Siggraph Emerging Technology : Touchable Holography, Scratch Interaction and Progress to Holodecks

There were a lot of Emerging technologies presented at Siggraph 2009 [see this link for the list]. Here are several of those emerging technologies.

Touchable Holography from the The University of Tokyo Ultrasound is used to focus force or sensation where it is precisely needed and wiimotes are used for handtracking.

Recently, mid-air displays are attracting a lot of attention in the fields of digital signage and home TV, and many types of holographic displays have been proposed and developed. Although we can “see” holograhpic images as if they are really floating in front of us, we cannot “touch” them, because they are nothing but light.

This project adds tactile feedback to the hovering image in 3D free space. Tactile sensation requires contact with objects, but including a stimulator in the work space dilutes the appearance of holographic images. The Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display solves this problem by producing tactile sensation on a user’s hand without any direct contact and without diluting the quality of the holographic projection.

Scratch Input: Carnegie Mellon Ph.D student Chris Harrison created a gestural input interface using existing surfaces and an acoustic input technique. Harrison’s interface uses scratches to communicate with his machine. By taping a modified stethoscope to a wall, Harrison got users to perform six scratch input gestures at about 90% accuracy with less than 5 minutes of training. If Scratch Input were utilized by a mobile manufacturer, a phone owner could simply rest their device on a table top and use it to scribble out messages.

Combine scratch input with projectors in cameras and cellphones and we will interactive large format displays in a portable form. Nikon just introduced a coolpix S1000pj camera with a built in projector

AN MIT system can reconstruct high-resolution 2.5-D surface data at interactive rates. An Interactive Retrographic Sensor for Touch, Texture, and Shape.

Jhai telemedicine solution for India and other low income countries which integrates with Telemedicine and EMR software.

Jhai Systems includes licensed, profitable, participatory, accountable, scalable sustainable franchise templates and consulting for entrepreneurs and donors who want to empower village entrepreneurs to help themselves and their villages by using ICT.

Multi-parameter Data Acquisition Unit
Measurements – 12-channel ECG, NiBP, Auscultation Sounds (Stethoscope), Temperature and Heart rate
Optional Pulse Oximeter and Spirometer probes available
Standalone PC software/ interface libraries for WinXP/ Win2K/ WinME/ Win98
Choice of serial or USB interface to the PC
Choice of semi-automatic or automatic BP measurement
Integrates with ReMeDi – SOFT, for a complete telemedicine and EMR solution

Neurosynaptic ReMeDi telemedicine solution: Includes self-contained re-chargeable battery, five probes, 2 way A/V at low bandwidth, low cost. Proposed price: $735+/- in quantity. Please see http://www.neurosynaptic.com/products_ReMeDi_MDAU.htm

Telemedicine and EMR software

Video, audio conferencing facility
Electronic Patient Medical Records
Medical data transfer, real-time audio/video conferencing at extremely low bandwidth
Standalone/ store-and-forward mode supported
Image capture and storage in patient records
Works with a normal configuration PC with web – camera, speakers and microphones.
Text chat facility
Integrates with ReMeDi – MDAU for a complete telemedicine solution

A better version of a floor of the holodeck has been made at McGill University This interface is intended for immersive virtual-reality and augmented-reality environments in which users walk over “natural” ground surfaces such as snow and ice.

Virtualization Gate : See a 3D model of yourself in a virtual environment and visually see yourself and others holding and interacting with that environment.

Users see the 3D model of their hands and the virtual object correctly positioned in their palms. It enables a first-person viewing and occlusion-free, co-located interactions. The 3D modeling system makes no assumption about the scene observed. One or several persons can stand in the acquisition space. The number of persons only affects the model quality and the computation time