tongue
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'Artificial tongue' can tell fine whiskey from hooch
Are you absolutely sure you can tell the difference between a top-tier whiskey that comes in a handcrafted wooden box and the cheapest one from a grocery's liquor aisle? Uwe Bunz's synthetic tongue can, and it leaves no room for doubt. It can differentiate between every bottle of whiskey based on their brand, age, blend and even country of origin. The researcher from Heidelberg University, Germany says it can't ID an unknown blend from scratch, but it can tell whether the sample you have is the same as a known one. "If you buy a crate of expensive whiskies," he said, "you can test if they are actually what you think they are."
Valve worker's controllers let you steer games with your butt and tongue (video)
Valve's engineers may spend much of their time building practical hardware like gamepads and VR headsets, but they still have room to work on some intriguing side projects. Just ask the company's Ben Krasnow, who recently created prototype game controllers that use the player's butt and tongue for input. The backside-based system centers on a modified bathroom scale that translates posture shifts to software commands; players just have to lean or spin to move their character. The tongue controller, meanwhile, stuffs a mouse's optical system into a custom retainer. As you'll see in the demo videos after the break, neither device is especially practical -- you'd need extra equipment to have any chance of competing with fellow gamers. Still, the experiments show just how daring Krasnow can be when exploring alternative control schemes.
Georgia Tech's Tongue Drive wheelchair proves quicker than traditional breath controls
Georgia Tech researchers believed that tongue-controlled devices could help the disabled, and now they have solid proof. A new study shows that the school's wearable Tongue Drive System lets the paralyzed control wheelchairs three times faster than they would using an ordinary breath-based approach. The speediness is due to TDS' intuitive design, Georgia Tech says -- wearers use a magnetic piercing in their tongue as a joystick, which is both faster and more logical than puffing into a straw. It's subtler, too, as wearers don't block their faces with as much equipment. Trials have so far been limited to hospitals and labs, but the findings pave the way for real-world tests. Eventually, Georgia Tech hopes for widespread use that improves tetraplegics' mobility -- and gives them more control over their lives.
Scientists train Kinect to follow your tongue wagging
We've seen Microsoft's diverse little Xbox motion controller go on to do a heck of a lot more than the company ever indeed, but up to now, it hasn't really done much to capture the majesty that is the human tongue. Thankfully, a team of researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in Japan are working to right that wrong, developing a system that can detect tongue movements, using the relative positions of a user's eyes and nose. The feature has been demoed with an Asteroids-like shooting game -- stick out your tongue to fire and move it left or right to adjust your aim. The whole thing has some practical applications beyond just making people looking goofy on video -- scientists see it as a way to train the tongue for folks with speech and swallowing disorders, one that doesn't require an unhygienic tongue attachment. Don't worry, you don't have to attach anything to your mouth to watch the video after the break, either.
Magnetic retainer lets you operate machinery with your tongue, gives linguistics new meaning
Many people with debilitating conditions rely on sip and puff technology to get around, which is relatively lo-fi by some standards. Now, a special retainer with magnetic sensors could bring mobility into the smartphone age. Developed at Georgia Tech, the Tongue Drive System uses a magnetic piercing to track lingual gestures. The sensors then transmit data to an iOS app that translates it to on-screen or a joystick movement. Earlier versions used a headset, but the prototype revealed at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, is hoped to be more comfortable and discreet. The system is currently being trialled by 11 participants with high-level spinal-cord injuries, with larger trials planned.
Kiss Controller lets you play a bowling game with your tongue... while it's in someone else's mouth (video)
Oh, this isn't weird at all! The Kissing Controller, an experimental project by one Hye Yeon Nam, is designed so that players of a bowling game can impart power and direction to their spherical projectile by performing the timeless act of smooching one another. A customized headset is required for one of the participants, acting as the input receiver, while the other straps a magnet to his or her tongue and goes to town with some literal full motion controls. Thrust is added to the on-screen ball in accordance with how vigorously you move your tongue around, something we're sure your partner will appreciate. Video after the break.
iLickit might not be sanitary, but brings new meaning to 'oleophobic'
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_game_you_play_with_your_tongue_Video'; If you're the kind of person who complains in the comments whenever we post a useless app, then just move right on from this weekend post (or go check out Paradise Monkeys, it actually looks like a good one). But as weird and pointless as this app may be, we have to give the folks behind this iLickIt game credit -- they really took the multitouch screen to a place it probably shouldn't go. The idea is that you get a plate of food from Grandma, and then you have to lick it clean... by actually licking your iPhone or iPod touch. No thanks. Actually, iLickIt isn't the first app that's asked you to lick something that's been in your pocket (and who knows where) all day long -- there's other ice cream-licking related apps on the store already. But its claim to the very first "iPhone game you play with your tongue" may actually be legit -- it actually times how long it takes you to lick up the food and turns it into a little game. Though we can't really recommend it, it is coming to an App Store near you, so just in case your tongue hasn't had enough to do lately (and yes, I'll just let that one go), there you have it.
