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Sculpting Interface Prototype

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-sculpt-53-words-per-minute dept.

uw_dwarf writes "Now you can play with Play-Doh and your computer at the same time. Folks at the State University of New York at Buffalo have demonstrated another tactile interface to the computer: a glove with a sensor to determine pressure and direction in 3-space as the user works with a nice malleable substance. I'm torn between 'cool!' and 'scary!'"

29 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Playboy Research Labs. by garcia · · Score: 4, Funny

    The technology utilizes a ModelGlove developed by the researchers to record the force exerted by hand when depressing and shaping a block of clay. This force-feedback information, as well as information on hand position and speed of fingertip motion, is instantaneously communicated to a personal computer where a virtual block of clay -- possessing characteristics mimicking the physical properties of the clay -- is shaped precisely to the contouring of the actual clay.

    The next generation of the ModelGlove will have sensors on all fingers and on the palm of the hand to give users full finger control of virtual clay.

    "Touch is the next frontier in the evolution of virtual reality," Kesavadas says. "Most virtual-reality technologies to this point have focused on 3D visualization, but the sense of touch may be the most powerful way to make virtual reality more real."

    "I'm torn between hot and sexy", said Hugh Heffner when asked about this interactive research project being worked on at the Playboy Research Labs ;-)

    1. Re:Playboy Research Labs. by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You know, it sounds like they're going to make a fortune selling the clay. Heck...they could probably give the gloves and software away for free.

      After all, once their preformulated clay gets impurities from use, it's characteristics are going to be less and less like those of the clay the software is simulating.

      Over time, your model on screen is going to appear less and less like the stuff you've been working on with your hands.

      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
    2. Re:Playboy Research Labs. by dr_canak · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ya know,

      you're probably not far off. The porn industry seems to find creative ways to spend and make money on technology.

      I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the internet porn industry completely jump on board something like this. People spend significant sums of money now to chat, watch, and "participate" in internet sex. Imagine the first internet porn company to market that sells a device that you put on your genitalia, and said device is controlled from the other end using one of these glove things. Certainly whatever data is being transmitted to manipulate a screen object could just as easily be exported out to control an external device. The difference here of course is the fine level of control and detail they seem to be achieving.

      Now you're talking a whole 'nother level of interaction which i think people would pay a good sum of money for, given it could be done in the privacy of their own home.

      jeff

  2. And in other news.... by RPI+Geek · · Score: 3, Funny

    Stocks soar in the interactive porn industry.

    --

    - "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
    1. Re:And in other news.... by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, when I read "I'm torn between 'cool!' and 'scary!'" in the story submission, my immediate response was "I'm torn between 'cool', and 'when can I buy a groin attachment'?"

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:And in other news.... by baudilus · · Score: 3, Funny

      Try fufme.

      I'm so ashamed that I know about that...

    3. Re:And in other news.... by Billy+the+Mountain · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm going to go patent this now before the porn industry can!

      There, you see? This is an example of poor timing. You need to wait until everybody is using it then apply for a patent.

      BTM

      --
      That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
  3. Self abuse freaks rejoice by Quirk · · Score: 2, Funny

    "... have demonstrated another tactile interface to the computer: a glove with a sensor to determine pressure and direction in 3-space as the user works with a nice malleable substance."

    --
    "Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
    Cohen
  4. It has to be said by Sean80 · · Score: 2, Funny
    In the near future, I see an explosion of 3D models of penises.

    Oh. dear. God.

    1. Re:It has to be said by ShallowThroat · · Score: 2, Funny

      um... wouldn't it be an explosion of 3D models of breasts or other FEMALE body parts? I don't know about you, but most geeks i know wouldn't want to touch a 3D penis.

      --
      The "Insert Quote Here" line is almost as predictable as inserting an actual quote.
    2. Re:It has to be said by Sean80 · · Score: 3, Funny
      Yes, most geeks and nerds are touching FEMALE body parts when they're, uh, surfing the web looking for, er, artistic female form photography.

      See, they're touching themselves when they're at porn sites. Do you see? DO YOU SEE?

      KHAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!

  5. As an pedantic alum... by GersonK · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...I'll point out that they prefer to be called just plain "University at Buffalo" now, none of that low class SUNY stuff (even though they still are part of the SUNY system).

    1. Re:As an pedantic alum... by dbleoslow · · Score: 5, Funny

      As a fellow alum I prefer to call UB "a freezing cold campus with a plethora of fierce windtunnels." I once saw a girl get blown into a moving vehicle. She wasn't hurt so it's okay to laugh :)

  6. 3 comments in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    And any pr0n joke I make is already redundant. Oh well, if there was any doubt as to how the geek mind worked...

  7. the hype by kris_lang · · Score: 3, Informative

    Boy oh boy.

    I remember getting an invite over to V.P.L. (Virtual Propulsion Laboratories) back when I had a friend who was working at nearby Oracle.
    The demo: they had a virtual reality glove, something which you put your hand in and moved in free space to manipulate objects in virtual reality. Yeah, yeah, I know SUNYAB has made some incremental changes and added some haptic feedback, but please, VPL had started this in the pre-boom days of Silicon Valley back in the early 1990's.

