Gemotion screen shows video in living 3D
Here’s a groovy display for people looking to add that extra dimension to their viewing material…
Gemotion is a soft, ‘living’ display that bulges and collapses in sync with the graphics on the screen, creating visuals that literally pop out at the viewer.
Yoichiro Kawaguchi, a well-known computer graphics artist and University of Tokyo professor, created Gemotion by arranging 72 air cylinders behind a flexible, 100 x 60 cm (39 x 24 inch) screen. As video is projected onto the screen, image data is relayed to the cylinders, which then push and pull on the screen accordingly.
“If used with games, TV or cinema, the screen could give images an element of power never seen before. It could lead to completely new forms of media,” says Kawaguchi.
The Gemotion screen will be on display from January 21 to February 4 as part of a media art exhibit (called Nihon no hyogen-ryoku) at National Art Center, Tokyo, which recently opened in Roppongi.
[Source: Asahi]
Sayaka: Next-generation capsule endoscope
Endoscopic capsules, ingestible pill-shaped devices designed to capture images from inside the digestive tract, have been around for quite a while. But Sayaka, an endoscopic capsule developed by RF System Lab in December 2005, has dramatically increased the overall image quality by changing the camera position and enabling the camera to rotate.
While conventional capsules — including RF System Lab’s own Norika — typically have cameras at one end of the capsule, Sayaka’s camera has been moved to the side, where it has a better view of the intestinal walls. In addition, a tiny stepper motor rotates the camera as the capsule passes through the digestive tract, allowing Sayaka to capture images from every angle.
Like Norika, Sayaka’s power is supplied wirelessly from an external source, primarily so that no harmful battery substances get into the body.
On a typical 8-hour, 8-meter (26 feet) journey through the gastrointestinal tract, Sayaka snaps approximately 870,000 photos, which are sent to a receiver located near the body. Image mosaicking technology is then used to stitch the images together into a flat, high-resolution rectangular map of the intestines, which can be magnified up to 75 times. In addition to scouring the maps for problem areas, gastroenterologists can compare maps from previous sessions to track changes in a patient’s condition.
And as if all that were not enough, RF System Lab has released a trippy Sayaka promo video featuring a smooth disco/house soundtrack and starring a naked humanoid that floats over the Nazca Lines, shooting beams from its eyes as it scans the landscape below. Cool.
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