Electronic tongue tastes, identifies sweeteners so you don't have to
The tongue, besides being creepy, offers plenty in the way of research opportunities, as you know if you're a regular visitor to this space. In the past we've seen a tongue-based computer interface or two, the BrainPort sight-via-papillae solution, and this week, at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign introduced a sensor about the size of a business card that detects and identifies fourteen common sweeteners -- including Splenda, Sugar in the Raw, and Sweet'n'Low. The product of a decade of research in colorimetric sensor arrays, it works when dipped into the substance, and takes about two minutes to get results. The team, led by a Professor Suslick (really!), hopes that this leads to a low-cost solution for anyone who needs to monitor their blood glucose levels, and eventually a way to monitor contaminants in food or in the environment at large. We recommend using with D+caf caffeine testing strips to ensure that you get nothing out of your morning coffee whatsoever. [Via CNET]
BrainPort lets you see with your tongue, might actually make it to market
We first saw the crazy BrainPort in 2006, but the intervening time hasn't been wasted by its developers, who've brought the quirky visual aid to the cusp of commercial viability. If you'll recall, the device translates signals from a head-mounted camera to electrical pulses that lightly zap your tongue in response to visual stimuli -- early results have shown people can regain a good bit of their spatial awareness and even read large writing. The next step is FDA approval, which is expected by year's end, meaning that the BrainPort could arrive as early as 2010. There is a steep entry fee though, with prices expected to begin at $10,000, but the very fact you'll be able to buy it is a milestone in our book. Edifying video after the break. [Thanks, Toy]
Ballmer hearts iPhone, at least a little bit
Our friend & former colleague David Chartier has a piece up over at Ars Technica with the sordid details of one Steve Ballmer's new-found love affair (well, more of a like affair) with Apple's iPhone. Prior to the iPhone's triumphant launch, his Steve-ness (Ballmer, that is) proclaimed the iPhone had "no chance" at success in the marketplace.According to Ars, in a recent interview, Ballmer was quoted saying the iPhone has "clear market momentum." Now if that isn't the definition of understatement, then I don't know what is. With the recent release of multiple apps for the iPhone, it is clear that Microsoft is willing to acknowledge, and promote, iPhone's presence in the mobile space.While we at TUAW may not be the biggest supporters of Microsoft [except for the MacBU, love you, don't change --Ed.] it is definitely nice to hear a bit of praise from another mobile platform vendor. What say you, dear commenters, is Microsoft really drinking the Apple Kool-Aid, or are they merely biding their time until the release of their own Zune-phone of sorts, with the next-est-gen version of Windows Mobile?
Researchers rework tongue-based communication
It turns out that the tongue isn't tied to the spinal cord (had we paid better attention in Bio101, we'd have known that), which goes a long way towards keeping it unimpared in the event of spinal cord injury. A team at Georgia Tech is developing a tongue-based apparatus for disabled people that, which not as elegantly packaged as the GRAViTONUS device we've seen earlier, fashions a pointing device from a small tongue-mounted magnet and sensors near the cheeks. The team has promised interactivity way beyond what can be done with "sip and puff" input methods; think "mouth replaces mouse" and you've got the idea. Hopefully Mavis Beacon tongue-typing and the incorporation of haptic feedback won't be far behind.
Anton the robotic tongue has saved you from electrode doom
So we had a choice: either we let scientists at the University of Sheffield attach electrodes to our tongues, or they were going to go and build their own artificial mouth. Because we're not so into the whole electrode thing, they built "Anton," an animatronic tongue made of soft silicone to help them understand speech and subsequently improve speech-recognition software. This isn't the first of its kind, believe it or not -- there's much competition in the robotic mouth world. Because speech recognition systems aren't really benefiting from simply crowding them full of recorded speech, researchers want to better understand how the mouth produces sound and then create algorithms that can simply recognize speech patterns rather than try to match recordings to recordings. Sounds about right to us. Peep the creepy video after the break.
Robotic cow tongues... for lonely heifers
Remember the good ol' days when artists mocked religious deities and the only uprising to fear was that of the apes? Now, thanks to Doo Sung Yoo's "Lie" exhibit, we can add disembodied, robotic cow tongues to the list of imminent revolts. "Mooo...bzzz...oooo" will be the battle cry of our future overlords. Read-on for the yukgastic video. Trust us, you'll want to turn the sound up to 11 when they zoom in.[Via BoingBoing]
ACCS GRAViTONUS gives quadriplegics tongue-controlled computer interface
While other forms of alternative computing are certainly available, yet another group of researchers are touting their own rendition as a radical new way for quadriplegics to engage in computerized learning and entertainment. Dubbed the Alternative Computer Control System (ACCS) GRAViTONUS, the proposed hands-free system would enable folks who have suffered spinal cord injuries or other forms of paralysis to dictate basic computer functions entirely with their tongue. The prototype looks to be quite non-invasive, and when worn around one's head, can enable users to mouse around and navigate within applications by way of a precise tongue-controllable interface. Interestingly, it's even stated that the device won't hinder one's ability to drink, speak, or breathe, but we assume you'd have to give the mouthpiece a good washing after every use to avoid bacterial buildup. Nevertheless, the ACCS GRAViTONUS backers are now scouting VCs who'd like to get this creation to market, so if you've been looking for something intriguing to get wrapped up in, give these blokes a ring.
