The Mindstorms line already makes it possible to create robots, machines and other moving and highly interactive toys out of LEGO. But the company isn’t resting on its laurels. Recently LEGO teamed up with Sony to make what they’re calling Toy Alive - prototype LEGO bricks that have motors, LEDs and even cameras.
Toy Alive was one of the prototypes shown off by Sony Computer Science Laboratories Tokyo at its 25th Anniversary open house. As you’ll see in the video below, the embedded gadgets can be controlled wirelessly. There are motors that let you race LEGO, actuators that can be used to destroy LEGO structures on cue and a LEGO toy with a built-in camera that sends footage to an iPad app.
Sony researcher Alexis Andre explained that the collaboration aims to look at ways to combine the strengths of videogames and LEGO. The Toy Alive prototypes provide kids with a wider array of interactivity compared to normal LEGO toys without restricting their imaginations, as most videogames do. You can listen to Andre talk about Toy Alive at around 0:58 in the video below:
It’s like a real world Little Big Planet.
[via Network World & The Japan Times via Topless Robot]
Adobe Photoshop CS 5 and CS 6 have a set of features called Content Aware. They automatically fill in gaps or selected areas in images as if those gaps or parts were never there. It’s not perfect, but it can be a time saver for many operations. This prototype software is like Content Aware for videos – it can edit moving subjects out of a video while the background remains more or less untouched.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science and University College London’s Computer Science department developed the wonder software. From what I can understand, the program works by marking the subject(s) to be removed and the one(s) to be retained. Then, for each affected frame, the program will look at a source frame elsewhere in the video where the background is not blocked by the object to be edited out, and use this source material to “inpaint” the section back into the image.
I think the software works best when the moving object to be edited out is over a static background, i.e. it won’t be as effective when there are like a hundred people moving and you want to remove someone from the foreground.Watch the video for a demo (and a way better explanation):
How awesome is that? I don’t know how much of the process is automated though. Head to MPII’s website for more information on the program.
CEATEC, Japan's largest annual electronics show, is winding down here on the outskirts of Tokyo. We've spent the past two days scouring the halls of the Makuhari Messe, digging up no shortage of concept cars, eye-tracking technologies and even the odd Windows 8 device. The star of the show may have been Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo, with its gaze-controlled prototypes and real-time translation app, but there were plenty of other gadgets on hand to peak our interest -- even if many of them won't make it to market anytime soon. Have a look for yourself by browsing our complete CEATEC 2012 coverage past the break.
Continue reading CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore
Filed under: Announcements, Misc, Robots, Transportation
CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments 
Lovin' the bold look of those new Nikes? If you're up to date on the athletic shoe scene, you may notice that sneaker designs can give way long before your soles do. A new decaling technique could enable you to "erase" labels and other artworks overnight without a trace, however, letting you change up your wardrobe without shelling out more cash. A prototype device, called Shader Printer, uses a laser to heat (at 50 degrees Celsius, 120 degrees Fahrenheit) a surface coated with a bi-stable color-changing material. When the laser reaches the "ink," it creates a visible design, that can then be removed by leaving the object in a -10 degree Celsius (14 degree Fahrenheit) freezer overnight. The laser and freezer simply apply standard heat and cold, so you could theoretically add and remove designs using any source.
For the purposes of a SIGGRAPH demo, the team, which includes members from the Japan Science and Technology Agency and MIT, used a hair dryer to apply heat to a coated plastic doll in only a few seconds -- that source doesn't exactly offer the precision of a laser, but it works much more quickly. Then, they sprayed the surface with -50-degree Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit) compressed air, which burned off the rather sloppy pattern in a flash. There were much more attractive prints on hand as well, including an iPhone cover and a sneaker with the SIGGRAPH logo, along with a similar plastic doll with clearly defined eyes. We also had a chance to peek at the custom laser rig, which currently takes about 10 minutes to apply a small design, but could be much quicker in the future with a higher-powered laser on board. The hair dryer / canned air combo offers a much more efficient way of demoing the tech, however, as you'll see in our hands-on video after the break.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household
Shader Printer uses heat-sensitive 'paint' that can be erased with low temperatures (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
SIGGRAPH | Email this | Comments 
The previous batch of sketches revealed during Apple v Samsung suggested the iPhone may have actually borrowed ideas from Sony, but a new filing goes back even further into history to show that's not the case. The Verge spotted that the latest raft of paperwork includes a "Purple" prototype [above left] that was made around August 2005 and bears several hallmarks of the iPhone that finally appeared. The Sony-styled prototypes came later, and were apparently just an "enjoyable side project." AllThingsD has also drawn together around 100 prototypes from Apple's deposition, which offers some interesting insights into what the iPhone could have looked like.
