Latest SixthSense demo features paper 'laptop,' camera gestures
By Nilay Patel 
posted November 18th 2009 8:11PM
posted November 18th 2009 8:11PM
posted November 18th 2009 8:11PM
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I had this idea! Got some cool stuff started working too. Never wanted to finish it though. Glad to see someone taking off with it!
Why am I low ranked? I'm not suggesting they stole my idea or anything stupid... I really did work on some of this stuff for myself... Oh well.
-taylor
Taylor? Like the Taylor I know from high school? Or the other Taylor I also know from middle school? Either way, I didn't know you read Engadget!
@Ahmad Its a big wide world out there my friend, it probably isnt the Taylor youre thinking of.
@iSox10 I think you are missing the fact that he is probably joking... or maybe I'm missing the fact that you are joking too? I think he is just making fun of someone who signs their comments with their first name, apparently expecting people to know who it is based on that...
makes the air look downright obese.
And makes PCs look like whales =P
No need to turn this into a pc vs mac thing......
o.o hmm a Indian alter ego of jobs
You guys should improve your fact checking. Aside from the paper laptop, everything you mentioned was in his original videos.
I was just gonna say that. Except for the paper laptop, everything mentioned was in a video that Engadget itself posted months ago. Anyways, I just can't see why he would all of a sudden go from a completely untethered and unhindered system to the one where you have to constantly hold the paper in one hand and use some stupid microphone attachment. Why not a laser-based system? I'm sure other commenters will have really good ideas on how to get the keypresses.
@NikAmi
because with the paper, you can actually write and type a bit quicker. With just the projection before, it seems he was only able to pinch and rotate. With the microphone, the system can know when you're "pressing" down.
On a slightly different note, not much is mentioned about the presumably fast/expensive laptop/pc in his backpack to power the information received by the camera. The future of this technology IMO relatively depends on mobile computing and network speeds (re: weather, news etc.)
"On a slightly different note, not much is mentioned about the presumably fast/expensive laptop/pc in his backpack to power the information received by the camera."
That's because there isn't one, this whole thing runs on a smartphone.
I for one, welcome our new Indian overlords.
and the tasty treats too!
I will have to disagree. I did so once too but hours of frustrating tech support changed my mind.
Mmm, Giant Corn.
I know I shouldn't do it to myself and its against the meme rules, but... .....
That's what she said!
Thank you. Come again ! :D
P.S: I'm Indian :)
Coolest thing I've ever seen! Watch the TED Talk. This guy is from the future...legit.
Didn't Microsoft come up with a concept like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvhYDTh9T2A
Nice, but it's just exploiting the fact there are *microprojectors* available and sensors have shunk in size over the years. Have others looked into these concepts years before?--OF COURSE!
If it wasn't for micoprojectors, this guy would still be stuck in a MIT basement studying some unusable pie-in-the-sky idea.
In technology, when it comes to new hardware, the 1st to exploit it wins, and that usually means the guy that has the best R&D connections (which Pranav DOES).
Cool? yes. Inevitable? yes. Innovative? questionable. Revolutionary? likely not. Remember technology is about exploitation of science and .... timing (for the right hardware).
Now Pranav: onward down the 'Hype Curve' we go... and Engadget, please do your part!
Hype or not, 6th sense is a really cool look at the future.
By your definition, nothing is innovative or revolutionary because everything is innevitable. And while I am of more sober mind about this and disagree how companies (especially Apple beinig the biggest culprit) use "innovative" and "revolutionary" to describe pretty much any and all banal things they produce, there ARE things which truly are innovative.
6th sense is innovative. It's a different look at how we interact with our technology and the world in a more seamless manner. And someone else looking at the same tech in a different way is just as innovative. When, and only when, it gets released for consumption will it becomoe revolutionary; because it changes the way we use our technology at the personal level. It is steam engine going to combustion.
in 5 years time when this or similar comes to market, the package will be small enough to be practical. Battery tech in 5 years may not be up to the job (my opinion). Even as is, it's already nearing practical sizes considering it's jury-rigged and cobbled together with common, off-the-shelf parts stuck together with basically nothing more than duct tape.
The thing to remember most is that this exists. Anyone can come up with a revolutionary idea, but innovate people make it happen. Also, if he were some hype jackass in a black shirt trying to rip you off, he wouldn't make it open source.
A bit more on the SixthSense technology adapted to 3-D...
http://thirdmagazine.com/2009/11/08/what-could-pranav-mistrys-sixthsense-device-mean-for-3d
Cool though, can those be not done through, say, iPhone/Droid or any camera based smartphone? Already we have apps that can read bar code and display all relavent info that the app developer chooses to provide..
in short not so original except head mounted projection system!!
I like how some people are bagging on this, basically because they aren't smart enough to understand it.
Cool, except none of this technology actually exists. His demos were poorly visualized and there's no actual proof that this is even possible in the next 20 years.
except the fact that the hardware he was running it off is an off the shelf smartphone and mini projector....made with the technology of today
glasses based and contact lens based augmented reality hardware will make this projector gimmick obsolete. This guy is gifted at these interface creations but he is using the wrong hardware and wasting his time. With glasses based augmented reality I can do everything he is doing now, but I can do it in stereoscopic 3d and high lumens, field of view, and accuracy.
he needs to recognize the foley in his hardware implementation for AR, and the exponential benefits in the alternative, what he is doing now is an exercise in futility. He is talented, but his talents are going to waste.
Was amazing. Don't understand the haters here.
Watched it on the TED podcast yesterday. At first it seemed kitschy, but then my mind was blown. This could be the future of computing.
wow i am blow away this is really cool
That's amazing! Totally speechless! :-)
This is impressive!
Wow, One day were just going to have a simple glass notepad that does everything from personal computer to anything they can think of next...
I am totally blown away by this. While I agree that glasses will be the future or AR, these is a step towards that. He went from a helmet-based solution to a pendant you can wear around your neck. What's next? something even smaller? Perhaps. Whatever is it, I look forward to what he does next.
what happened to my comments? I can't seem to post a comment.
anyhow... as I was saying.. this laptop is like the supermodel/superthin version of Laptops..
Wow, looks effing great.
2 years later after its released we all become ROBOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
just had a thought.. what happens if we create a cube made out of the material used for the real 3D glasses and project onto that... offcourse there will need to be more layers when projecting, but this can create 3D surfaces..
Not only did i love his initial
video but also i realize that huge markets such as the developing world can benefit from this in the education sector
http://thetechnologycafe.com/paper-based-laptops-reality-with-sixthsense-technology-video/
well done pranav
That's absolutely amazing, there's sooo many different applications of this technology, no telling where it could be in a couple of years. Just sitting tight.
Does it work still in the dark or if under an environment light which is not normal? I see no color sticker wrapped on the fingers any more. Does it mean that the camera now recognizes really the fingers and no longer color spot?