hardware

In a 2022 World Cup bid to FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), Japan is demonstrating new camera technology that would provide realistic holographic broadcasts of the games. The aim is to provide fans with an experience of being in the stadium where the game is occurring. TV viewers would be able to fly around and watch in from any angle. Smartphone devices would provide automatic language translation.

Intel recently showed the Home Exploring Robotic Butler (HERB) robot at its research day event. HERB was able to hand bottles to people as well as retrieve them for recycling in a bin. The robot sits on a Segway base with twin arms to manipulate objects. Users can use a iPhone app to tell HERB what to do.

More information is available in a Wired web article and the following YouTube video.

Researchers in the EU funded DustBot project have created a robot, called DustCart, that will collect trash in historic centers of European cities. These areas are often narrow and difficult to nagivate with large vehicles. The robot can be summoned to a resident's door with a phone call. It is is equipped with cameras, laser scanners and ultrasound sensors to avoid collisions. More information is available in a web article.

Researchers at University of Central Florida, led by Drs. Arjun Nagendran, Don Harper and Mubarak Shah, are developing surveillance systems mounted on a helium balloon. The vision system would provide high-resolution imagery over a wide field-of-view. Together with an inertial navigation system, camera location and orientation are synchronized with video. More information is available in a SPIE web article.

The Microsoft Xbox Kinect (formerly project Natal) will be available starting Nov 4, 2010. The system will be sold as a bundle that includes a Kinect sensor bar, a 4GB Xbox 360 console, and the Kinect Adventures game. The bundle is priced at $299. Click here to preorder the Xbox Kinect bundle. Microsoft will also sell the Kinect Sensor bar
separately for existing Xbox 360 consoles for $149, including the game. The sensor bar includes the motion sensing technology, camera, and audio sensors to track gestures and control on-screen actions.

Related news on Computer Vision Central:
Natal gesture gaming system uses 15 percent of Xbox computing power
PrimeSense to supply Xbox motion-control system
Microsoft, Sony introduce camera-based motion sensing technologies for game consoles

The European Union is providing 5.5 million euros in funding to a nine-university consortium to develop IMMERSENCE, an "immersive multi-modal interactive presence." The ETH Computer Vision Laboratory is developing a rapid 3D scanner system that will enable an object to be scanned at one location and virtually teleported to remote users. Users can then interact with the virtual objects via both vision and haptics (touch). See below for the CORDIS article:

Intel is developing a home energy management system that includes a Home Dashboard energy monitor based on the Intel Atom processor. The system includes a wall panel that allows users to view their home energy use and leave video messages with a built-in camera. The user interface is similar to a smart phone with applications that can be loaded.

Researchers from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, have received $3 million in funding to develop a vision-based pruning robot. According to a web article, the robot could save $27.5 million a year in labor and yield higher quality in pruning. Vision based algorithms are used to consistently and accurately recognize disease and age of vines that need pruning.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is awarding a $1.4 million grant to Stony Brook University to build the Reality Deck, an immersive giga-pixel virtual reality room. The room, expected to be constructed in the next year, will be 40'x30'x11', contain 308 LCD screens, be driven by an 85-node graphics computing cluster, and employ computer vision technology.

The robotics team from the University of Michigan won first place in the Third International Autonomous Surface Vehicle competition in Virginia Beach, and was awarded an $8000 prize. The competition involved an aquatic obstacle course, and this year, the team was "Lord of the Rings".