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5 Posts tagged with the student tag
Cabe Atwell
1

newsFlash_wall2.JPGteaser_cropped.png

NewsFlash in operation (via MIT Media Lab)

 

Light we cannot see, or hardly see, can carry communications, this method is well practiced. However, two students at the MIT Media Lab (MML) are taking the concept to interfaces we have taken for granted, every digital screen. In a method akin to QR codes, screens will cast high-frequency red and green light in a few pixel columns along the vertical portions of the screen that any other device with a built in camera can detect. A specialized application on the camera based device will interpret the red/green signal and perform a task. They dubbed the tech "NewsFlash."

 

At the moment, the NewsFlash acts exactly like QR codes by directing the scan-device to a webpage. At the MML showcase for NewsFlash, iPads are used to display a news article. Users then scan the different iPads for redirection to the news article of choice. The "color codes" contain information beyond just an article link, such as language translation information.

 

Yes, this is simple wireless transmission. What NewsFlash has inadvertently accomplished is showing that unobtrusive, privacy maintaining, data communication is possible on mobile platforms. In other words, eliminating user device identification. I think anyone can appreciate a little privacy in the digital age.

 

Cabe

http://twitter.com/Cabe_e14

72 Views 1 Comments Permalink Tags: wireless, design, communication, industry, innovation, measurement, prototyping, university, research, hmi, student, mit, on_campus, cabeatwell
Eavesdropper
3

 

Three students from the University of Belgium have created a touchscreen system using the legacy CRT monitor and a glove fitted with phototransistors. They have named their system CRTouch and their setup revolves around an Altera DE2-70 development board.

 

 

The system works by using the phototransistors at the end of the index and middle finger to detect the beams emitting from the electron gun within the CRT. The Altera board controls the monitor and receives the sensor information. Using this information they can create images on the monitor that replicates a touch screen effect.

 

 

The Altera DE2-70 board integrates various components together making it useful for experiments and college laboratories courses exploring logic circuits and computer organization. The board includes toggle and push button switches, LEDs, 7-segment displays, SSRAM, SDRAM, Nios II processor, simple I/O interfaces, standard video and signal connectors, and USB and Ethernet connections.

 

 

Their system also includes a couple additional options to interact with the touchscreen. Using the middle finger sensor you can change the color of the content being drawn and also use an eraser tool to erase content already drawn. Their system is clearly a working prototype, as it currently shows off its many problems. The first one being detecting the position of the photosensor when the screen display is filled with dark colors, and the second one being picking up to many signals when the screen is a very light color. Even if they refine their system, I do not think CRT monitors are coming back.

 

 

This reminds me of the Nintendo Super Scope video game "gun." It would work by timing how long it would take the electron gun, in the CRT, to refresh the area on the screen where the gun is pointed. The avoid detection problems, the game would lighten up the screen each time the trigger was pulled. Perhaps the Belgium team could benefit from some 1980s-90s Nintendo techniques.

 

 

Eavesdropper

668 Views 3 Comments Permalink Tags: design, innovation, prototyping, optical, university, research, touchscreen, student, on_campus, eavesdropper, crt
Cabe Atwell
0

 

Modding Microsoft’s Kinect is nothing new; people have been designing new and crazy things with it for over a year already. There is even a Kinect for Windows release in February 2012 that is spurring innovation. However, occasionally someone uses it to do some pretty ingenious feats, like George MacKerron, a researcher at University College London.

 

MAcKerron took the Kinect and made an interactive ‘Depthcam’ that lets the user interact with real-time 3D images on the web. To do this George used OpenKinect Python wrapper along with Autobahn Websockets library to connect the Kinect to a web browser (in this case Chrome). To get around the networks firewall (at UCL), he used a node.js server, which is built upon Chrome’s version of JavaScript’s runtime environment. He then used CoffeScript to connect to the node.js server which translates the data received as a particle system that uses WebGL. As it stands right now, it only works with Google’s Chrome browser and is limited in content when using a mouse to pan and scan the live image, but it’s still pretty impressive all the same. To get a full rundown on George MacKerron’s Depthcam, or get all the code to try it yourself, visit his website.

