Videoconferencing system copies users’ head movements

Japanese telecommunications giant NTT is developing a videoconferencing system that literally turns heads. In an attempt to more accurately give the feeling of a face-to-face conversation between more than two people, the MM-Space system features displays that physically mimic the head movements of the person being displayed on screen.

The system records the faces and voices of users and places the individuals in a virtual conversation circle. This is represented in the real world by a circle of projection displays. Each user appears on a separate display that is controlled by actuators that allow the screen to physically turn left and right and angle up and down to mimic the head movements of the person onscreen. The user's head movements are captured using face-tracking software. To heighten the feeling that the conversation is happening in the real world, the system also removes the background and displays a life-size image of the user on a transparent display. While NTT is still figuring out the best camera positioning and working on getting the system working in real time, a demonstration of the technology can be seen in the DigInfo video below.

Fisker Atlantic plug-in hybrid revealed in New York

Fisker Automotive has revealed the shape of its future with the unveiling of a new design prototype - the Fisker Atlantic. The wraps were taken off the four-door Atlantic - which Fisker sees as the "next step in its transition from start-up automaker to mainstream American manufacturer" - in a preview event on the eve of the New York Auto Show.

“Fisker Automotive is transitioning from a start-up automaker to a fully-fledged mainstream car manufacturer and the Atlantic is a crucial milestone in that process,” said Tom LaSorda, CEO Fisker Automotive. “We have a long way to go, but in the near future Fisker intends to deliver this exceptional American-designed, engineered, and manufactured vehicle to showrooms worldwide.” Like the Karma, Atlantic uses a hybrid range extending set-up. Dubbed EVer (Electric Vehicle with extended range), the system relies on a four-cylinder gasoline engine to generate charge for the vehicle's lithium ion batteries, but the electric motor provides the drive. The Atlantic's powertrain will be rear-wheel drive as standard with an all-wheel drive version offered as an option. The new design clearly holds strong ties with the Karma, the most obvious differences being a revamped grille and headlights, the integration of the rear door handles into the C-pillars and a wider trunk opening highlighted by narrow, split LED tail lamps.

Fisker also points to the ridged "spider" structure of the glass roof which it claims delivers enough strength to "surpasses all current and future rollover safety and crash-test requirements worldwide" as well as providing more room for your noggin.

Further details on pricing, technical specs, and release date will be released "closer to the launch of the production car."

Revolve portable camera dolly smooths out bumpy shoots

Any film student will tell you that pulling together the right equipment for a video shoot with little to no budget is a daunting task. Most students don't have access to common professional tools and end up jury-rigging their own to film a shot just right - which is how Jeremy Canterbury first came up with the Revolve camera dolly. While working in video production at the University of California in Santa Barbara, Canterbury developed a concept for a portable dolly that could hold almost any camera or iPhone along with attachments while taking up about as much space as a shoe box. With its wide range of functions and low price, the Revolve camera dolly could be an invaluable device for filmmakers to capture smooth, dynamic video from any location.

We've seen a similar portable dolly system in the past with the Pico Flex Dolly, but the Revolve stands apart for its polish and versatility. Though it looks like a stripped-down roller skate, the device is solidly built to handle even the heaviest camera setups. The wheel axles can be adjusted to give a curved or straight line of travel, with guide markers on the bottom to make alignment much easier. The wheels themselves are made of a soft material and fitted with high-quality ball bearings to ensure the dolly glides as easily as possible.

Two holes on each axle can also be fitted with different attachments, such as friction arms to hold lights, monitors, a Glif iPhone mount, or other accessories. A ball head camera mount can be attached to the main chassis for better control, while a customized monopod fixes the height of the setup between 20 and 65 inches (50-165 cm). The Revolve-monopod combo also functions as a handheld camera stabilizer with the dolly itself acting as the counterweight The most useful attachment by far though is the rail kit, which allows stable shots even on rough surfaces. The kit provides two blocks with clamps and four guide rods that fit onto the bottom of the dolly to keep it steady. Just add pipes of whatever size you want and you've got a set of tracks to capture a smooth shot even on unstable terrain.

