Visual comparison of Layar & Wikitude

Comparing the first mainstream AR application to the second, Wikitude to Layar, there’s a noticeable improvement in user interface. The radar looks cool, but is it just a compass?

And FINALLY someone implemented layers. It’s what it sounds like; visual data is organized on layers that can be made invisible/visible. Like Photoshop. And the infinite number of layer’s are for sale to companies with good ideas (—that’s their business model).

Layar’s video shows examples for a real estate guide service (good choice for an early layer—encapsulates the idea, potential). They’re currently requesting layer ideas from companies, but I’m sure they’re working on making people able to create and share their own layers. That’s what I would do.

The videos embedded below show Layar in June ‘09 and Wikitude in October ‘08 (pre-release).

Layar promotional video (released June ‘09)

Wikitude demo video (released October ‘08)

Layar’s not the world’s first browser—it’s the first augmented reality web

The world’s first augmented reality browser for mobiles. So goes Layar’s tagline. But, uUnless I’m mistaken, they don’t actually mean it’s the first augmented reality browser for the Web (as in the World Wide Web). It’s the first browser for the web they developed, an augmented reality web! So the browser is a first, but only because the web it browses is a first. So the tagline isn’t technically wrong, it’s a marketing mistake perhaps, but not wrong. The Augmented Reality Web aspect is the cool part and should be scream of the brand. Including the term “browser” in there just confuses things. But nevertheless, they’re getting full media coverage.

Layar is high on my list of “AR companies that get it”—understand one of the unique opportunities in mainstream augmented reality. Respect where it’s due. They’re developing a well designed product with potential, deserving of success.

Hat tip to the SPRXMobile team; Raimo van der Klein, Claire Boonstra, Maarten Lens-FitzGerald. Well done.

Links & refs

• What people are saying right now about Layar (Twitter)
• Official Web presence: Website, Twitter user, Android Market entry

The US Postal Service has begun using a pretty neat online augmented reality (AR) tool. Developed by AKQA/DC, the Virtual Box Simulator is a marker-based AR applet that enables you to use a webcam to find a box size and shape that fits a shipment item.

Print out a marker on paper and point your webcam at it: a 3D virtual box appears. Their video example (click ‘See how it works‘ on the right-hand menu) shows the size of the box and transparency being altered so that when you place your shipment on top of the paper its easy to see which one best fits.

Compared to similar applications, even though it only shaves a minute or two off your time at the post office counter, its still the most useful I’ve seen.

[via Adrants]

[If you see no video then click here to visit the post]

Earlier this month reports of a “robot scientist” made their rounds telling of a robotized lab and AI system that generated its own hypothesis, ran experiments to test them and with the process “discovered new functions for a number of genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aka brewer’s yeast.” The robot, called Adam (cute), is being developed by Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Then again this week there are news of what’s essentially a genetic algorithm that extrapolated the law of conservation of momentum, and Newton’s second law of motion from a pendulum’s swing; and without knowledge about physics and geometry.

A good week for the machines! Happy holidays =)

Created by int13 the game is marker based (meaning that the software uses pattern on a paper to know how the world is oriented) and features some cute cuddly Pokémon-styled creatures that you train and control (to fight). See the embedded videos below.

Augmenting reality to ignore reality

Love of the AR concept leaves me blind to shortcomings, but my girlfriend stayed vigilant and posed an observation: How does AR enhance this particular game? And she’s spot on.

Other than providing a flat surface, the real, physical environment plays no part at all in Kweekies’ gameplay. Making that surface virtual would provide more or less the same experience and remove the need to lug around a fragile piece of paper with inkblots on it (can it even be folded without producing errors?). But it does look cool, I’ll give it that. The portal concept and design is nice even though it looks like it’s just bling. Maybe Valve could do something functional there.

Is augmented reality in virtual reality’s footsteps?

This does beg the question whether primitive AR implementations will cause people to write them off as ‘cool… but pointless‘, thereby slowing down AR development. After all, that happened to virtual reality in the 1990’s: creating viable consumer products was impossible but we still made some primitive demos that spread hype like a nuclear shockwave. Time passed. The only things that remained exciting were machines with sky-high pricetags that even game arcades could hardly afford. Public demand decreased and VR R&D crawled out of sight and into the shadowy corners of labs, hospitals, military bases. By the time we had everything to make killer consumer products (ca. 2005)—people had lost all interest.

But maybe the masses will love all AR applications regardless? They’re cool, there will be others like Wikitude that’ll do practical stuff. One of the most popular iPhone games is a ‘yo momma’ joke generator. So who knows?

[Kweekies via VR Geek Blog]

The notification came yesterday and what a delightful wake-up call. I knew there’d been about a thousand submissions last year, and that they’d had to make a delay this one due to an increase, so it was quite unexpected. (Each category is drastically different—but it still makes my head spin to be on a list with Ars Technica! Awesome.)

My thanks go out to the judges, bows to the fellow finalists and best wishes all around!

