Glove powered by soft robotics to interact with virtual reality environments
Other research teams and industry have worked on gloves as VR interfaces. But these are bulky and made from heavy materials, such as metal. The glove the engineers developed has a soft exoskeleton equipped with soft robotic muscles that make it much lighter and easier to use.
"This is a first prototype but it is surprisingly effective," said Michael Tolley, a mechanical engineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego and also a senior author.
The system involves three main components: a Leap Motion sensor that detects the position and movement of the user's hands; a custom fluidic control board that controls the gloves' movements; and soft robotic components in the glove that individually inflate or deflate to mimic the forces that the user would encounter in the VR environment. The system interacts with a computer that displays a virtual piano keyboard with a river and trees in the background.
Watch a video of the glove in action here: https://youtu.be/gCka1qsD4q8
See the full story here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170530140713.htm
Ride A Virtual Reality Water Slide Through Oxford Street
Strap on a pair of virtual reality goggles and get ready for a wet and wild ride through Oxford Street. This 360° experience has opened in-store to mark the start of the summer season and is completely free to try. Topshop are even taking this experience one sensory step further by pumping the smell of suncream into the store to, presumably, get you in the holiday mood.
See the full story here: https://secretldn.com/2017/05/ride-virtual-reality-water-slide-oxford-street/
New virtual reality film captures the anguish of eating disorders
"Virtual reality is known as the empathy machine," she said. "We saw an opportunity to let people walk a mile in the shoes of someone with an eating disorder and really get into their heads."
"Mental health is challenging generally but eating disorders are particularly complex because there are two aspects: the psychological as well as the physical.
See the full story here: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/new-virtual-reality-film-captures-the-anguish-of-eating-disorders-20170525-gwcq3k.html
Benefits of Augmented Reality Video Games: A Pokémon Go Study
A study surveying 399 players of Pokémon Go during its peak of popularity demonstrates positive influences on psycho-social wellbeing and physical activity in the areas of mood, positive nostalgia, social-bond formation and exercise. Those participants with anxiety demonstrated less pronounced mood enhancement, but less negative nostalgia and regret.
There is far from a plethora of research regarding benefits of AR to date, and most existing studies focus only on educational benefits. A recent study by Bonus and colleagues in Media Psychology was the first of its kind, evaluating AR as it relates to two theories; the Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotions and the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM). The Broaden-and-Build theory posits that being engaged in brief experiences that elicit joy lays the foundation for personal evolution by increasing positive emotions and expanding creativity. The DSMM looks at the positive effects of media by investigating the effects of exposure on well-being, taking into consideration emotional, social, cognitive and physiological factors.
See the full story here: https://www.medicalnewsbulletin.com/benefits-augmented-reality-video-games-pokemon-go-study/
Why Soul Machines Made an AI Baby
Potential applications of its tech are numerous, but Soul Machines decided to create an AI baby because babies are natural “learning machines” and as a way to explore the field of social learning, because the company wants to train AI the same way humans raise children.
“It’s like really looking at the basics of how parents teach children,” Sagar said. “How does that interaction loop work? Because if we can create that with a computer, we’ve actually created a very natural way for people to teach computers.”
So should a Soul Machines avatar be in a store window or kiosk, it might look you in the eye. Look away and it could respond with body language meant to convey disappointment or sadness as a way to get your attention. A shop owner could also choose a more humorous or intellectual appeal, or portray a personality associated with their brand.
With biometrics, Soul Machines can remember faces and use AI to determine the best response based on previous interactions.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/soul-machines-made-ai-baby/
Watch the video about Ndia, a VR avatar assistant for the handicapped, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jMQuTXTj6c
Augmented reality helping you find your way around Gatwick
Gatwick’s two terminals have been installed with around 2000 beacons to provide an indoor navigation system that is claimed to be more reliable than GPS for passengers needing help navigating the airport.
The lack of satellite signals makes road-based navigation systems – such as Google or Apple maps – unreliable indoors. Gatwick says its beacon based positioning system enables reliable ‘blue dot’ on indoor maps, and in time could be used within a range of mobile airport, airline or third party apps.
No personal data will be collected by Gatwick although generic information on ‘people densities’ in different beacon zones may help to improve airport operations including queue measurement, streamlining passenger flows and reducing congestion.
Airlines could go further and - with the consent of their passengers - may send reminders on their airline app to late running passengers, for example, or find out where they are and make an informed decision on whether to wait or offload their luggage so the aircraft can take off on time.
See the full story here: http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/design-engineering-news/augmented-reality-helping-you-find-your-way-around-gatwick/155693/