The Kickstarter for the Revolve has already met its goal of US$7,500 in funding, but there's still a month left for anyone to reserve one early and get free shipping within the US. Backers can choose from a handful of different packages, but one Revolve will cost US$70 with additional accessories costing $20 to $40 each. Speaking with Gizmag, Canterbury stressed that his goal with the Revolve is to provide an inexpensive tool for budding film-makers: "I want to make professional quality film gear affordable and accessible. Creating stunning cinematic footage should be possible for those on a budget too, and the Revolve makes that possible." Check out the video below to watch creator, Jeremy Canterbury, demonstrate the types of shots you can get with the Resolve.

Ducati Panigale 1199: Naked for your viewing pleasure

Ducati has released a series of photos of its revolutionary Panigale 1199 superbike without its clothes on, showing exactly how the bike is held together in the absence of a traditional frame. But while the monocoque chassis is pretty fascinating to look at in the flesh, what strikes us most is just how incredibly compact the bike is - every component has been squeezed into the tiniest possible space. In fact, you can't even see clean through the bike at any point until you reach the rear hugger. This is mass centralization and weight shaving taken to a whole new level … good luck trying to service the thing yourself! As you take a look through these pictures, here's a few things to take note of:

The Panigale's monocoque chassis Gone is the traditional Ducati trellis frame that usually wraps around the engine. The Panigale is famously the first production bike to abandon an ordinary frame altogether. One chunky piece up front joins the main front end headstem bearing races to the top radiator and the front and rear cylinder heads. A pair of boomerang-shaped supports hold the seat and tail unit up off the engine's rear cylinder, and a similar boomerang shaped mount hangs the swingarm off the crankcase. The rear shock sits slightly beyond horizontal, attached to the side of the rear cylinder. The engine doesn't sit in a frame; the engine more or less *is* the frame. The lack of space You'd have trouble fitting a credit card into any spot on the 1199. Look at the exhaust tubing, there's barely a cubic centimeter to spare. The top portion of the chassis also houses the airbox. The traditional Ducati L-twin has been angled back 6 degrees to let the front wheel fit in front of the radiators.

The subframe The Panigale's subframe and seat unit look absolutely tiny with the fairings off, but it's worth noting that the boomerang brackets that hold the subframe to the cylinder and crankcase seem to be designed to allow access to the rear cylinder head. It's unclear from the photos where the battery box sits, but it looks as though simply removing the tank and seat unit will get you through to the top end for those fiddly desmodromic valve adjustments. Good luck with the front cylinder though - that's a radiator-off job. Which means tank off, side fairings off, overflow bottle off, and you'll also have to remove the plastic doodad that bolts to the top fairings on the left hand side. Servicing the Panigale will be a bit of a mission. Heat dispersion One of the biggest problems that arises when you pack a lot of engine into a tiny amount of space is that there's very little airflow over the surface of each component to keep temperature in check. The Panigale seems to have more or less surrendered to this fact - the ultra-compact design seems almost to shield the cylinders from any cooling airflow they might receive. And there's going to be heat - a lot of it. Remember, that 1199cc engine develops a whopping 195 horsepower at 14,200 rpm - a ludicrously high rev limit for a twin. It's the very definition of high performance. So here's hoping the engineers at Ducati have found a better heat management solution than the potato-baking Aprilia RSV4 ships with. What about a streetfighter? Whenever a new sportsbike hits the market, nakedbike fans like me start dribbling over the prospect of another high performance, balls-out streetbike with road-focused ergonomics and less nancy plastic covering up the sexy metal underneath. But while the Panigale is certain to spawn some sort of nakedbike, maybe a Streetfighter 1199, it's hard to see how Ducati will get around the fact that this bike is … kind of ugly with its clothes off. The lack of a frame takes away one of the key design elements when you're looking at nakedbikes, and the engine area is so visually cluttered with componentry that you lose the aesthetic effect of a dirty big engine swinging in the breeze as well. The best I can imagine Ducati coming up with is some sort of semi-faired street version - probably with even more plastic on it than the Tuono V4. I can't see the streetfighter crowd getting too excited about this layout - it's all function and no form. Then again, perhaps I underestimate their ingenuity. We'll have to wait and see.

PAL-V flying car makes successful first test flight

With the PAL-V last appearing on our pages way back in 2004, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is just another flying car concept that never made it off the ground. But Dutch company PAL-V Europe NV has been busy in the past seven years having finalized the design concept in 2008 and testing a driving prototype in 2009. Now the flying-driving prototype has been put through its paces with video of the PAL-V’s recent successful maiden flight now released.

