Disney project turns the human body into a stealthy speaker (video)

Posted on 16/09/2013 by Jon Fingas

There are already devices that transmit sound to your body without speakers. But what if your body was the speaker? Disney Research has just explored that possibility through its Ishin-Den-Shin project. The experiment amplifies mic input and sends it back as a high voltage, low current signal that turns objects (including humans) into electrostatic audio sources that can't be heard over the air. Touch someone's ear while holding the mic, for example, and you'll deliver a private broadcast. Disney hasn't said if will build Ishin-Den-Shin into any products, but the technology is simpler than what we've seen in electrostatic speakers or headphones; don't be surprised if it pops up elsewhere.

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: Disney Research

Hands-on with Disney Research’s AIREAL haptic feedback technology (video)

Posted on 24/07/2013 by Billy Steele

Handson with Disney Research's AIREAL haptic feedback technology video

If you're hoping to get some more tactile feedback out of augmented reality environments, the folks at Disney Research have devised the AIREAL system that could end up doing just that. The team is showing off the project at SIGGRAPH's Emerging Technologies space, so we made sure to stop by for a look and feel. As quick refresher, the technology reacts to the user's gestures by churning out a vortex of air to provide tactile feedback in real space -- thanks to an almost entirely 3D printed enclosure and a smattering of actuators and depth senors. In the demo we saw, hovering our hand just over a display summoned a butterfly.

Once it landed, that small bit of air offered up the physical sensation that it was actually touching us. As we moved closer to a virtual open window, wings went a flutter and the whole sensation increased a bit. Sure, what we saw was a fairly simple use scenario, but there are aspirations for this to enhance gaming experiences and other augmented environments (likely within the confines of a Disney park, of course) with the addition of haptic feedback. Looking for a bit more info? Consult the video after the break for just that.

Gallery: Disney Research AIREAL hands-on

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Disney Research’s AIREAL creates haptic feedback out of thin air

Posted on 21/07/2013 by Timothy J. Seppala

Disney Research is at it again. The arm of Walt's empire responsible for interactive house plants wants to add haptic feedback not to a seat cushion, but to thin air. Using a combination of 3D-printed components -- thank the MakerBots for those -- with five actuators and a gaggle of sensors, AIREAL pumps out tight vortices of air to simulate tactility in three dimensional space. The idea is to give touchless experiences like motion control a form of physical interaction, offering the end user a more natural response through, well, touch.

Like most of the lab's experiments this has been in the works for awhile, and the chances of it being used outside of Disneyworld anytime soon are probably slim. AIREAL will be on display at SIGGRAPH in Anaheim from Sunday to Wednesday this week. Didn't register? Check out the video after the break.

Filed under: Gaming, Science

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Via: Gizmodo (Australia)

Source: Disney Research

Vybe gaming pad packs Disney Research’s Surround Haptics into a $99 force feedback accessory

Posted on 17/12/2012 by Joseph Volpe

We thought it'd take years to see Surround Haptics make its way affordably into future living rooms. After all, it was only at last year's SIGGRAPH that Disney Research demoed the tech in a $5,000 prototype chair. But with the impending release of The Avengers-branded Vybe gaming pad, it's clear the family-friendly conglomerate found a way to fast-track its patent-pending sensory solution as an all-purpose peripheral. Set to hit Walmart and select Meijer stores in time for the holidays, the $99 speaker-laden pad utilizes an Arm Cortex M3 microprocessor and features an array of actuating motors to translate audio from most any source (e.g.,TV, videogame console, smartphone or tablet) into dynamic localized or general vibratory feedback. Whether or not it's actually pleasing to use remains to be seen -- our time with a preview model seemed to indicate otherwise. That said, if you're in the market for a full body tactile experience, we'd wager comfort's the last thing on your mind. Check out the official PR after the break.

Continue reading Vybe gaming pad packs Disney Research's Surround Haptics into a $99 force feedback accessory

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Disney Research robot plays catch and juggles with humans, won’t replace their parents (update: cameras explained!)

Posted on 23/11/2012 by Jon Fingas

It's entirely possible for robots to juggle or play catch. They've usually been relegated to playing with their own kind, however, which is as good an excuse as any for Disney Research to experiment with a ball-tossing robot tailored to games with humans. The animatronic creation uses a depth-aware motion camera -- there's conflicting mentions of using both the Microsoft Kinect and ASUS' Xtion Pro Live that we're hoping to sort out -- to track any mid-air balls as well as throw them back to a human participant. Disney's robot does more than just move the robot's arm to account for imperfect tosses, too, as it knows to feign a dejected look after a botched reception. The company suggests that its invention would ideally bring two-way interaction to theme parks, so it's more likely to show up at Disneyland before it stands in for a parent in the backyard. It's just as well; when the Robopocalypse comes, the last thing we'll want at home is a machine that can toss grenades.

Update: Team member Jens Kober has filled us in on just why both cameras are mentioned. The team started off using the Kinect and switched to the Xtion Pro Live, once it was available, to get hardware-synced timing between a regular camera and the depth camera. The project didn't require the panning motor or microphone array of Microsoft's system.

Continue reading Disney Research robot plays catch and juggles with humans, won't replace their parents (update: cameras explained!)

