Why look at innovations

1
Why look at innovations?

• Areas of research or new commercial fields may
  guide your own research
• Its interesting to see some of the future now
• We need to be educated about the future in order
  to plan for it
• Some innovations require difficult moral
  judgements

2
RFID Radio Frequency ID tags

• Appearing already
• RFID tags are like super-barcodes
• Groups of tags can be read from a short distance
  away simultaneously
• Takes a couple of seconds to scan and check a
  shopping trolley full of tagged items
• Can be used for cheap location-based services
  see references

3
Agents

• Software that transparently acts for or
  represents a user by
• completing transactions,
• seeking information of specific interest,
• communicating with other users and agents.
• Agents are autonomous software entities with
  control over their own actions and internal
  states
• Agents perform domain oriented reasoning and
  employ goal-directed behaviour by monitoring
  their environment then taking the initiative (AI)

4
Augmented Reality, Wearables

• Augmented Reality is a new form of
  technology-mediated contextual information
  processing
• The user is given additional information, often
  visual
• Usually via wearable information processing
  systems
• The information is context dependent
• The real object being viewed must be recognised
  by the system and useful data found very quickly
• For example, what a repair technician might see
  would be augmented by a representation of
  relevant instructions, stock levels, hazard
  warnings

5
Nanotechnology

• Engineering at the molecular scale or below
• Promises to give unprecedented control over the
  structure of materials
• Short term - may lead to better catalytic
  converters, more efficient batteries, better
  paints and dyes, sensors, medicines
• Eventually may revolutionise everything
• e.g. Nanobots as a second immune system

6
PDA/Phone/GPS/MP3/Video convergence

• Location-based services in devices with large
  screens, computer-based wireless communications
  and voice communications
• Rich media and interactivity
• Leads to a new range of services, games,
  software, markets
• Happening already

7
Flexible displays

• Philips Electronics has a device that
  demonstrates a simple, low-res flexible display
• The Readius is a hand-held device with a narrow
  vertical display when collapsed and a wider 320
  by 240 resolution screen when the display scrolls
  out
• It uses electronic paper with E Ink
  Corporation's electronic ink
• They have also demonstrated (late 2005) a
  ten-inch diagonal flexible display
• paper white and as thin and flexible as
  construction paper
• 600 by 800 resolution at 100 pixels per inch
• a 101 contrast ratio
• only 4 levels of greyscale so far

8
Gesture recognition systems

• Gestures a valuable sub-channel of non-verbal
  communication
• Question what is a gesture?
• And how do gestures vary between people?
• May include facial expression recognition systems
• A hands-off system, may be important in some
  areas
• May enable mood-sensitive interfaces
• Commercial uses beyond the PS2 EyeToy!

9
Context-sensitive speech recognition

• How to Wreck a Nice Beach You Sing Calm Incense
  (how to recognise speech using common sense)
• New AI-based systems can disambiguate
  phonetically similar words and improve overall
  recognition accuracy
• MIT Software Agents Group Using Commonsense
  Reasoning to Improve Voice Recognition
• Speech may become a viable input channel soon
• Currently (2005) more trouble than its worth

10
Household robots

• The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
  (UNECE) with the International Federation of
  Robotics (IFR) published a "World Robotics 2004"
  survey
• Report mostly about industrial robotics, however
  it also mentions
• Over 600,000 household robots were in use by the
  end of 2003 (mostly autonomous vacuum cleaners
  and lawn-mowing robots)
• Expected over 4 million units by 2007
• In the long run, service robots will be everyday
  tools for mankind ("World Robotics 2004 --
  Statistics, Market Analysis, Forecasts, Case
  Studies and Profitability of Robot Investment"
  ISBN 92-1-101084-5)

11
Advanced Image projection

• System are just appearing which can project onto
  non-white, patterned and non-flat surfaces
• Systems use per-pixel recalibration for more
  accurate colour output and the reduction of
  distortion
• Enables information projection in environments
  previously impossible
• For 3D images, some systems project data onto
  curtains of mist or project stereoscopic images
  into your eyes

12
Accurate GSM Indoor Localisation

• GPS doesnt work indoors
• But mobile phones can be tracked relatively
  easily indoors
• Enables large companies to route information to
  the right place for the intended recipient
• For example, a people tracker could
  automatically bar internal calls when youre in a
  meeting with a client or in the bathroom

13
Anti-camera technology for privacy

• Everyone can have a camera
• And many mobile phones do have cameras
• Such phones are often banned in environments that
  require secrecy or privacy
• Hard to enforce such a ban
• Possible to use programmed lighting to overwhelm
  the white balance and automatic exposure system
  of a simple digital camera

14
Computer to Brain interfaces

• Sony Corporation has patents for a non-invasive
  system and process for projecting sensory data
  onto the human neural cortex
• Has many applications depending on the quality
  and depth of sensations possible
• Far from commercialisation
• And a long way from the technology of The Matrix

15
References

• How Stuff Works Augmented Reality
  http//www.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality.htm
  
• RFID - http//web.media.mit.edu/7Eassaf/ReachMedi
  a/ISWC_final.pdf
• Flexible displays - http//www.trnmag.com/Roundup/
  2005/TRN_Research_News_Roundup_9-5-05.html,
  http//enlightenedlibrarian.com/Other20Writing/49
  /chasing-e-paper
• Image projection - http//www.trnmag.com/Roundup/2
  005/TRN_Research_News_Roundup_9-12-05.htmlproject
  ingawell
• GSM Localisation - http//www.cs.toronto.edu/7Ewa
  lex/papers/accurate_gsm_indoor_localization_ubicom
  p2005.html
• MIT Software Agents Group http//agents.media.mit.
  edu/projects.html

16
References

• Anti-camera technology - http//www.cc.gatech.edu/
  7Esummetj/cre/, http//www.cc.gatech.edu/7Esumme
  tj/papers/truongk-ubicomp2005.pdf
• Brain interfaces for VR - http//www.trnmag.com/Ro
  undup/2005/TRN_Research_News_Roundup_10-3-05.html
  thoughtswanderin, http//patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/n
  ph-Parser?Sect1PTO2Sect2HITOFFp1u/netahtml/
  search-bool.htmlr1fGl50co1ANDdptxts165
  36440.WKU.OSPN/6536440RSPN/6536440
• 3D holographic video displays http//www.trnmag.c
  om/Stories/2003/032603/3D_holo_video_arrives_03260
  3.html