Although the finished vehicle looks slightly different to the computer renderings available in 2004, the design remains pretty much the same. On the ground the two-seater PAL-V is an aerodynamic tilting three-wheeler that is designed to combine the handling of a motorbike with a mechanical-hydraulic dynamic tilting mechanism automatically adjusting the tilt angle of the vehicle while cornering. It is powered by a 160 kW flight certified gasoline engine – although there will also be biodiesel and bio-ethanol versions - that can accelerate the vehicle from 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in under eight seconds, on the way to a top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph). In ground mode the vehicle boasts estimated fuel economy figures of 12 km/l (28 mpg US) and a range of 1,200 km (750 miles).

To convert from automobile to airplane, the vehicle’s engine must be brought to a stop – no Transformer-like transition on the go unfortunately. The tail is then extended and the rotor unfolded in a process that takes less than 10 minutes. Upon starting the engine the foldable push propeller emerges from the rear of the cabin to provide the forward thrust. To go from aircraft to automobile, the process is simply reversed. The PAL-V requires a strip (either pavement or grass) of at least 165 m (540 ft) to get airborne and just 30 m (100 ft) to land. Once in the air it can reach a maximum speed of 97 kts (180 km/h/112 mph), with a minimum speed of 27 kts (50 km/h/31 mph) required for level flight. In flight mode it has an estimated fuel economy of 36 l/h (9.5 US gph) and a range of 350-500 km (220-315 miles), depending on the model type, payload and wind conditions. Designed to generally operate below 1,200 m (4,000 ft), the PAL-V flies within the airspace reserved for uncontrolled Visual Flight Rules (VFR) traffic, meaning it can take off in many countries without filing a flight plan. The company points out that governments in the U.S. and Europe are examining the development of “digital freeways” that use GPS technology to provide a safe corridor for such vehicles.

Flying like a standard gyrocopter, the PAL-V’s main rotor has a slower rotation than a helicopter, making it quieter and giving it the ability to take off and land at lower speeds. The company says it is also easier to control and cannot stall and, even if the engine fails, it can be steered and landed safely as the rotor keeps auto rotating. Measuring 4(L) x 1.6(W) x 1.6(H) m (13.1 x 5.2 x 5.2 ft), the PAL-V weighs 680 kg (1,499 lb) and can carry a maximum load of 230 kg (507 lb) for a maximum gross weight of 910 kg (2,006 lb). The company says the PAL-V complies with existing regulations in all major markets making it legal for both road and air use. Obtaining a license requires only 20 to 30 hours of training. Having conducted successful test flights, the PAL-V team will now focus on the design of the first commercial model PAL-V, with first deliveries expected in 2014. PAL-V Europe says law enforcement agencies, the military, and flying doctors have already expressed interest in the vehicle.

Here’s video of the PAL-V’s maiden flight.

Split-toed, suction cup shoes designed to provide octopus-like grip

Apparently, OluKai Maliko is Hawaiian for funky, hoof-like shoes. The name also carries a hint of innovation. Not only do these shoes split your toes, they give you extra grip. Forget sticky rubber and aggressive traction patterns, the Maliko brings a sole that's lined with suction cups. The first thing that you'll notice when looking at the Maliko is its double toe. It doesn't give you quite as much freedom as five-toed shoes, but the double toe separates your big toe from the rest of the pack. This is designed to give you more balance and dexterity.

The uppers of the Maliko are a cool, lightweight mesh that dries quickly. Instead of regular laces, it has a one-pull quick-lacing system that gives you quick, secure fit. Inside, a removable, water-resistant insole adds a little support and cushioning. The real magic of the Maliko is located on the underside. A series of purposely placed suction cups are designed to give you more traction on both slick, wet terrain and dry terrain. They won't exactly propel you up the side of a building or branch-less tree, but they should make each step a little surer on sketchy, slippery ground. OluKai says that the traction soles were inspired by octopus tentacles. As you can probably tell from the feature set, the Maliko is designed for both land and water. It's a go-to "minimalist all-island adventure" shoe if your day includes any combination of hiking, walking the beach, paddle boarding or boating. The shoes will hit the market in the coming weeks in both men's and women's versions. Retail price is US$100.

