uses a pulsed light source to illuminate a spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator selectively illuminates the scene with a randomly-chosen checkerboard pattern by selectively blocking some of the light. All the light reflected from the scene is focused at a single, time-resolved photodetector. The photodetector produces an electrical signal, which is in turn sampled and stored. This process of illumination, integration and sampling is repeated for a small number of randomly-chosen binary patterns. Finally, the time samples collected through this acquisition are computationally processed using a parametric signal processing framework to reconstruct the scene depth map.




Kinect comes to Smart Phones?




It will be a little time before a commercial system is available - at the moment the MIT team is working on extending the method to curved surfaces - but Intel has already invested $100,000 as part of its innovation Fellowship program.
Having portable depth detectors small enough to fit in a mobile phone really would open up a whole new world of apps.


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2010-02-27

MIT Media Lab -- Personal Robots



Clipped from: MIT Media Lab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MIT Media Lab

The MIT Media Lab (also known as the Media Lab) is a department within the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of multimedia and technology, the Media Lab was widely popularized in the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a series of practical inventions in the fields of wireless networks, field sensing, web browsers and the World Wide Web. More recently it has focused on product design more generally, particularly for technologies that address social causes.[1]


Clipped from: Projects

Projects




Clipped from: Overview

Leonardo

This project is a collaboration with the world famous Stan Winston Studio. It combines the studio's artistry and expertise in creating compelling animatronic characters with state of the art research in socially intelligent robots. We have christened this new character collaboration with a name that embodies art, science and invention. Hence, the name "Leonardo" -- namesake of Leonardo DaVinci, the Renaissance scientist, inventor and artist. 




Clipped from: Overview

MDS

The purpose of this platform is to support research and education goals in human-robot interaction, teaming, and social learning.





Clipped from: Overview

Huggable™

The Huggable™ is a new type of robotic companion being developed at the MIT Media Lab for healthcare, education, and social communication applications. The Huggable™ designed to be much more than a fun interactive robotic companion. It is designed to function as a team member that is an essential member of a triadic interaction. Therefore, the Huggable™ is not designed to replace any particular person in a social network, but rather to enhance that human social network. 




Clipped from: Overview

Aida

The aim of the Personal Robot's portion of the project is to expand the relationship between the car and the driver with the goal of making the driving experience more effective, safer, and more enjoyable.



Clipped from: YouTube - AIDA in Dash


Clipped from: Overview

Tofu

TOFU is a project to explore new ways of robotic social expression by leveraging techniques that have been used in 2d animation for decades.



Clipped from: YouTube - Meet TOFU

Sources:
Personal Robots Group - MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Projects
Leonardo
YouTube - Leonardo Robot - isn't this the cutest robot ever?
MDS
YouTube - Nexi (M.I.T. MediaLab) at Laval Virtual 2009
Huggable
YouTube - Siggraph 2006 - MRI (Mixed-Reality Interface)
Aida
YouTube - AIDA in Dash
Tofu
YouTube - Meet TOFU
Related:
MIT Media Lab
Personal Robots | MIT Media Lab
Personal Robots | MIT World
QTC Robot Skin Feels How Hard You Touch – Coming soon to MIT, Samsung, Others | Singularity Hub
Meet Nexi, the Media Lab's latest robot and Internet star
MIT's 'Tofu' Robot Mixes Science, Ridiculous Cuteness | Technomix | Fast Company
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2008-06-10

The City Car -- A Stackable Electric Car


The City Car from MIT's Media Lab is a stackable electric car that can be checked out like a luggage cart at the airport and returned to any station around the city.
clipped from www.archinode.com
ARCHITECTURAL + URBAN + ECOLOGICAL DESIGN
Future North Ecotariums
MIT/ CONCEPT CAR
+ TIME magazine
clipped from www.time.com

Car, Compacted


City Car

The City Car is a stackable electric two-passenger city vehicle. The one-way sharable user model is designed to be used in dense urban areas. Vehicle Stacks will be placed throughout the city to create an urban transportation network that takes advantage of existing infrastructure such as subway and bus lines. By placing stacks in urban spaces and key points of convergence, the vehicle allows the citizens the flexibility to combine mass transit effectively with individualized mobility. The stack receives incoming vehicles and electrically charges them. Similar to luggage carts at the airport, users simply take the first fully charged vehicle at the front of the stack. The City car is NOT a replacement for personal vehicles, taxis, buses, or trucks; it is a NEW vehicle type that promotes a socially responsible and more effective means of urban mobility.


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