The Future is Shape-Shifting

Fabian Hemmert demonstrated his awesome shape-shifting cellphone prototype at TEDxBerlin. The first example of "mass" makes so much sense to me.

Solar Decathlon 2009 Results

Via CNET:

A high-tech building covered on all sides with solar cells has won an international contest for the best home powered only by the sun. Team Germany, which also won in 2007, took first place in the Solar Decathlon, beating out teams from Illinois and California.

At a ceremony Friday in Washington, D.C., the Department of Energy announced the winners of the competition, in which student teams designed and built solar homes on the National Mall. For the past week, the homes have been scored on architecture, market viability, and a number of objective measures, such as how much hot water the house can generate.

On the final day, Germany beat out its rivals by getting the highest score in the net metering contest, or the amount of excess electricity the home produced.

Germany's team, from Technische Universitat in Darmstadt, designed a building that not only had solar panels on the roof, but also on the walls, making the potential generation as high as 11,000 watts. The specially designed siding that used thin-film solar cells fitted onto aluminum strips. The solar cells ran all the electrical systems, including the hot water heater, and are capable of generating about twice as much electricity as the house needs.



Underneath the clapboard was a highly insulating material. That was one of a number of techniques, including automated louvers to take in outside air, that home used to increase its energy efficiency and conform to the Passive House low-energy home standard. The cube-like structure not only allowed for a maximum surface area for solar cells, but also allowed the architects to build a two-story interior, unlike the other entrants. The cost for this sophisticated home was at the high end in the competition, with an estimated price tag in the $650,000 to $850,000 range.

By contrast, the second place team--Team Illinois from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign--made a home on the low end of the price range, estimated at about $250,000. The Illinois team chose to focus on local architecture and local suppliers for its house. It used reclaimed wood from a family barn and a local grain elevator for the siding and decking. On the inside, it used a new product--structural bamboo beams--made from a fast-regenerating plant.
The designers at Illinois, too, chose to run the house entirely on solar electric panels, rather than have a combination of solar photovoltaics and solar hot water panels for all heating and cooling. The all-electric system allowed it to use highly efficient air-source heat pump. The building was also heavily insulated, getting an estimated R50 by using spray foam, and chose highly efficient appliances inside.

Team California, which was a collaboration between Santa Clara University and the California College of the Arts, came in third place, placing at the top in the communications and architecture categories.

The homes in the competition were limited to 800 square feet but California designed its home to give it a bigger feel by having different zones and a large deck that integrated with the main living space. The team, which also scored well for home entertainment and appliances, designed a home-automation system that allows home owners to monitor energy usage from a touch-screen display. The same display also allows people to control lighting, the shades, and appliances.

The full scorecard and more photos of the homes can be seen at the Solar Decathlon site.

Solar Design Competition - 2nd Place House

Inspiring video from the students at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign who won 2nd place in the 2009 Solar Decathlon. Awesome work and you gotta love the use of Lamboo!

Amazing Robot Hand

The following demonstration of a robot hand from the folks at Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory is simply amazing! The precision and speed of this technology is something to marvel. See for yourself.

Biomimicry: Nature and Every Inventor's Source for Inspiration

A great talk I wanted to share with those looking for a little creative inspiration. The design and sophistication that surrounds us in nature is simply amazing! What I don't understand is how anybody who observes the precision, intentionality, and purpose behind each uniquely designed thing can actually believe it is happenstance? Look and see for yourself.

Link to Janine Benyus' website
Link to AskNature.org

GelSight Previewed at Siggraph '09

I can imagine multiple uses for MIT's GelSight technology which was domo'ed at Siggraph '09 in New Orleans.

"GelSight measures the texture and geometry of objects that touch its surface. The sensor is made of clear elastomer (a gel-like material) with a painted skin. Viewed from behind, an object pressed into the sensor appears as a shaded surface with a uniform reflectance. These properties allow for 3D reconstruction of the object's surface."

Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display & Holography

Another amazing technology developed by Shinoda Lab (The University of Tokyo)

Technology from Siggraph '09:


Technology from Siggraph '08:

Link to Research Paper (PDF)
Link to Supplemental Material (PDF)

3D Video Stabilization Presented at SIGGRAPH 2009

I've been fascinated with the original Steadycam when I had an opportunity to meet the inventor and try on the vest at Siggraph'95. The quality of precision and engineering to achieve such a fluid and balanced mechanical device is simply amazing.

Fast forward nearly 15 years later, and the same effect can be now be achieved without bulky equipment. The stabilization software demo'ed at Siggraph 2009 is pretty incredible. See for yourself.

Magnetic Micro Machines

The precision of these little critters is pretty amazing! This video is a must see.
via Technology Review

Microscopic machines might one day deliver drugs directly to a sickly cell or a tumor, or allow researchers to fabricate electronics components more easily. But first, scientists need to figure out how to power and control such tiny devices. Methods currently being explored range from piggybacking on bacteria to harnessing magnetic fields.

Micro Robots? Enter the Micromuscle!

Now this video is a must see! The size of these little miniature machines is quite amazing. Check out their website here for more info.