Transparent, flexible memory chips could replace flash

According to Dr. James M. Tour, a synthetic organic chemist at Houston’s Rice University, flash memory devices can only be built smaller for another six to seven years – at that point, they will reach a technological barrier. Already, however, Tour and his colleagues have developed a new type of memory chip, which they believe could replace flash in thumb drives, smartphones and computers. Not only does their chip allow more data to be stored in a given space, but it can also be folded like paper, withstand temperatures of up to 1,000ºF (538ºC), and is transparent – this means that devices’ screens could also serve as their memory. The first prototypes of the new chip incorporated a layer of graphene or other carbon-based material, deposited on top of a supposedly inert insulating layer of silicon oxide. After some experimentation, however, it was discovered that the silicon oxide was actually the active material – the graphene isn’t even required. The chips are configured with two terminals per bit of information, while standard chips utilize three. This feature allows the chip’s components to be arranged in a three-dimensional structure, as opposed to traditional two-dimensional chips, allowing for more data storage within the same footprint.

Another feature of the new chips is a high on-off ratio of around 1,000,000:1. This is a measure of how much electrical current can flow in the chip when it stores information versus when it is empty, and it's an attribute that makes the chip attractive to manufacturers. Because they are not only transparent but also flexible, the chips could be used both to let devices’ touchscreens double as their memory location, and to make those screens less brittle and fragile. By moving memory into the screen, space inside of the devices would be made available for other components ... or the devices could simply be made thinner. The chips could also be used for heads-up displays on vehicle windshields. Tour hopes to get some of the chips up to the International Space Station in July, to test them in the high radiation of outer space. He is currently talking to electronics manufacturers, about getting the chips into products. Dr. Tour discusses the new chips in detail in the ACS video
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Coming to an e-book near you - LG's flexible e-paper display

Like most display manufacturers, LG has kept a finger in the flexible e-paper pie. Now, however, the company has announced that its six-inch XGA resolution Electronic Paper Display (EPD) is now in full production, and should be in devices bound for Europe within the next month. LG's new plastic EPD, claimed to be the world's first in mass production, takes the form of a plastic substrate that is 0.7 millimeters (0.027 in) thick, about 2/3 the thickness of glass EPD devices. At 14 grams (0.49 oz) in weight, the new display comes in at less than half the weight of glass-based alternatives. However, the flexibility is what causes the plastic EPD to step up as a game changer. The rugged device will bend as much as 40 degrees from the plane of the display, will survive blows from a small urethane hammer and repeated drops from a height of 1.5 meters (4.92 ft). "With the world's first plastic EPD, LG Display has once again proven its reputation for leadership and innovation with a product we believe will help greatly popularize the E-Book market," said Mr. Sang Duck Yeo, Head of Operations for LG Display's Mobile/OLED division. "Based on our success in mass-producing plastic EPD, we are excited as we look toward applying concepts from this experience to future developments like plastic OLED and flexible displays." LG says it was able to adapt conventional LCD manufacturing technology to the production of the new product by reducing the process temperature of the LCD process to a level that the polymer structures of the plastic EPD could tolerate. The new display is to be shipped to Chinese ODMs, who hope to supply product to Europe by, according to the March 29 press release, "the beginning of next month."

Robotic hand gets a grip using string artificial tendons

While the quest for robotic grippers with a light, yet firm touch has led to innovative approaches, such as the universal jamming gripper, it’s still hard to go past the four fingers and opposable thumb form factor honed by millions of years of evolution. While the technology is available to create a robotic hand that is both powerful and delicate, cramming it inside a compact arm is still difficult. But European researchers have done just that by using a novel string actuator to act as an artificial tendon. Each of the five fingers of the robotic hand are comprised of three segments, each of which can be precisely controlled by an artificial tendon. These tendons consist of a 20 cm (7.87 in) long polymer string that is twisted by a small, high-speed electric motor generating five Newton-millimeters of torque to tighten the tendon. The strings are extremely strong and can lift a five-kilogram (11 lb) load 30 mm (1.2 in) in a split second.

