A mind-controlled robot arm doesn’t have to mean brain implants

Posted on 22/07/2019 by Engadget RSS Feed

A robotic arm smoothly traces the movements of a cursor on a computer screen, controlled by the brain activity of a person sitting close by who stares straight ahead. The person wears a cap covered in electrodes. This "mind-controlled" robot limb is...

Apple secures multitouch-related patent dating back to 1995 from inventor

Posted on 24/07/2012 by Donald Melanson

Apple has come into possession of a number of patents owned by Canadian inventor Timothy R. Pryor in recent years (see the More Coverage link below for a few examples), and it's just today been granted another that's particularly interesting. Described rather broadly as a "method for providing human input to a computer," the patent (filed in July of 2009) is a continuation of one dating all the way back to 1995, and appears to cover some fairly basic multitouch-related functions. As detailed in the patent's claims, that includes controlling a virtual object on a screen with two simultaneous touch inputs, as well as virtual controllers displayed on the screen that can also respond to touch input. The patent also describes responses to touch input, including both visual and force feedback cues, and it offers a whole range of possible applications beyond the independent claims, including an aircraft cockpit or vehicle display. Those independent claims are clearly focused on general computer interfaces, though, not specific implementations. Naturally, all of this has simply been revealed by the USPTO -- we wouldn't expect to hear anything from Apple or Mr. Pryor on the terms of the deal.

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Apple secures multitouch-related patent dating back to 1995 from inventor originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Minority Report at 10: a look at technology from today to 2054

Posted on 21/06/2012 by Donald Melanson

Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, based on the Philip K. Dick short story, opened in North American theaters 10 years ago today. It was preceded by the director's A.I. a year earlier, which was famously a pet project of Stanley Kubrick's for decades prior, and was followed up by Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds a couple of years later. Together, they formed an unofficial trilogy of sorts that represented a turn to darker science fiction for a director noted for his more optimistic excursions into the genre. Of the three, Minority Report was the best-received out of the gate, both as a film and as a detailed vision of the near-future unlike any since Blade Runner.

That reputation has largely held up in the decade since (while A.I.'s has grown quite a bit), during which time it's also become a sort of technological touchstone. For all its bleakness, the future of Minority Report was one that we could recognize, and one that we were reaching towards -- at least when it came to the technology. Human-computer interaction would be more natural than ever, advertising would be everywhere and more personalized, and smart cars would deliver us to our smart homes. Today, it's almost as common for a new technology to be described as Minority Report-like as it is to be described as Star Trek-like. That was hardly just the result of good luck.

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Minority Report at 10: a look at technology from today to 2054 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Research’s MirageTable brings some augmented reality to your tabletop

Posted on 12/05/2012 by Donald Melanson

We got a look at a holographic telepresence project from Microsoft Research earlier this week, but that's far from the only Kinect-enhanced rig it's working on these days. This setup dubbed a MirageTable was also shown off at the Computer-Human Interaction conference in Austin, Texas this week, offering a glimpse of one possible future where two people can interact with virtual objects on a table as if they were sitting across from each other (or simply do so on their own). To make that happen, the setup relies on a ceiling-mounted 3D projector to display the images on a curved surface, while a Kinect on each end of the connection both captures the person's image and tracks their gaze to ensure images are displayed with the proper perspective. You can check it out in action after the break, although some of the effect is lost without 3D glasses.

Continue reading Microsoft Research's MirageTable brings some augmented reality to your tabletop

Microsoft Research's MirageTable brings some augmented reality to your tabletop originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 May 2012 07:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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