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.
