Hi !
My daughter introduced me to Sixth Sense Technology. Chap called Pranav Mistry from MIT Lab is the inventor of the concept and the device. (Check out the Pranav Mistry video on TED).
The technology tries to bridge the digital world with the physical world, as Mistry says. Imagine a pendant worn by you, consisting of a camera and a projector, connected to a computing device in your pocket. You wear coloured markers on your fingers. When you point your fingers at a spot or make a photo frame with your fingers or draw a symbol with your fingers, the camera on your pendant identifies the actions by reading the movements of the markers on your fingers, with respect to the background. The images are relayed to the computing device in your pocket.
So you could draw a symbol recognized by the computer as phone and the computer would bring up the dialing pad of a phone, which the projector can project. Where ? Anywhere, lke on a wall, or on the palm of your hand. You then use a finger with a marker to dial the number on your palm ! Or you could place a coffee cup on a map and the device could tell you about the nearest cafes. You could point at your boarding pass, and the device could tell you if your flight is delayed. You could point at a picture or a news item in the newspaper and the projector can show you a video of the same (much like Potter movies) ! Wow !
Pranav has built the prototype for $ 350. It is not commercialized yet.
Mistry says this will help people be more human and will avoid the need for carrying various devices, like a phone or a camera. I'm not sure about that, but it got me thinking about the enless possibilitis of such a device.
Consider these. You see a person at a gathering and you point your markered finger at her discreetly. Your device reports back : "Preeti Misra, 36, divorced, management consultant, loves lounge music and adventure sports. Send message ?" Or say you are planning a holiday. So you point at various spots on a map and see videos of the places, assess hotels, see your friends comments, etc. At a bookshop, you point at a book and get its reviews.
In business, you could perhaps get quick briefs on people that you are negotiating with, or point at a piece of property or facility and know its ownership. Merged with a credit database, this can also bring up vital information on credit worthiness. I could bring up the keypad of a computer and a screen on my bare desk or on the back of an airplane seat and do my mails or a spreadsheet.
I am a wee bit worried about privacy though (hence the Preeti Misra example !) While Mark Zuckerberg feels that people should have no problem in sharing their identity with the world unless they are hiding something, I am not so sure !
Nonetheless, an exciting concept. The video is worth a view.
Cheers!
My daughter introduced me to Sixth Sense Technology. Chap called Pranav Mistry from MIT Lab is the inventor of the concept and the device. (Check out the Pranav Mistry video on TED).
The technology tries to bridge the digital world with the physical world, as Mistry says. Imagine a pendant worn by you, consisting of a camera and a projector, connected to a computing device in your pocket. You wear coloured markers on your fingers. When you point your fingers at a spot or make a photo frame with your fingers or draw a symbol with your fingers, the camera on your pendant identifies the actions by reading the movements of the markers on your fingers, with respect to the background. The images are relayed to the computing device in your pocket.
So you could draw a symbol recognized by the computer as phone and the computer would bring up the dialing pad of a phone, which the projector can project. Where ? Anywhere, lke on a wall, or on the palm of your hand. You then use a finger with a marker to dial the number on your palm ! Or you could place a coffee cup on a map and the device could tell you about the nearest cafes. You could point at your boarding pass, and the device could tell you if your flight is delayed. You could point at a picture or a news item in the newspaper and the projector can show you a video of the same (much like Potter movies) ! Wow !
Pranav has built the prototype for $ 350. It is not commercialized yet.
Mistry says this will help people be more human and will avoid the need for carrying various devices, like a phone or a camera. I'm not sure about that, but it got me thinking about the enless possibilitis of such a device.
Consider these. You see a person at a gathering and you point your markered finger at her discreetly. Your device reports back : "Preeti Misra, 36, divorced, management consultant, loves lounge music and adventure sports. Send message ?" Or say you are planning a holiday. So you point at various spots on a map and see videos of the places, assess hotels, see your friends comments, etc. At a bookshop, you point at a book and get its reviews.
In business, you could perhaps get quick briefs on people that you are negotiating with, or point at a piece of property or facility and know its ownership. Merged with a credit database, this can also bring up vital information on credit worthiness. I could bring up the keypad of a computer and a screen on my bare desk or on the back of an airplane seat and do my mails or a spreadsheet.
I am a wee bit worried about privacy though (hence the Preeti Misra example !) While Mark Zuckerberg feels that people should have no problem in sharing their identity with the world unless they are hiding something, I am not so sure !
Nonetheless, an exciting concept. The video is worth a view.
Cheers!