 

Cabe

http://twitter.com/Cabe_e14

135 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: design, embedded, windows, communication, machine_vision, innovation, prototyping, university, research, hmi, student, kinect, on_campus, cabeatwell
Cabe Atwell
1

An overview of the Wind for Schools program (via DOE)

 

An exciting new project in Illinois is looking for middle schools and high schools to partake in an innovative curriculum change. The project is called Illinois Wind for Schools, modeled after the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) "Wind for Schools." Illinois has the second largest capacity for wind power in the United States, but it has not received funds from the Department of Energy to participate in NREL’s program.


Instead, the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs and the Department of Engineering Technology at Western Illinois University along with the Center for Renewable Energy and the College of Education from the Illinois State University are organizing their own program with funding from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The goal is to give students a well rounded idea of how weather and energy systems interact, pique their interest in the wind energy field, and to set the stage for Illinois based wind energy projects.


Applications are being accepted from schools that would like to participate in the program, which will begin in the 2012-2013 school year. Three to five schools will be chosen. These schools will receive all equipment and models necessary to teach the theory of wind energy and also allow the students plenty of hands on with with the projects. Functional model turbines components, model wind tunnels, testing equipment, weather balloons and weather data collection will be implemented in customizable labs and a comprehensive curriculum at each participating school. The ILWFS program will also run training sessions for teachers.


The project is getting a hand from the NREL by being a Wind for Schools Affiliate. These affiliates have access to the NREL’s publications, previous experiences, technical assistance, training programs, informational summits and the Wind for Schools online database.


 

No talk of expanding the program to more schools, but we are sure to learn more when the program has run through some iterations. The chosen schools will be notified April 2. Undoubtedly, this is a necessity of the future, and more schools should follow. Webinars, training classes, and other useful wind energy information is available at the Wind Powering America page.


 

Cabe

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145 Views 1 Comments Permalink Tags: test, innovation, measurement, education, university, research, energy, wind, hmi, alternative_energy, school, student, wind_energy, on_campus, wind_farm, cabeatwell
Cabe Atwell
0

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Wearing AGNES (via MIT & AgeLab)

 

Does the ravages of old age feel like big rubber bands on our limbs? So thinks the engineers at MIT’s “AgeLab,” a multi-discipline group part of the Engineering Systems Division. 

 

AgeLab’s “Age Gain Now Empathy System” (AGNES) was designed to give the wearer the physical feel of being around 75 years old with arthritis and diabetes after a lifetime of little exercise and poor diet.

 

Director of AgeLab, Joseph Coughlin described the purpose of the system, "The business of old age demands new tools. While focus groups and observations and surveys can help you understand what the older consumer needs and wants, young marketers never get that 'Ah ha!' moment of having difficulty opening a jar, or getting in and out of a car. That's what AGNES provides."

 

A list of debilitating apparatuses in AGNES:

• Large rubber bands are attached to the user’s limbs.

• A helmet forces the user into an uncomfortable position while curving the spine.

• Braces limit arm and leg movement, giving a stiff feeling and a shortened stride.

• Special shoes give an unstable gate.

• Gloves force a loss of strength and tactility in the hands and wrists.

• Earplugs lessen the user’s hearing.

• Glasses give the typical sight degradation of old age.

 


 

AgeLab seeks to give younger people the early experience of being old to perhaps sway them towards a healthier lifestyle, since that same group will be over 65 by 2030. (20% of the populace.) This feels like a very elaborate and expensive High-School psychology class experiment. Although I never took part in an old person simulator, I did have to pretend I have a broken hand for a week. It did give me some perspective of disabilities. (See the Technology for the Disabled group.)

 

Despite the inevitable decrease in physical ability over time, I feel medical science will turn the tide in my favor. Stem cells will grow “new everything” for my body. Neural implants will stave off brain debilitation. Or perhaps I will just be inside a robotic shell. However it goes, science has my backs.

 

Cabe

http://twitter.com/Cabe_e14

323 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: design, innovation, sensor, prototyping, university, hmi, student, mit, on_campus, technology_for_the_disabled, cabeatwell, agelab, old_people_simulator, agnes