360 LiDAR sensor

Researchers have developed a fixed LiDAR sensor that has a 360° view. This new sensor is drawing attention as an original technology that can enable an ultra-small LiDAR sensor since it is made from the metasurface, which is an ultra-thin flat optical device that is only one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair strand. Using the metasurface can greatly expand the viewing angle of the LiDAR to recognize objects three-dimensionally. The research team succeeded in extending the viewing angle of the LiDAR sensor to 360° by modifying the design and periodically arranging the nanostructures that make up the metasurface.

It is possible to extract 3D information of objects in 360° regions by scattering more than 10,000 dot array from the metasurface to objects and photographing the irradiated point pattern with a camera. This type of LiDAR sensor is used for the iPhone face recognition function. The study is significant in that the technology that allows cell phones, VR/AR glasses, and unmanned robots to recognize the 3D information of the surrounding environment is fabricated with nano-optical elements. By utilizing nanoimprint technology, it is easy to print the new device on various curved surfaces, such as glasses or flexible substrates, which enables applications to AR glasses.

More information:

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-10-solid-state-lidar-sensor-degrees.html

VR for Substance Abuse

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine conducted a study recently showing how VR technology could be used to help those suffering from substance abuse. First reported by 13WTHR, the study involved 21 adults in early substance use disorder (SUD) recovery using VR technology to communicate with different variations of their future selves.

Participants were presented with two versions of themselves age-progressed by 15 years: SUD Future Self and a Recovery Future Self. Each avatar featured personalized voices and delivered interactive monologues personalized to each subject. Following their VR conversations, participants were sent images of their Recovery Future Selves daily.

More information:

https://vrscout.com/news/study-shows-vr-could-help-with-substance-abuse/

Sense of Touch Allows Listening Music

People with hearing loss will be able to listen to music through the sense of touch thanks to a pioneering prototype that has been devised by researchers of the University of Malaga. It consists of an audio-tactile algorithm that, by using tactile illusions, renders monophonic music into tangible stimuli based on vibration. It's like hacking the nervous system to receive a different response to the real stimulus sent. This would result in a portable terminal that could be brought to a concert, since this prototype, according to the researchers, will be easily transferable to technological devices such as cell phones. The algorithm can convert musical features and structures extracted from MIDI files to vibrotactile stimuli.

Current models do not warrant the correspondence between the emotional response to music and the vibrotactile version of it. In view of this, these engineers of the UMA propose an arrangement of the tactile illusions to improve and extend the spectrum of musical features, adding dynamics to the vibration in the form of movement, changes of direction and location. First experiments completed, in which over fifty volunteers took part, suggest that the arrangement of tactile illusions evokes more positive emotions than negative ones. They are also perceived as more agreeable and stimulating than the audio, provoking a different emotional response from that of the original music.

More information:

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-10-prototype-device-users-music.html