Pattie Maes from Media Lab gave this TED talk, regarding a new invention/development they’re working on called “Sixth Sense.” Before we get to the video, I thought I’d fill you in on the vibe.
‘SixthSense’ is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.
We’ve evolved over millions of years to sense the world around us. When we encounter something, someone or some place, we use our five natural senses to perceive information about it; that information helps us make decisions and chose the right actions to take. But arguably the most useful information that can help us make the right decision is not naturally perceivable with our five senses, namely the data, information and knowledge that mankind has accumulated about everything and which is increasingly all available online. Although the miniaturization of computing devices allows us to carry computers in our pockets, keeping us continually connected to the digital world, there is no link between our digital devices and our interactions with the physical world. Information is confined traditionally on paper or digitally on a screen. SixthSense bridges this gap, bringing intangible, digital information out into the tangible world, and allowing us to interact with this information via natural hand gestures. ‘SixthSense’ frees information from its confines by seamlessly integrating it with reality, and thus making the entire world your computer.
Make sense? Probably not. That’s why you have to watch this video. It’s worth it, trust me.
Pretty cool, hey?
Did you enjoy the end where she just mentioned in passing that the device would, ultimately, just be a chip in your brain!
Sign me up!
Can you imagine walking into a Vida e and seeing a cyclist sitting there, drinking coffee with his helmet on – and then suddenly a flashing neon warning light shows up within your retina, displaying the words “WARNING : IGNORANT RUBE.”
