LATEST TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ~ RAJDEEP DAS

LEAP MOTION CONTROLLER

For decades, motion controls have held a persistent place in our visions of the future. We’ve watched the super heroes, mad scientists, and space cowboys of popular media control digital experiences with just a wave of their hands.

The user interface and the corresponding interaction modalities play an essential role in the human-computer relationship. Advanced multimodal interfaces present yet another step in this equation, providing users with the freedom and flexibility to choose the best input modality for specific tasks. Users generally prefer multimodal interaction when it is available and intuitive to use.

Gesture-based user interfaces, in combination with the latest technical advances that incorporate accurate yet affordable new types of input devices, provide realistic new opportunities for specific application areas (e.g., entertainment, learning, health, engineering), especially for users who are uncomfortable with more commonly used input devices and/or technology.

The Leap Motion Controller presents a milestone in consumer finger/object and gesture tracking input technology. The device itself was made publicly available in summer 2013, and therefore not much scientific work has been published yet. 

The Leap Motion Controller uses infrared (IR) imaging to determine the position of predefined objects in a limited space in real time. Technically, very few details are known about the precise nature of the algorithms used due to patent and trade secret restrictions. However, from inspection of the controller, it is clear that three separate IR LED emitters are used in conjunction with two IR cameras. Therefore, the controller can be categorized as an optical tracking system based on the stereo vision principle. According to the official information , the Leap software analyzes the objects observed in the device's field of view. It recognizes hands, fingers, and tools, reporting discrete positions, gestures, and motion. The controller's field of view is an inverted pyramid centered on the device. The effective range of the controller extends from approximately 25 to 600 milli-meters above the device (1 inch to 2 feet). The controller itself is accessed and programmed through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), with support for a variety of programming languages, ranging from C++ to Python. The positions of the recognized objects are acquired through these APIs. The Cartesian and spherical coordinate systems used to describe positions in the controller's sensory space are shown in the given figure. However, it should be noted that the sampling frequency is not stable, cannot be set, and varies significantly.

  

EYE TRIBE TECHNOLOGY

Eye tribe is the latest eye tracker that is discovered in 2013. It is the smallest eye tracker with the minimum dimensions of 20*1.9*1.9 cm. It does not require any power source and it is portable. It consists of camera and a high resolution infrared LED. It allows USB 3.0 to make run on all systems. It does not require any power source.

The Gaze point is the place where the user looks on the screen for a particular time. The eye tribe consists of tracker box where the user can theoretically tracked by the system. The size of the tracker box depends on the frame rate, with the higher frame rate offering a smaller tracking box.

The main components of the eye tribe tracker are a camera and a high resolution infrared LED that can be used via mobile or smart phone. The eye tracker uses infrared red light to work its tracking magic.

Technologies used:

Sampling rate	30 Hz and 60 Hz mode
Accuracy	0.5° (average)
Spatial resolution	0.1° (RMS)
Latency	< 20 ms at 60 Hz
Calibration	5, 9, 12 points
Operating range	45 cm – 75 cm
Tracking area	40 cm × 30 cm at 65 cm distance
Screen sizes	Up to 24 inches
API/SDK	C++, C# and Java included
Data output	Binocular gaze data
Dimensions	(W/H/D) 20 × 1.9 × 1.9 cm (7.9 × 0.75 × 0.75 inches)
Weight	70 g
Connection	USB 3.0 Superspeed

CRISPR

CRISPR(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryoticorganisms such as bacteria and archaea.These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections. Hence these sequences play a key role in the antiviral defense system of prokaryotes.

Cas9 (or "CRISPR-associated protein 9") is an enzyme that uses CRISPR sequences as a guide to recognize and cleave specific strands of DNA that are complementary to the CRISPR sequence. Cas9 enzymes together with CRISPR sequences form the basis of a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 that can be used to edit genes within organisms. This editing process has a wide variety of applications including basic biological research, development of biotechnology products, and treatment of diseases

The CRISPR-Cas system is a prokaryotic immune system that confers resistance to foreign genetic elements such as those present within plasmids and phages that provides a form of acquired immunity. RNA harboring the spacer sequence helps Cas (CRISPR-associated) proteins recognize and cut foreign pathogenic DNA. Other RNA-guided Cas proteins cut foreign RNA. CRISPR are found in approximately 50% of sequenced bacterial genomes and nearly 90% of sequenced archaea.

FOREST SURVAILLANCE USING SENSORS

Forests are the very important part of our ecosystem. It helps to maintain a sustainable environment for all life forms. Engineers are trying to capture various kinds of data from various forests to predict the effect of pollution, manmade activities on the biotic components of the forests.

The latest example of such kind of activity is physicist and engineer TOPHER WHITE’s RAINFOREST CONNECTION technology. In this initiative he used old cell phones and electronic sensors which will capture various sounds from the forest then it will detect if any kind of illegal activity like poaching or hunting or deforestation is going on in that forest or not and send the information to the controlling authority.

The working principle of this system is very simple. In a forest the sound made by the animals or trees and the sound due to cutting of trees or gunshots or other man made activity is different in nature. So it can distinguish between these two kinds of sounds and send required data to the controlling authority.

The best thing about RAINFOREST CONNECTION is it uses old mobile phones. So it’s actually a contribution towards the goal of a less polluted nature. And it is called RAINFOREST CONNECTION because this initiative is first demonstrated in BORNEO RAIN FOREST.

SENSORY SUBSTITUION DEVICES:

The greatest and noble contribution of engineering and technology is in the field of medicine and medical sciences. And the latest breakthrough in this field is building devices which will help specially abled people to restore their lost sensory abilities. For example a New York based company BRAINPORT V1000 is developing a series of devices which will use the brain in a remarkable way. This company stated “While these devices were designed with the goal of restoring lost sensation, in the past decade they have begun to revise our understanding of brain organization and development .The idea that underlies sensory substitution is a radical one: that the brain is capable of processing perceptual information in much the same way, no matter which organ delivers it .”.

These devices capture information from the environment, interpret it into the form of touch and other senses and transmits it to the brain so that brain can process it and the specially abled person who is using that device get all the five senses.

These devices will be very much portable and people with sensory issues can easily use it on a daily basis. Moreover these devices can be a huge contribution to develop an advanced Artificial intelligence. As these devices collects data from environment in form of sense and interprets it this mechanism can be used to create an artificial brain thus making a humanoid closer to an actual human being.