Kevin Lepton

Sep 102012
 

A company called TTP (The Technology Partnership) is competing head on with the Google Project Glass. TTP has developed an augmented reality pair of glasses that shows information while wearing them and yet no one but you knows this is happening.

According to The Guardian, “Developed as a prototype by TTP (The Technology Partnership), a technology development company, the glasses incorporate a tiny projector in one arm of the spectacles. The picture is then reflected from the side into the centre of the lenses, which are etched with a reflective pattern that then beams the image into the eye.

That means the image is directly incorporated into what the wearer see when looking directly ahead … the ‘killer app’ for an augmented reality system might be one that would work when you look under your car bonnet, “so rather than seeing a big block, you see it all clearly labeled to tell you what part is what. Alternatively … surgeons might find it useful, not to show them what they’re looking at, because it’s never actually that clear, but to tell them what’s happening to the patient’s life signs: – to the blood oxygenation when I press here, what happens to the pulse. If you can display that directly into their field of vision, that’s really useful.”

This, of course, is only available now in the TTP research lab. But, expect some bigger players to jump on this technology soon.

Smart Fingertips A Next Step into Virtual Reality

 Virtual Reality  Comments Off on Smart Fingertips A Next Step into Virtual Reality
Aug 102012
 

Smart Fingertips

Researchers at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign have designed smart fingertips that can feel pressure, bend and conform to the finger. Now why would someone want to go ahead and invent this?

Blind people browsing the Internet, surgical trainees engaging in surgery in a virtual world and restoring skin sensation to burn victims are just a few of the uses of this smart skin. One can only foresee that this would be useful in virtual training for cosmonauts and astronauts as well.

According to ScienceMag.org, “Imagine feeling like you’re lifting a 50-kilogram weight just by pulling at thin air. That’s just one of the possible applications of new ‘smart fingertips’ created by a team of nanoengineers. The electronic fingers mold to the shape of the hand, and so far the researchers have shown that they can transmit electric signals to the skin. The team hopes to one day incorporate the devices into a smart glove that creates virtual sensations, fooling the brain into feeling everything from texture to temperature.”

Of course weight and pressure are two other sensations that the researchers are trying to achieve with their smart fingertips. And of course once smart fingertips and smart gloves are perfected, then there will surely be smart whatev’s that will stimulate other parts of the body as well. And I’m not going to say what parts.

Future Car Technology Ford Is Focusing On Now

 Future Cars  Comments Off on Future Car Technology Ford Is Focusing On Now
Jul 242012
 

The Ford Motor Company almost collapsed a few years back and like any good forward-thinking company, they’ve put that past behind them. Now Ford is focusing on future car technology in regard to both Traffic Jam Assist technology and Active Park Assist technology.

Ford’s Traffic Jam Assist technology is supposed to help drivers relax when they are surrounded by other slow moving cars on the highway. This automotive tech will take the wheel out of the hands of drivers for a short while and calculate the path of least resistance.

According to Automoblog, “Ford’s Traffic Jam Assist senses the movements of other road users as well as the primary user’s vehicle. Traffic Jam Assist technology adheres to the direction of traffic lanes on the highway with the capacity of self-correcting steering. Taking the minor steering adjustments from the driver, Ford proclaims the Traffic Jam Assist system will be a more relaxed driving experience. Traffic Jam Assist works in conjunction with other technologies such as adaptive cruise control to react even to sudden situations.”

Ford’s active park assist technology will not only help in parallel parking but perpendicular parking as well (and of course in the future there may vertical parking, underwater parking and of course levitation parking – but I’m getting a little ahead of myself).

So, you see that Ford no longer stands for Fix Or Repair Daily, but rather Future Of Rapid Development – at least they’re working on it.