Tokyo University engineer Tsuyoshi Horo has developed a novel system for controlling robots (or in this case, a moving stool) using a simple set of hand and body gestures. The researcher is utilizing a circular array of cameras to track and detect body movement within a controlled environment, and then translate those movements to actions for an automaton. The cameras are used to create a real-time, 3D, volumetric model of objects or people in the space, which is then converted into a psychedelic stack of virtual cubes which are read and processed as data. Viewed movement allows a user to control something like the direction of a bot simply by pointing which way they'd like it to go. Sure, that's all well and good, but we're more interested in getting ourselves Tron-ed into a highly complex Rubik's cube -- where do we sign up? Watch the videos after the break to see the system (and the blocks) in action.
[Via
technabob]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 5:08PM
i'm afraid
Jherez @ Feb 19th 2008 5:40PM
The singularity is near...
Nicko @ May 23rd 2008 4:43AM
@Andrew
Would that be a play on "Springtime for Hitler, in Germany...!" - if so *votes up*.
AlexP @ Feb 19th 2008 5:15PM
Sieg heil means "come towards me" now?
Anton @ Feb 19th 2008 5:19PM
Fail.
EBone @ Feb 19th 2008 6:03PM
Apparently he welcomes our new electronic Third Reich overlords.
mike @ Feb 19th 2008 6:29PM
yeah why did they build a robot for hitler?
DarkFox @ Feb 20th 2008 4:20AM
I project total failure on the german market.... or mass arrest of people ordering around their personal robot...
Andrew @ Feb 19th 2008 10:13PM
-sings-
robots... for hitler... in tokyo
Sparky @ Feb 19th 2008 10:36PM
Hitler was all about control.
Appropriate.
dukemang @ Feb 19th 2008 5:16PM
What happens if you give it the "finger"?
Bobs @ Feb 19th 2008 5:30PM
It gets close to you and divides by zero.
ratnikh @ Feb 19th 2008 5:17PM
That is very useful for controlling robots, because in the future the robots will want us constantly surrounded by cameras anyway. In this fashion, we are one step ahead of their demands, thus ensuring that they will grant us a small degree leniency when they take over the world.
Heathen @ Feb 19th 2008 5:28PM
That's no Robot, That is my printer...
phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 5:35PM
i welcome our Dot Matrix overlords
mushrooshi @ Feb 19th 2008 6:31PM
Its "I, For one," you n00b.
(^.^)V
phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 6:36PM
ha, yeah, but i felt like abbreviating so ;p
George @ Feb 19th 2008 5:41PM
I like the design of the wheel movements, 4 wheels placed in a way where all the movements are possible without turning any wheels
Richard Lai @ Feb 19th 2008 6:34PM
Pikachu, I choose you!
Jason Cox @ Feb 19th 2008 6:34PM
Am I the only one who see's a roboticly moving chair?
Abuzar @ Feb 19th 2008 6:36PM
It's probably controlled by a remote somewhere.
webon @ Feb 19th 2008 8:11PM
great news for elderly and handicapped people, I wonder if the robostool can "carry" you places that would be good.
d840 @ Feb 20th 2008 3:43AM
They already have those, they're called wheelchairs. :P
aoi tsuki @ Feb 19th 2008 10:02PM
Sweet. i've always wanted a robot that responded to disco gestures. Doing the robot to control my robot seemed like a good idea, but man is it tiring.
Panathas17 @ Feb 19th 2008 11:50PM
Which is the Robot?
Jherez @ Feb 20th 2008 2:32AM
The Asian man, the chair is controlling him...
Celnaor @ Feb 20th 2008 2:03AM
Soon we'll invent a robot to control these robots, which will then gain a semblance of sentience when it uses a virus to turn your computers into a massive cluster, and it will take over your household appliances...
You will never see your socks again unless you start using clotheslines
Nick Darveniza @ Feb 20th 2008 2:46AM
@Andrew
Would that be a play on "Springtime for Hitler, in Germany...!" - if so *votes up*.
(sorry for the double post)
KazSur @ Feb 20th 2008 9:43AM
Dude's raising his hand funny.. and by funny.. I mean "oh look! We inadvertently caught him doing the Hitler Salute!"... Ok.. I'm going to go lie in a ditch now..