Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Augmented Reality Humanoid Robot U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi

U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi is a "mixed reality" (or augmented reality) set-up that uses an otherwise featureless humanoid robot as a substrate. This prototype, created by Michihiko Shoji at Yokohama National University Venture Business Laboratory, is disturbing at a very deep level.


(U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi augmented reality humanoid robot)

U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi is part of a system that employs computer animation viewed through a special headset. When you put the headset on, you see a beautiful person "painted on" the featureless robot. When the robot moves, for example, to shake your hand, the computer animation "sticks" to the robot and looks continuous to you.


(U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi augmented reality humanoid robot video)

Shoji sees arcade-style applications, but is looking for ways to reduce the cost and make it suitable for general household use. So, if I got one of these, I could look at it as a maid for a while, and then switch programs and see it as a cook, and so on.

If I were only slightly more paranoid, I could imagine the military might sneak a deadly ninja assassin robot into my house, and it would look just like my wife or my daughter, as long as I was wearing the headset. Maybe I've just been reading too many Philip K. Dick novels...

If you want to see the logical endpoint of augmented reality, take a look at the smart contact lenses of Vernor Vinge's 2006 book Rainbows End, which take the place of the bulky headset in the U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi system.

Her hand came away from her eye. A tiny disk sat on the tip of her middle finger. It was the size and shape of the contact lenses he had known. He hadn't expected more, but... he bent closed and looked. After a moment, he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it...
(Read more about Vinge's smart contact lens)

With the smart contact lenses in place, the user selects from any of a number of applications, which allow him to (for example) look at an ordinary city street, and see it covered with Christmas decorations. Or to look at a person, and see what that person would look like with a beard, or with a different set of clothes. The images on the lenses are superimposed on the real-world scene.

Augmented reality research is ongoing, but so far very few applications really meet its main objectives of combining the real and virtual worlds in a single, interactive, three-dimensional reality. But, as long as you're into it, take a look at Augmented Reality Shopping In Osaka and even take an Augmented Reality Cemetary Tour - The Dead Speak.

Via Robot Watch.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/12/2007)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 8 )

Related News Stories - (" Computer ")

Great. Now AIs Have Access To Hacking Tools
'... when you and the Flatline punch through that ice and scramble the cores.' - William Gibson, 1984.

Tongue-Controlled Tong Wearable Mouth Computer
'Griff found the white and pink map distracting and switched it off using his tongue mouse.' - Greg Bear, 2007.

Interpol Launches Metaverse For Law Enforcement
'CopSpace sheds some light on matters, of course. Blink and it descends in its full glory.' - Charles Stress, 2007.

AVATECT Prevents Spoofing Of Avatars
'Your physical appearance is a graphical encryption that the human mind is uniquely qualified to decode.' - Daniel Suarez, 2009.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'

Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'

The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'

'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.'

ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.

CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'

Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...

Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock
'A palm lock must be keyed to one individual's hand shape and palm lines.'

DroneDog Ground Security Robot Dogs From Asylon
'I have transferred the ego of a dog to a synthetic dog brain in the skull case of a robot dog.'

Who Knows What Might Be Found When Visiting A Metal Asteroid?
'...inspect the tiny speck of matter that swam toward them out of the bottomless void.'

Giant Lunar Surface Test Bed Built On Earth
Astronauts first walked the site, then flew over the site at a few hundred feet in a small Cessna.

FlyCroTug Drones Work In Teams Now
'It slid smoothly out of its cell like a metal wasp emerging from its nest, and hung in midair.'

Zai Pits (West Sahel) And Dew Collectors (Dune)
'Each is planted most tenderly in its own little pit.'

Delivery Robots Being Bullied, Robbed
'Robots have worse problems than anybody.' (A Present for Pat)

Zoom Education Idea Is 100 Years Old
'... the frosted glass squares began, one by one, to show the faces and shoulders of a peculiar type of young men.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.