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"Holographic" Desk Allows Interaction With Virtual Objects
Zibodiz writes "The Sensors and Devices group at Microsoft Research has developed a new system called HoloDesk that allows users to pick up, move and even shoot virtual 3D objects.
It's about the size of a filing cabinet and is made up of an overhead screen that projects a 2D image through a half-silvered beam splitter into a viewing area beneath. A Kinect camera keeps tabs on a user's hand position within the 3D virtual environment, a webcam tracks the user's face to help with placement accuracy, and custom algorithms bring everything together in (something very close to) real time."
I'm surprised they are using a point cloud and not a mesh for the tracking? That would explain why the physics seems a little unstable / jumpy when the ball floats around on the book.
Cool prototype -- will be real interesting to see what kind of applications get developed once this tech is cheap enough where every home has one.
Oooh, I can't wait to play "Operation" on one of these!
First they would have to prove that people are confused by the name and mix it up with a product produced by Star Fleet.
I don't think anyone will make the honest mistake of thinking this product was produced by a 25th century institution.
However, I'm sure if Apple were to buy Paramount they would sue anyway. Especially if this device has rounded corners, an on/off switch, or limited buttons.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Sure sounds like rebirth of MS Bob. MS never lets old code go to waste, wait long enough the idea will come around again.
The graphics on the display really look like the stuff from Star Wars (original trilogy) where the chess pieces attack each and kill each other
I worked for the Electronics Visualization Laboratory, back in the late 90's. We developed a similar system called PARIS,some time around 1998.
http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&type=1&indi=83
I have a handful of virtual papers I need to staple and someone stole my virtual stapler. Well, I better check the virtual drawer for a virtual paper clip.
As far as lawsuits are concerned, I'm more worried about someone giving Picard access to one of these, a 1920's bar simulation and a machine gun. Is it still assault with a deadly weapon if it's virtual?
I am working on a system that lets you manipulate objects on a desktop, but contains both 3D objects and immediate and realistic tactile sensation.
The best part is the objects are completely functional. For instance, I have a pencil object right now that will write on a paper object and dull itself over time. It is realistically modeled in wood.
I've also implemented drawers which can be used to organize and store the objects for later retrieval, as well as a rudimentary file system.
I'm not entirely sure what to call it yet, but I'm thinking of going with "a desk."
There's no force-feedback yet. You can interact with object in the environment, but you can't feel them. So this is of no interest to Picard, or the porn industry, for now.
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
Now we're talking.
Have the Slashdot story logos gone banal all of a sudden?
What happened to The Borg Gates?
Even the story about Gates's reinvention of the toilet uses some boring stock photo.
Just imagine: virtual hand-washing dishes, virtual weed pulling, virtual pebble sorting.
The video-game possibilities are endless!
Trademark? It would be hard to defend a trademark of something that doesn't exist, much less hasn't ever been traded. When they start selling holo-decks maybe they will have a case. Now copyright, on the other hand, might be a problem.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
And can be photoshopped to be the same size as one of their products.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I'm going through the Organic Chemistry sequence in college right now and I find the one of the most difficult ideas to present to students (myself and my classmates) is the 3D spatial arrangement of molecules.
If the professor had access to one of these Holodesks during a lecture he could rotate enantiomers as well as perform reactions in real time which could be a huge boon for anyone having trouble with regiochemistry.
I fail to see the practical applications of this. I mean yeah, instead of relying on sensors that are orders of magnitude more sensitive or precise than the human hand, let's re-create a virtual world with a bad physics system and let people use their extremely low resolution hands to do things that they could do for real with real objects. I mean short of being a toy, what is the point?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Funny... my first thought was that this would have no interest for "the industry" therefore the technology was doomed.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
You forgot clippy and "squirting".
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
Google didn't think twice about naming their failed messaging service Wave in reference to the communications in Firefly. Of course, I'm not sure which lasted longer - Google Wave or Firefly. Maybe there'll be a movie.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I think you overestimate people's average intelligence...
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
Seriously, bring back that thing.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
There's no force-feedback yet. You can interact with object in the environment, but you can't feel them. So this is of no interest to Picard, or the porn industry, for now.
Not on this one, but the University of Tokyo is coming closer to force feedback using ultrasound:
http://www.gizmag.com/tactile-holographic-display/12466/
But humans did roam the earth at the same time as dinosaurs! Don't you watch Terra Nova?
And don't forget Land of the Lost. Even if you disregard the time-traveling modern humans, the show clearly documented early cavemen (i.e. Cha-Ka) living with dinosaurs.
Did anyone else misread that as holodeck, not desk? Way to get my hopes up summary.
D. Gabor and Denisuk would be sad about this incorrect usage of "holography" in the summary..
24th :P
"People don't want to learn linux" hasn't been a valid excuse since '03.
This kind of technology will completely change the marketplace.
If these get cheap enough that you can put one of these in your house, it would give you the ability to handle a virtual version of whatever item you wanted to buy... before you bought it! If these machines were accurate and sensitive enough (and had the computational power) you could even interact with a virtual version of say, a mobile phone. You wouldn't be able to actually "feel" anything you you were handling, but it sure beats the hell out of a jpeg.
and visualize the thunderstorm right there on the edge of my desktop, as it as it lurches towards Virginia.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Does anybody else see hiding this from the wife a problem? Give it to some porn websites and let them work out the details, and they'll have a commercially viable product in 6 months.
Except this technology exists since 1998. Pron industry had 13 years to take it for free, but now that MS claimed it to be their latest "innovation" you have to pay them rent for it every time you buy a non-Windows computer. (MS does not specify what patents it collects rent on, so this one might be among them).
That's because you can actually get some work done on a good Linux distro, instead of spending all your time rebooting and getting popups out of your face.
Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power. -- Mussolini
So, I can use this to throw virtual chairs?
Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power. -- Mussolini
It's bad enough that some people only eat salads, but now virtual salads! I can just feel the weight melting off!
In this day and age, why do they always upload this in some shitty lowres version recorded on someones Nokia phone from 1998?
1080p people!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
.. no interest for "the industry" ..
Isn't it called "the business" ?
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.