Only yesterday the police employed gas to disperse a crowd for the first time since 1949 when Iceland joined NATO. The people are protesting the government’s poor management in the months since the collapse.

I’ve been brooding on ideas of how to introduce innovation as a key component in the new society. This is not an easy thing to do—Iceland is drenched in history-based economic models to make decisions. When that model goes too far, as it has royally, it does not favor innovation, startup companies and extensive research; businesses tend to put their money where its safe, not into the abyss of new ideas that may- or may not revolutionize the world.

This compels me to do something; try to help steer this country into something less extreme, more innovative. I’ve been doing presentations about how special, unique and rebellious ideas can bring about great things if done right. There’s much more planned for 2009, and also: I’m learning about politics—can you believe that?

There’s a lot on my mind—but Think Artificial is not dead. Or if it is, then it’s only because there’s the new Think Artificial of 2009 waiting to take its place. I hope to see you and your comments around. I humbly thank you for reading in 2008 and for sticking around!

Best regards,
-Hrafn

Read on for videos and specs.

Video and specs

The video (see below) shows the precision and awesome dexterity of Motoman as he puts together a dismantled camera, much to the dismay of a tired and confused Japanese actor put there to emphasize how awesome the robot really is. Chefs and musicians beware: Motoman can also play drums and cook.

The robot is being developed by Yaskawa Electric Corporation and is pending commercialization. They began taking orders on December 1st 2008 and expect to sell 1,200 units in 2008, 2,400 units/year for 2009, 3,000 units/year for 2010 and after.

Motoman is 135 centimeters (4.5 ft) tall and weighs 220 kilograms (480 lb). It has 15 joints: 7 in each arm (similar to humans, I believe) and 1 at the center of its torso.

Links & references

• Yaskawa Press Release
• Motoman Humanoid Robot Cooks Okonomiyaki With Manual Precision (Bornrich.org)

Now, the Wikitude AR Travel Guide, created by Mobilizy, is an augmented reality application for the G1/Google Android. Judging from the video demonstration, the graphical overlay is quite a few notches smoother than Enkin.

According to Mobilizy’s website Wikitude should already available—but I didn’t find it in the Android Market, and the few 3rd party reviewers I looked at didn’t showcase the AR function. Perhaps there are two versions? In any case, reality is inching closer to augmentation.

[Subscribers, visit the site if you can't see the video]

Or, perhaps a more credible scenario; of those that get one out of need, how many will be content with human dexterity when super is an option?

The Scotsman reports the i-Limb, an artificial arm that the creators say is “better than the actual thing”.

The researchers say their new arm is capable of repeatedly lifting a weight of 10kg up above head height and could do so all day, compared with the average human being who would tire within minutes. The wrists could rotate 360° and anyone using it could perform hundreds of push-ups.

However, the sheer power of the limb means its creators are faced with the problem of deciding which patients could be trusted to use it safely, as it has the potential to be used as a weapon.

A weapon. How about marketing it in the U.S.? Dangerous cyber-enhancements could be taken up under the wing of the Second Amendment. A second-and-a-half amendment emerges proclaiming the people’s right to bare super “arms”.

[John German with an i-Limb]

Imagine a support call to a support line in the near future: “I’m sorry sir, we can’t replace your broken arm … it says right here on page 5 in the manual that any tampering voids the warranty. And we’re going to have to remove your current one. Could you come in around six thirty?”

What about the legalities? Would a tuned up arm void the warranty? Could a handicapped individual be denied a limb because he longed to be better, stronger?

The i-LIMB Hand offers a unique, highly intuitive control system that uses a traditional myoelectric signal input to open and close the hand’s life-like fingers. Myoelectric controls utilize the electrical signal generated by muscles in the remaining portion of a patient’s limb. This signal is picked up by electrodes that sit on the surface of the skin. Users of existing, basic myoelectric prosthetic hands are able to quickly adapt to the system and can master the device’s new functionality within minutes.

[via medGadget]

Close to bionic superiority

All jokes aside, the potential of a better-than-biological limbs is becoming increasingly likely. A recent and real example was Oscar Pistorius and the Olympics; a runner athlete with two bionic leg prostheses who was almost barred from trying out. The lack of meat was temporarily considered an unfair advantage because, for example: (a) they are longer and allow a greater stride, and (b) bionic prostheses don’t require oxygen/aren’t subject to lactic acid build-up. Below is a video of Pistorius competing in a 400 meter race in 2007; well worth the watch.

A quick search will get you several good online articles on the Pistorius story. He was allowed to try out in the end, and didn’t make the cut. His prostheses are Icelandic, created by the company Ossur. They’re embedded with AI that learns how the wearer moves.

A surreal future, or real possibilites

If we imagine stronger, faster, limber bionic legs and arms emerging in the near future; is it unreal to imagine that people who have suffered the trauma of losing a limb would want to make up for it by tuning up their prostheses?

Moreover, if it were illegal to bare super- strong, limber or dextrous bionic limbs, there would inevitably be individuals who’d find black market paths around it. It would be surreal to imagine anything else.

