We had the opportunity to attend SIGGRAPH 2011, Vancouver this past week and were really happy with what we saw. It takes a certain level of innovation to excite us at this stage of the game but the exhibitors this year definitely did not disappoint. The video above is a compilation of just some of the things we got to see in the Emerging Technologies section of the event.

Since it is not entirely clear what the functions of everything in the video is, I will do my best to explain each briefly in order here:
(please keep in mind that some of these names are not official)

Face-to-Avatar: A blimp that houses a projector, microphone, and camera for new age telepresence applications. It can display either a static image or a stream being sent to its on board wireless receiver.
Cyclone Display: A display that spins disks with different patterns on them. The speed of the disk, along with the speed that the projector is flickering at, determines what colors you will see. Essentially each disk is a sort of pixel.
ISCAN3D: A 3D scanner for your iPhone that works in a few minutes on just input from 5-30 pictures.
InteractiveTop: A twist on the game of tops with graphics and sounds galore. It tracks the collisions and features a magnetic controller for each top too.
Mommy Tummy: A strap on tummy that is used to simulate both the joys and stresses of pregnancy.
Recompose: Actuated Surface: A series of actuators that can be controlled using gestures as well as direct manipulation.
Vection Field: A device that can influence pedestrians to walk in a certain direction by displaying a certain dynamic pattern.
Toucheo: An immersive multi-touch workstation that can be used to easily manipulate 3D assets.
Telenoid: A telepresence robot that can transmit voice and facial movements and is neither male nor female, young nor old.
Virtual Crepe Maker: A haptic representation of fluid dynamics that has been made fun by the crepe making game.
True 3D Display: A 3D display that uses laser-plasma technology to output a virtual object with the amazing resolution of 50,000 points per second. (A part broke in transit and they only were able to operate it at half of its capability.
Thermal Interactive Media: A display that senses the temperature of its input and reacts accordingly.
PocoPoco: A new age musical interface and sequencer with 16 solenoids that are loaded with sensors.
HAPMAP: A sort of haptic navigation in which the user holds a device in their hand which simulates the feeling of sliding your hand along a railing. The “rail” is on a pivoting actuator so that it can steer the user in the right direction.

HUVR stands for heads up virtual reality system. An interesting take on an immersive interface, the HUVR system incorporates haptics, motion tracking, and a heads up virtual display in order to see and interact with objects in a virtual environment. In this application, Todd demonstrates being able to move and manipulate a virtual 3D model of an ancient artifact, extremely valuable, and extremely fragile.

At the 2010 CEATEC electronics show Japanese mobile provider NTT DoCoMo showed a touchable 3D display that creates force feedback for the user. It’s rather cool how what you see on the display can move objects in the real world! It actually works by manipulating magnetic fields and can move objects that are affected by magnetic fields. NTT DoCoMo currently doesn’t have any practical application for this technologies yet, but I am sure there are plenty of gamers that have more than a few ideas of how this technology can be used.

Anyone care to share their thoughts on applications? =)

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla

This video is copyrighted by CEATEC:  www.ceatec.com

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Have you ever wanted to step onto the moon, step into a video game, or just step out of reality? Do movie concepts like The Matrix’s artificial world, Star Trek’s Holodeck, or Inception’s lucid dreaming intrigue you? If so, here’s an opportunity to become part of a paradigm-shift that will change the world.

With your help, we will install an immersive environment that is publically accessible for people to create and experience a new kind of movie theater – one with surround sound AND surround view (360° visual immersion). James Cameron’s Avatar was a great movie with beautiful landscapes, but imagine actually being on the planet of Pandora! You will be able to experience that and much more.

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla

What is this project?

We are creating a simulation system that used to just be science fiction. Our goal is to provide the ability to create digital simulations that, as far as your brain can tell, is indistinguishable from physical reality. We essentially want to provide people the ability to lucid dream in a waking state Current virtual worlds provide people the ability to live out alternate realities, but unfortunately the interaction is limited to controlling an avatar through a flat 2D screen and a keyboard and mouse … NOT very immersive By creating a new, immersive platform, people can actually step INTO the virtual world and BECOME their avatar.

The simulation system will allow you to see virtual worlds in a 3D 360° first person perspective, allowing you to exist IN IT rather than watching it as a spectator. This system requires three key components:

1. Stereoscopic Head Mounted Display (HMD) Vision plays a large role in how we perceive reality. As display resolutions increase, one day the images will be so HD that our brain cannot perceive the difference between a physical and digital image. A HMD encapsulates our field of vision and simulates the visual experience. The more funding we receive, the higher res an HMD we can incorporate.

2. Motion Tracking Sensors To provide a full 360° visual experience, the system will need to know the position, direction, and tilt of your head. Motion trackers allow the system to capture your movements and provide a realistic, immersive experience. The more funding we receive, the smoother the tracking can be, allowing for higher-speed interaction.

3. Python Software Platform We want to open up the system to allow people to create environments and experiences. Python is the architectural language of the simulator, and will allow all the crazy coders to program some AMAZING applications. Imagine being able to share and download your digital experiences – you could time travel back to ancient Rome or see what it’s like to walk around on Mars. With all the creative talent out there, we’re sure people will create things we can’t even imagine yet.