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Via: Gizmodo

Source: Popular Science

Disney Research develops capacitive touch that detects multiple users through their fingertips (video)

Posted on 09/10/2012 by Jon Fingas

Creating a truly multi-user, multi-touch display is a tricky prospect. How do you know who's who short of turning the screen into one giant fingerprint reader? Chris Harrison, Ivan Poupyrev and Munehiko Sato at Disney Research have suggested in a paper that fingerprinting on a capacitive touchscreen isn't far off -- it's just what we need to fingerprint that matters. Rather than look for physical ridges, the scientists' method sweeps through AC frequencies to find the exact electrical impedances of fingertips in contact with the screen. Different bodies, different clothes and even different shoes give everyone a unique signature that lets the screen identify specific people, even when they each have multiple fingers in play. The researchers propose that the technique would work well in collaborative workspaces, personalized devices and security, but let's not forget that this is Disney we're talking about: it's placing a strong emphasis on the prospects for shared screen gaming without the limitations we know today. While any practical use is still some distance away, it's easy to see future tablets and tables that are designed from the start to encourage a little socializing.

Continue reading Disney Research develops capacitive touch that detects multiple users through their fingertips (video)

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Disney Research develops capacitive touch that detects multiple users through their fingertips (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seeing is believing, Disney crafts 3D printed optics (video)

Posted on 06/10/2012 by Mark Hearn

A group of engineers from Disney Research have crafted a new method to create interactive objects using 3D printers. Referred to as "printed optics," the lure of this technology is the ability to transform inert 3D models into interactive subjects by embedding 3D printed light piping into an object with minimal electronic components. Illuminated by LEDs and mobile projectors, this new breakthrough in optics has the potential to replace LCD and LED screens to display information on smaller interactive devices. If you find yourself scratching your head trying to visualize such a mojo in action, then check out the video after the break. It will enlighten you.

Continue reading Seeing is believing, Disney crafts 3D printed optics (video)

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Seeing is believing, Disney crafts 3D printed optics (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 21:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Disney researchers can now digitally shave your face, clone it for animatronics (video)

Posted on 12/08/2012 by Sean Buckley

The minds at Disney Research aren't only interested in tracking your face -- they want to map, shave and clone it, too. Through a pair of research projects, Walt's proteges have managed to create systems for not only mapping, digitally reconstructing and removing facial hair, but also for creating lifelike synthetic replicas of human faces for use in animatronics. Let's start with the beards, shall we? Facial hair is a big part of a person's physical identity, a quick shave can render a close friend unrecognizable -- but modern face-capture systems aren't really optimized for the stuff. Disney researchers attempted to address that issue by creating an algorithm that detects facial hair, reconstructs it in 3D and uses the information it gathers to suss out the shape of the skin underneath it. This produces a reconstruction of not only the skin episurface, but also of the subject's individual hairs, meaning the final product can be viewed with or without a clean shave.

Another Disney team is also taking a careful look at the human face, but is working on more tangible reconstructions -- specifically for use on audio-animatronic robots. The team behind the Physical Face Cloning project hope to automate part of creating animatronics to speed up the task of replicating a human face for future Disney robots. This complicated process involves capturing a subjects face under a variety of conditions and using that data to optimize a composition of synthetic skin to best match the original. Fully bearded animatronic clones are still a ways off, of course, but isn't it comforting to know that Disney could one day ~~replace you~~ accurately replicate your visage in Walt Disney World for posterity? Dive into the specifics of the research at the source links below, or read on for a video summary of the basics.

Continue reading Disney researchers can now digitally shave your face, clone it for animatronics (video)

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Disney researchers can now digitally shave your face, clone it for animatronics (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Aug 2012 03:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Disney’s REVEL could turn the whole world into a tactile touchscreen (video)

Posted on 10/08/2012 by Daniel Cooper

Disney Research think it can go one better on Tactile and Haptic touch displays by using electrical fields to add sensation to nearly anything you can touch. Using Reverse Electrovibration, REVEL works by strapping an electrostatic signal generator to your body, so when you come into contact with an object on the same electrical plane, that low-level field can be altered to create friction. It's hoped that the technology could revolutionize touchscreens, add a whole new level of feeling to augmented reality and help blind people feel their way around. There's a video after the break, but be warned, it's light on the sort of cartoony hijinks you'd normally expect from the House of Mouse.

Continue reading Disney's REVEL could turn the whole world into a tactile touchscreen (video)

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Disney's REVEL could turn the whole world into a tactile touchscreen (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 05:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MIT Technology Review | source

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Disney Research’s Botanicus Interacticus adds capacitive touch to ordinary plants, we go hands-on

Posted on 08/08/2012 by Zach Honig

Sure, you spend plenty of time talking to your plants, but have you ever made them sing? In partnership with Berlin-based Studio NAND, Walt Disney's experience development arm, coined Disney Research, has found a way to take human-plant interaction to an almost freakish level. The project's called Botanicus Interacticus, and centers around a custom-built capacitive sensor module, which pipes a very low current through an otherwise ordinary plant, then senses when and where you touch. Assuming your body is grounded, the device uses more than 200 frequencies to determine exactly where you've grabbed hold of a stem. Then, depending on how it may be programed, the sensor can trigger any combination of feedback, ranging from a notification that your child is attempting to climb that massive oak in the yard again, to an interactive melody that varies based on where your hand falls along the plant.

Because this is Disney Research, the company would most likely use the new tech in an interactive theme park attraction, though there's currently no plan to do much more than demo Botanicus Interacticus for SIGGRAPH attendees. This week's demonstration is giving the creators an opportunity to gather feedback as they try out their project on the general public. There's four different stations on hand, ranging from a stick of bamboo that offers the full gamut of sensitivity, including the exact location of touch, to an orchid that can sense an electric field disruption even as you approach for contact. While interactive plants may not have a role in everyday life, Botanicus Interacticus is certainly a clever implementation of capacitive touch. You can see it action just past the break.

Gallery: Disney Research Botanicus Interacticus hands-on