Links & References

• i-Limb found on Futurismic
• Scotsman on the i-Limb
• Pictures are copyright ©Touch EMAS Limited.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Watchmen is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Gibbons. It’s the only graphic novel to receive sci-fi’s most prestigious award, Hugo Award, and the only graphic novel to make the NY Time’s 100 best English-language novels. Those of you who’ve read it, read on for the real life Dr. Manhattan. For those of you who haven’t read it fetch yourselves a copy, enjoy some great sci-fi, and then come back to this post. If you don’t the writing style of this entry won’t make sense to you.

In the novel, Jon Osterman, scientist with a Ph.D. in atomic physics, accidentally gets locked inside a test chamber for removing “intrinsic fields” of objects (a made up concept). In a blue glow of fury, Osterman is torn to shreds and—as you know since you read the novel like I asked you to—later reconstructs himself to become the worlds only superhero. First appearing as a brilliantly illustrated walking nervous system.

Below is the depiction of the accident from the upcoming Watchmen film directed by Zack Snyder (Official site, IMDb, Wikipedia). Which will hopefully hit the theaters in March 2009 (Fox is currently suing Warner Brothers in an attempt to block its release due to copyright concerns. That won’t happen (fingers crossed)).

It’s May 21, 1946, Louis Alexander Slotin, scientist with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, is working on the Manhattan Project with his colleagues. Their experiment involves fission reaction, placing two half-spheres of beryllium around a plutonium core.

Recreation of the accident.

His colleagues report seeing a “blue glow” as the air ionized and felt a wave of heat. Slotin retracted his hand in reaction and the upper hemisphere fell on the floor. He was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, equivalent of being 1500 meters away from a detonation of an atomic bomb.

Nine days later, Slotin becomes the second victim in history to die of a criticality accident.

It’s March 6th, 2004, and the article for Doctor Louis A. Slotin is being created on Wikipedia.

It’s 2008, 4.5 years later, and I’m discovering the article. One hundred and fifteen minutes later I adapt it to publish on Think Artificial.

Links & References

• Text adapted from Slotin’s page on Wikipedia

Important Notes

I don’t know if Slotin was really an inspiration for Alan Moore, but it doesn’t seem unlikely. And regardless, if there is a real life Doc, then it’s Slotin. Which brings me to another point: I didn’t find any online mention of this likeness — could it be that after all these years this hasn’t been discussed?

By a key combination you bring up a command-line interface that let’s you write natural language instructions. For example, selecting text on page, bringing up the window and then typing “email this to xyz@something.com“. A similar example is translation; i.e. translate this to French. I’ve recently been migrating many of my desktop activities to web applications, including moving entirely from desktop email to Gmail, and a big plus for me is that Ubiquity works with Gmail right out of the box.

Here’s a recap of the initial features, as stated in the Ubiquity prototype announcement:

Ubiquity 0.1

• Lets you map and insert maps anywhere; translate on-page; search amazon, google, wikipedia, yahoo, youtube, etc.; digg and twitter; lookup and insert yelp review; get the weather; syntax highlight any code you find; and a lot more. Ubiquity “command list” to see them all.
  
• Find and install new commands to extend your browser’s vocabulary through a simple subscription mechanism

And then there’s the introductory video for your enjoyment.

Head over to the Ubiquity page and try it out for yourself. It’s a bit buggy (it’s a prototype, after all)—but it looks like it has great potential.

I salute Sony for moving into the realm of augmented reality. Like I was discussing recently, we’re on the verge of an augmented reality craze—given that the powers that be jump on the opportunities offered by our latest technologies.

Origins of the sketch-idea

The extent of the image recognition system is unknown to me, but it made me remember an older tech-demo that made it’s way around the blogosphere last year; a series of prototype sketching games, created by Anton Mikhailov. The one shown in the video below allows you to draw a lunar lander on paper which is then turned into a real lunar lander game. Apparently Anton’s demos made it into a product!

We need augmented reality glasses

While the EyePet is cute and looks really cool for a few minutes, I can’t help but feel that there’s not much more to be seen. Sure, kids never get tired of virtual pets and their immortality saves you from flushing things down the toilet. But this pet you can’t take with you anywhere, it’s confined to your screen and it can’t possibly be able to interact with but a handful of objects. In my honest opinion, the Eye-cam idea has been bonked from the start. The EyeToy made you wave your hands …. and that’s it. This time you can (thankfully) do more than wave your hands, but to what extent? Lift, push and pull? Sounds like too little too late, considering it’ll be competing for consumer attention in a world where we can do that using only our minds.

The thing missing from this picture are augmented- or virtual reality glasses. That’s something with an edge. Say, for example, making Doom3 monsters not emerge from dark corners on screen but out from behind your couch. They certainly have the computing power for it, in their little black PS3 boxes.

I remain fairly certain that the Eye-cam idea won’t go very far, and that the mobile industry will prevail with augmented reality games and applications using phone cameras.

Links & References

• EyePet video via VR Geek Blog