The artificial tendons provide precise control to each of the finger segments and allow the sensorized robotic hand to grip and lift a diverse range of objects and gently place them in a new position. The mechanics also fit in a form that is only slightly larger than a human arm. The hand has been demonstrated lifting a delicate Easter egg and a heavy glass bottle. Its developers say the technology could be employed in home-helper, industrial or search and rescue robots. “The capability of the robotic hand is so near to that of humans that the vision of robots as personal assistants in the household, in the operating room as well as in industrial settings is becoming ever more realistic,” says Chris May, scientist at the Laboratory of Actuation Technology in Germany’s Saarland University. “We presume that the combination of small electric motors with twisted string is interesting for other applications as well.” The robotic hand was developed as part of the European DEXMART (DEXterous and autonomous dual-arm/hand robotic manipulation with sMART sensory-motor skills) project by researchers at Saarland University together with colleagues in Bologna and Naples.

Daihatsu Kei concepts bet on hydrazine as future fuel

It has been a tough couple of years for the Japanese motor car industry, not least for Daihatsu. On top of natural and man-made disasters, Japan’s oldest car manufacturer, now part-owned by Toyota, has struggled to sell its super-compact “Kei” class vehicles outside of the home market. The company clearly feels however that the future will come to it, predicting demand for compact, zero-emission, hybrid powered vehicles, and has been developing a unique fuel-cell power source for just such a future since 2007. Leading the company's typically cute concept car range is the FC ShoCase - a vehicle suitable for the new fuel-cell.

Here's a brief re-cap of the Daihatsu concept vehicles shown late last year in Tokyo. The D-X (“d-cross”) is a sporty two-seater, the appearance of which can be changed by swapping out the resin body-panels. Power comes from an extremely efficient but conventional two-cylinder turbo. The PICO is a tandem two-seater car/bike crossover designed for the local delivery function so prevalent in Japan and indeed the whole of Asia. Motivation is provided by a plug-in electric battery/motor combination. The most interesting vehicle on show was the FC ShoCase, designed specifically to show-off the possibilities of the fuel-cell power plant. With the cell and motor under the flat floor, clever stowage of the seats allows for an extremely versatile interior; including, one suspects, use as a mobile “love hotel” by young privacy-starved Japanese couples! This is a great looking concept. Please build this Daihatsu. Of course, fuel cells have been touted as a potential power source for charging batteries and/or driving electric motors for many years. There are serious problems however - the fuel can be dangerous, a large amount of platinum catalyst is required, and power output density (the amount of power produced for a given size of cell) is limited. The Daihatsu cell addresses these concerns in an innovative manner. Since conventional fuel cells (proton-exchange type) use strongly acidic electrolyte membranes, platinum, which possesses excellent corrosion resistance, is the only material that can be used as the electrode catalyst. By reversing this conventional model and utilizing an alkaline anion exchange fuel cell Daihatsu succeeded in eliminating platinum from the electrode catalyst, replacing it with an inexpensive metal (cobalt, nickel, etc.), which could not be used before due to low corrosion resistance.

By using hydrazine hydrate, which consists of only hydrogen and nitrogen, as the fuel, and developing new materials for the electrode catalyst, Daihatsu achieved both an output density of 0.50 W/cm2, which is comparable to the output of a hydrogen fuel cell, and zero emissions, with water and nitrogen being the only substances emitted. Hydrazine hydrate is a liquid fuel, easy to handle during filling and its energy density is high. Furthermore, as an environmentally friendly synthetic fuel, hydrazine hydrate results in no CO2 emissions at all. At the same time, high-concentration hydrazine hydrate is designated as a poisonous substance (over 30% concentration) and it must be handled under the same safety standards applicable to gasoline and most industrial chemicals. With the objective of ensuring safe use, Daihatsu developed a technology that fixes the hydrazine hydrate inside the fuel tank through the use of a polymer, minimizing the adverse effects that any dispersed fuel could have on humans or the environment should the fuel tank be damaged during a collision, for example, but that makes the required amount of liquid hydrazine hydrate available in a timely manner for electricity generation in the fuel cell. Concept cars don’t often translate into real-world production and that’s likely the case here. The Daihatsu fuel cell development however is very real. Clearly the company is showcasing the technology in a bid to attract further R&D partnerships and get a unit into volume production. Let’s hope it succeeds.