ViMM TA4.3 Propositions

The main objective of this meeting that took place in Berlin between 13-14 April 2018 was to agree on and synthesize what recommendations and proposals for the EU and the DCH community should be taken forward by ViMM, through its Manifesto, Roadmap and Action Plan.

I have presented the TA4.3 propositions about presence which is essential for engagement and cognitive connection to the content. Presence can be enhanced if the content is relevant and coherent in terms of social and cultural factors.

More information:

https://www.vi-mm.eu/

Mind Reading Headset with 90% Accuracy

A new mind-reading device means people can silently type on their computer using nothing but thoughts - and it's accurate 90 per cent of the time. Instead of communicating with smart devices by saying 'Ok Google' or 'Hey Siri', the headset silently interprets what users are thinking. When people think about verbalising something, the brain sends signals to facial muscles - even if nothing is said aloud. The device has sensors that pick up seven key areas along the cheek, jaw and chin that can recognise words and can even talk back once it has processed them. Currently the 'AlterEgo' device, which was created by researchers from MIT Media Lab, can recognise digits 0 to 9 and has a vocabulary of around 100 words. The system consists of a wearable device and an associated computing system which is directly linked to a program that can query Google. Electrodes in the device pick up neuromuscular signals in the jaw and face which are triggered when users say words in their head. The signals are fed to a machine-learning system that has been trained to correlate particular signals with particular words. The device also includes a pair of bone-conduction headphones, which transmit vibrations through the bones of the face to the inner ear. 

These headphones do not obstruct the ear canal so users can still hear information without their conversations being interrupted. This silent-computing system means users can communicate with Google without being detected by anyone else. To start with, researchers found which part of the face was the source of the most reliable neuromuscular signals. They did this by asking people to subvocalise the same series of words four times with 16 different electrodes at different facial locations each time. They found signals from seven particular locations were consistently able to distinguish subvocalised words. Using this information, MIT researchers created a prototype that wraps around the back of the neck like a telephone handset. It touches the face in seven locations either side of the mouth and along the jaw. They then collected data on a few computational tasks with limited vocabularies - around 20 words each. One was arithmetic and the other was used in a chess game. The prototype device could complete these tasks with 90 per cent accuracy. In one experiment researchers used the system to report the opponents' moves in a chess game. In response the device gave recommended responses.

More Information:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5580999/Mind-reading-headset-gives-superpowers-Device-lets-silently-type-computer.html

Animated 3D Sea Turtles

The Digital Life team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, creators of an online catalog of high-resolution, full-color 3D models of living organisms, announce today that they have released two new, online full-color animated models of a loggerhead and a green sea turtle through a collaboration with sea turtle rescue and research institutions. The Digital Life team, with volunteer 3D artists created the animated sea turtles using software such as Capturing Reality and Blender and a process called photogrammetry, in which multiple still photos are integrated to create lifelike 3D meshes with photographic colors.

The models can be downloaded and 3D printed, such as for classroom use. These models can be used by scientists in a computer modeling environment for testing models of migration in sea turtles, or to test different net designs to avoid trapping sea turtles. They can also be used in VR or game-like educational environments, and are available at no cost to educators, scientists, conservationists and others for creative or nonprofit use on the Digital Life website. The animators spent hundreds of hours animating the 3D turtle models in a format that may be used for VR, film or game applications, among others.

More information:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180402160851.htm

Driving a Real Car Using VR

At Nvidia’s GTC conference the company unveiled a wild technology demo and it’s straight out of Black Panther. Simply put, a driver using virtual reality was remotely controlling a car in real life. The driver was sitting on the stage of the convention center wearing an HTC Vive and seated in a cockpit-like car with a steering wheel. Using Nvidia’s Holodeck software, a car was loaded. Then, a video feed appeared showing a Ford Fusion behind the convention center.

The demo at the show was basic but worked. The driver in VR had seemingly complete control over the vehicle and managed to drive it, live but slowly, around a private lot. He navigated around a van, drove a few hundred feet and parked the car. The car was empty the whole time. Nvidia didn’t detail any of the platforms running the systems nor did he announced availability. The demo was just a proof of concept.

More information:

https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/27/nvidia-stuns-by-driving-a-car-in-real-life-through-virtual-reality

Personalizing Wearable Devices

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied and Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed an efficient machine learning algorithm that can quickly tailor personalized control strategies for soft, wearable exosuits. The researchers used so-called human-in-the-loop optimization, which uses real-time measurements of human physiological signals, such as breathing rate, to adjust the control parameters of the device.

As the algorithm honed in on the best parameters, it directed the exosuit on when and where to deliver its assistive force to improve hip extension. The combination of the algorithm and suit reduced metabolic cost by 17.4 percent compared to walking without the device. This was a more than 60 percent improvement compared to the team's previous work. Next, the team aims to apply the optimization to a more complex device that assists multiple joints, such as hip and ankle, at the same time.

More information:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180228144451.htm