Filed under: Cellphones
Apple reveals 'Purple' phone prototype in court filing, to prove it didn't copy Sony originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |The Verge | Email this | Comments 
There's no telling how much more we'll see once the big Apple vs. Samsung trial finally gets underway in a San Jose federal court next week, but today has already seen the release of a swath of new documents full of surprises. Most notably, that includes a range of previously unseen Apple prototype devices, including various renderings of both the iPhone and iPad. One standout is an iPhone 4-esque device that quite literally wears its Sony influence on its sleeve (in one instance with the logo changed to "Jony," a la Apple's Jony Ive). According to the filing, it was designed by Apple's Shin Nishibori, and was apparently up against another more metallic, iPod-style device at one point (ultimately winning out despite some protestation).
But those are far from the only iPhone prototypes that have been revealed. There's also an elongated device identified by the codename N90, seemingly with a small screen and space for a keypad or input area of some sort below, plus a device with squared off corners somewhat reminiscent of the Motorola Photon 4G. Another prototype goes in the opposite direction, with sharp corners and a slightly rounded back. As for the iPad, we've gotten a look at some more recent prototypes than the early 2000-era model that surfaced earlier this month. While there's no stylus in sight, there are a couple of iPad prototypes with kickstands built into the back of the device, and a number of considerably different designs than what Apple ultimately settled on. Dive into the galleries below for a closer look at the whole lot.
Michael Gorman contributed to this report.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs
Apple v. Samsung court filings reveal Sony-inspired iPhone, kickstand-equipped iPad and other prototypes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments 
We've all seen a Roomba at one point or another, be it picking up debris around our feet in a friend's living room or chauffeuring a courageous kitty for an entertaining clip on YouTube. Likely far less familiar, however, is iRobot's gadget-filled Massachusetts headquarters, including the museum-like "cool stuff room" in the lobby. There you'll find a large variety of autonomous devices, ranging from an early Roomba prototype that subs in a removable cloth for the vacuum to the relatively creepy My Real Baby -- an $89 doll that cries for food and offers realistic reactions to tickling. There's also plenty of industrial and military gear on hand, including a long cylindrical bot used for repairing oil rigs as they continue to operate, a full-size self-driving vehicle and a wall-climbing robot that uses suction cup wheels to ascend vertically. Some of the exhibits are downright creepy, such as a crab-like prototype which an iRobot employee referenced as being "inspired by nature," though the company's familiar household gadgets help to balance out the eerie. Sadly, the collection doesn't appear to be open to the public, though IEEE was granted a tour, which it graciously filmed for your enjoyment -- you'll find that video walkthrough just past the break.
Continue reading Visualized: a look inside iRobot's gadget-filled 'cool stuff room' (video)
Filed under: Robots
Visualized: a look inside iRobot's gadget-filled 'cool stuff room' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink
Gizmodo | IEEE Spectrum | Email this | Comments 
If you're looking for pricing, specs, availability and all that good stuff, then you've come to the wrong place. What we have here is a gallery of photos revealing Toshiba's various concepts of what Windows 8 devices ought to look like. There's a Transformer-style tablet with detachable keyboard dock -- a form factor we're seeing plenty of at Computex right now. There's also a slider PC that looks rather like the MSI Slider S20 we played with earlier. Finally, perhaps the most conservative of the bunch is a clamshell laptop design with a touchscreen. So yes, as concepts go none of these are especially pioneering -- but at least Toshiba will know it can't dally in bringing its ideas to market and hitting a competitive price point.
Dana Wollman contributed to this report.
Toshiba unveils Windows 8 concept devices, details stay hidden originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 04:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