    1. Re:the hype by southpolesammy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ummm, not quite what they're saying. What I believe this device is doing is translating the physical analog experience into a virtual digital representation. Think of it more like recording a movie rather than playing it back.

      This has great applications if the forces required to perform a certain function can be recorded and then recreated in a simulation. With that capability, we could record Tiger Woods swinging a golf club and then teach new golfers how to emulate his style by actually feeling what he does. Or perhaps record a physician's surgery and allow med students to get the feel for the correct procedure before doing it on real people. Or maybe record ace pilots turning a 5G roll and teach new ones what to expect.

      Could be pretty cool.

      --
      Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
  8. Nintendo was here first... by cuzality · · Score: 4, Informative

    "The Power Glove has to be one of the most innovative and least useful of all peripherals. R.O.B. may be more pointless from a gaming perspective, but there wasn't as much to R.O.B.

    The Power Glove along with the sensors that were to be placed around your TV supposedly allowed you to control the game through virtual reality."

    1. Re:Nintendo was here first... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The powerglove used ultrasonic sensors placed around the display (at three corners) to locate the glove, and it had switches attached to (some of?) the fingers. It had no feedback of any sort.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  9. thousands of geeks are thinking by plasm4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ooohhhh, digital boobies.

  10. The field of haptics? by e9th · · Score: 4, Funny

    I barely knew it was a word. Now I find out it's a field.

  11. Has Potential by TaintedPastry · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Porn jokes aside...

    ...this could develop into a wonderful device for the physically disabled geeks out there.

    Certain hand/arm disformaties or Nuerological Degeneration diseases can have their affect on the use a of a PC nullified with proper application of this tool (as opposed to attention/finger dexterity demanding keyboards and mice).

    Unfortunately, I doubt the funding is out there to adopt this technology to disabled persons uses, much less actually get it to them :-\ .

  12. Re:you know what else works by WormholeFiend · · Score: 3, Insightful

    yea but suppose you cant be bothered to reproduce, triangle by triangle, a 3D structure on-screen with your mouse... just rub it all over with your gloved fingers and it's done.

  13. Do you still need the clay? by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "...virtual block of clay -- possessing characteristics mimicking the physical properties of the clay -- is shaped precisely to the contouring of the actual clay."

    The actual clay... meaning you still have to have clay? That's all well and good, but the biggest problem to working with clay and getting the shape onto the computer is getting clay all over your $K's worth of interface devices. I'd like to see the force feedback go into the glove, so I can just "model" virtual clay, sans real clay.

    --
    stuff |
    1. Re:Do you still need the clay? by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 2, Informative

      The actual clay... meaning you still have to have clay?

      Yes. The whole point of this experiment is to produce better models of soft substances so that they can be used with _other_ types of interface realistically. The glove itself has no feedback characteristics - it's just a measuring device, telling the host computer what happens when you press *this* hard in *that* direction on the target substance (which among other things requires it to build an internal picture of what the current shape of the clay blob is).

  14. Maybe this will help... by marnargulus · · Score: 4, Informative

    It seems some of you are confused as to what this is. From what I see, it using pressure sensors, and position sensors, combines them, and produces a 3D image (similar to one in a CAD program). This image can then be used later on, either to look at the object with out it being there, or to have as a design. This is not in any way the other way around. Virtual objects do not put FORCE on the GLOVE. You will not "feel" any thing from it. That would not work.
    Lets look at this from a physics standpoint. It is a glove with wires coming out. There are no air bags to fill, no rockets to fire, and nothing to push your hand with. If you look at the picture you can see that. From this, we can assume the glove can not put force on your hand to move it. So no, VR sextoys, or objects won't really come from this.
    What will come from this is faster design. A sculptor who is very good at making models in clay, may very well be horrible with CAD. They can model in real clay, using this glove, and it will make a CAD of the actual design he made. They can now mass produce exactly what he made. This basically flips the way they make cars around. From what I've seen, they model it, then make a clay mockup.

  15. Re:could this be used to remotely strangle.... by scoot241 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes! Now you too can have your very own Darth Vader glove, complete with Force Strangle.

    --
    Moderation Insight
  16. how about this one by gosand · · Score: 3, Funny
    And any pr0n joke I make is already redundant.


    How about:
    And you thought "finding out the hot girl you were chatting with is really a guy" was creepy...


    think about it.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  17. You're thinking all wrong! by TotemPopper · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just love how the nerds brain works. One person mentions pr0n and that's all everyone can talk about. I was sure someone in the /. community would have noticed this about it: If this product gets marketed, it could mean extreme changes in one of our favorite industries, (no, not pr0n) gaming. Slip one of these on you could easily create the majority of 3D models for a game. Need a toaster? Just run your fingers over one and BAM! you have your model. This could cut a lot of time out of making games so they could focus on other parts of the process. (I wonder what this will do to copyright laws. e.g. "You have a copy of our brand of toaster on your computer! We're gonna sue you")
    Just my two cents. -TP

    --
    LCpl Winward, USMC I'm Awesome
  18. Patents on User Interfaces by viewtouch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Patents on User Interfaces should not be allowed. The field of User Interfaces requires absolute freedom of innovation. I strongly condemn the government for sanctioning impediments to innovation and to the absolute freedom of use in all areas of User Interfaces.