Successful funding of this project will allow us to assemble all these components and turn it into the WORLD’S FIRST publically accessible hackerspace for immersive experiences.

Why are you doing this?

Ultimately, we want to change the world. We want to create a new method of communication, a new way to interact with digital environments, and a new medium for artists to convey the imagination inside of their minds. We want to give people the freedom to alter their reality and a fulcrum to explore their creativity. We want to create the Matrix/Holodeck and spur innovation in the industry of immersive technology.

We need your support! Help us form a groundbreaking community that will ultimately change the way people live. All of your pledges will be invested into the cost of a basic HMD, simple motion tracking technology, and programming of various virtual experiences. Additional funds will allow us to acquire higher end systems that offer even more immersive experiences (higher res displays, faster tracking, and even haptics for tactile feedback…)

What is Immersive Technology?

The term “immersive technology” refers to technology that blurs, if not erases, the line of distinction between the finite physical world and the infinite digital world. Examples of immersive technologies are 3D displays, holograms, surround sound, 360° dome environments, virtual worlds, brain-computer interfaces, gesture-control interfaces, artificial intelligence, and digital overlays (augmented reality).

By stimulating our perception of the 5 senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell – immersive technology can recreate physical experiences through a digital medium. This digital medium can be altered as desired to create extraordinary experiences.

Who are we?

We’re the founders of Immersive Tech (ImTech), a non-profit think tank created to promote the development and adoption of immersive technology for the benefit of advancing fields in public interest, such as education, health, arts and entertainment.

We host an annual Immersive Technology Summit. This year it will be at the Los Angeles Center Studios on October 21st. The summit organizes a community that bring together technologists, visionaries, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and industry leaders in various fields of immersive technology.

This year’s summit will feature groundbreaking speakers, a 360° fulldome installation (think planetarium style), exhibitors demonstrating cool new technology, and with your support, this simulation system!

Spread the word, help us be heard!

Harold, Kevin, & Nathan

This video is copyrighted by ImmersiveTech: www.immersivetech.org

Usually 3D models and 3D Virtual Environments do not contain information about the physical nature of object. The physic engine cannot run properly using only the visual mesh of an object. The Haptic Scene Creator has been designed to allow any unexperienced user to quickly add haptic information to such Virtual Environments. The user has to approximate static objects using simple shapes (like sphere, cylinder). Usually this can be done in one-click (an algorithm find automatically the best dimension and position of the shapes). For dynamic/moving object, one only needs to specify the weight of the object (an algorithm automatically computes center of gravity and inertia tensor).

Essentially what this software does is it make haptic programming available and simple to the masses. Just as how Scour and Napster made finding and downloading MP3 (Music) as simple as doing a Google search for everyone, programs like this are likely to do the same. Once technology has moved past the early adopter with tools such as these, it has historically taken off with great speed and we’ll see a blossom of new creativity and innovation!

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla
This video is copyrighted by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne: vrlab.epfl.ch/~reno

Imagine a world where we are free from physical constraints, where we can shape and bend our environment to our will like in a dream. Imagine a world where hardware or software is not the bottle neck to creation, but the only bottle neck is our own imagination and creativity. This is ultimately the vision of ImmersiveTech we exist to promote the development and adoption of immersive technology so that we can expand on our human potential.

Victor Hugo once said “nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” At ImmersiveTech, we believe that the time has come for physical and digital convergence. We believe that with help from our supporters we can create a central, unbiased community to advance the human experience through immersive technology.

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla
This video is copyrighted by ImmersiveTech: www.immersivetech.org

Imagine getting your hands on King Tut’s mummy? Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have created a new – relatively – low-cost virtual reality device that allows users not only to see a three-dimensional image, but to ‘feel’ it too! The Heads-Up Virtual Reality device (or HUVR, pronounced ‘hover’)
couples a consumer 3D HDTV panel with a half-silvered mirror to project any graphic image onto the user’s
hands and/or into the space surrounding them. With his or her head position tracked to generate the correct perspective view, the user maneuvers a touch-feedback (haptic) device to interact with the generated image, literally ‘touching’ the image’s angles and contours as if it was a tangible three-dimensional object.

This is an excellent example of how different areas of immersive technology can come together to take steps towards blurring the line between the physical and virtual world!

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on
Twitter: @immersivetechla
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/immersivetech/
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This video is copyrighted by UC San Diego: www.ucsd.edu

What are haptic devices? Haptics is commonly referred to as the ability to interact with a virtual environment through physical contact, such as receiving sensations associated with what is going on in the virtual world through touch. There are two types of feedback. Tactile and kinesthetic. The first major breakthrough in Haptics technology came in 1993 when MIT’s AI laboratory created a device that made it possible for a person to feel a virtual object.

Since then Haptics technology has been making their appearance in everyday products such as smart phones that vibrate when touched. Haptic devices are even being merged with other fields of immersive technology. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have managed to combine Haptics with augmented reality with the creation of a hologram that can be paired with a tactile feedback system to give the user a physical feeling of the holographic object What’s more amazing is that it requires no special equipment, just your bare hands. Check out our video and see for yourself!

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on
Twitter: @immersivetechla
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/immersivetech/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1839260
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Immersive-Tech/314045571248?ref=ts
This video is copyrighted by ImmersiveTech: www.immersivetech.org