(via Micromuscle's website)
MICROMUSCLE EAP technology

Using MICROMUSCLE EAP technology a wide variety of small moving components can be constructed. The possibility to create moving structures and exert force enables new functionality for medical devices and other life science products.

Electroactive polymers
Electroactive polymers are an emerging class of materials with many new revolutionary properties. One of the main advantages of electroactive polymers is the possibility to electrically control and fine-tune their behaviour and properties.
The electroactive polymers used by Micromuscle AB are characterized by their ability to swell and contract when a small voltage is applied. The mechanism behind this is based on electrochemistry. Swelling is caused by ions and water entering the polymer. When the voltage is removed or reversed, the polymer contracts and resumes its original shape.

Beowulf 3D: a case study Rob Engle

I had the privilege of seeing Beowolf3D twice while it played at the theaters some time ago. It was an immersive and engaging experience that left me feeling I was transported into another world - the wild visions of Director Robert Zemeckis.

At any rate, I found this technical talk of Rob Engle, Sony Pictures Imageworks. It was presented 29 January 2008 at the annual Stereoscopic Displays and Applications (SD&A) conference, San Jose, California, USA.

Rob's talk discusses the creative and technical challenges encountered during the production of "Beowulf 3D," director Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of the Old English epic poem and the first film to be simultaneously released in IMAX 3D and digital 3D formats.

3D Desktop + Organizational Tools

I ran across the following research projects demonstrating a new level of engagement with our digital media. Increasing the overall experience, while demonstrating the unique relationships between our data will open up the doors for new possibilities. I am sure we will see this implemented for commerce sometime soon.

Haptic Telepresence

At Siggraph 2008, I was fortunate enough to demo this product by a company called Butterfly Haptics. Although the range of motion was not great, the sensation of precision was incredible.

Huge Potential for 3DTV

An excerpt from IT Broadcast and Digital Cinema is definitely worth the read.

Stereoscopic 3DTV could be the next home entertainment blockbuster, the logical sequel to today's high-definition flat-screen TVs. But the path to 3DTV winds through more twists and turns than the road to the Emerald City, passing through forests of alternative file formats, compression schemes, display technologies and patents.

Market analyst firm Insight Media tracked as many as 22 unique approaches to 3D displays, and it's still early in the technology.

No one has yet figured out a low-cost way to deliver stereo 3D to LCDs. What's more, many CE giants, as well as key technology providers of digital cinema, have yet to announce their products and directions for 3DTV. Others say any approach that necessitates glasses — a requirement for high-resolution 3D images today — will never be more than a niche with consumers at home.

Nevertheless, the hunt for a mainstream standard is on, driven largely by rising interest from Hollywood. At least four major industry groups have formed this year to plough a route forward.

"You are seeing a lot of overlapping activity here because everyone sees this problem," said Chris Chinnock, president of Insight Media, who helped found the 3D@Home Consortium, an ad hoc industry group.

Freeform surfaces from single curved panels

The following research is by H. Pottmann, A. Schiftner, P. Bo, H. Schmiedhofer, W. Wang, N. Baldassini, and J. Wallner. - (ACM Trans. Graphics, Vol. 27/3 (2008).Proc. SIGGRAPH 2008)

Abstract:

Motivated by applications in architecture and manufacturing, we discuss the problem of covering a freeform surface by single curved panels. This leads to the new concept of semi-discrete surface representation, which constitutes a link between smooth and discrete surfaces. The basic entity we are working with is the developable strip model. It is the semi-discrete equivalent of a quad mesh with planar faces, or a conjugate parametrization of a smooth surface. We present a B-spline based optimization framework for efficient computing with D-strip models. In particular we study conical and circular models, which semi-discretize the network of principal curvature lines, and which enjoy elegant geometric properties. Together with geodesic models and cylindrical models they offer a rich source of solutions for surface panelization problems.

Link to PDF research paper

Real-Time Shape Deformation

The following video showcases new development of shape deformation. I can see this technology make real-time computer animation interaction fun and entertaining.

T. Igarashi, T. Moscovich, J.F. Hughes, "As-Rigid-As-Possible Shape Manipulation",
ACM Transactions on Computer Graphics, Vol.24, No.3, 2005

Link to website

Link to PDF

Link to MovingSketch software

Sketch Based Rapid Interaction Prototyping

How sweet it is! It's CandyFAB!

I have been following this project for some time now. It is exciting to see how many people have come together to contribute on this open source project!

Link to website
Link to PDF

Zcam- low cost 3D input device

The following from 3DV systems website:

The new ZCam^TM (previously Z-Sense), 3DV's most recently completed prototype camera, is based on DeepC^TM and is the company's smallest and most cost-effective 3D camera. At the size of a standard webcam and at affordable cost, it provides very accurate depth information at high speed (60 frames per second) and high depth resolution (1-2 cm). At the same time, it provides synchronized and synthesized quality color (RGB) video (at 1.3 M-Pixel). With these specifications, the new ZCam^TM (previously Z-Sense) is ideal for PC-based gaming and for background replacement in web-conferencing.



Link to videos.

Sixense TrueMotion 3D Controller

This technology opens the door to a variety of potential low-cost applications: Interactive scanning with your hands? Affordable motion capture?
Link to Sixense website
Link to EngineeringTV videos