Category Technology/Electronics

Wrist-mounted FingerTrak continuously Tracks entire Human Hand in 3D

Wrist-mounted FingerTrak continuously tracks entire human hand in 3D.
Wrist-mounted FingerTrak continuously tracks entire human hand in 3D. Credit: Cornell University

The device could be used in sign language translation, VR, mobile health, human-robot interaction and and more. The bracelet, called FingerTrak, can sense and translate into 3D the many positions of the human hand, including 20 finger joint positions, using three or four miniature, low-resolution thermal cameras that read contours on the wrist.

“This was a major discovery by our team — that by looking at your wrist contours, the technology could reconstruct in 3D, with keen accuracy, where your fingers are,” said Cheng Zhang, assistant professor of information science and director of Cornell’s new SciFi Lab, where FingerTrak was developed...

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Shells and Grapefruits inspire first manufactured Non-Cuttable material

It is a ‘smart material’ that has been made from ceramic spheres that are encased in a cellular aluminium structure and could be used to create new lightweight armour

Engineers have taken their inspiration from shells and grapefruits to create what they say is the first manufactured non-cuttable material.

This new material, which could be used in the security and health and safety industries, can turn back the force of a cutting tool upon itself. The lightweight material – named Proteus after the shape-changing mythical god — is made of ceramic spheres encased in a cellular aluminium structure that in tests could not be cut by angle grinders, drills or high-pressure water jets.

An international research team, led by Durham University, UK, and Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tool...

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New Technology Speeds up Organic Data Transfer

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers are pushing the boundaries of data speed with a brand new type of organic LED. An international research team, involving Newcastle University experts, developed a visible light communication (VLC) setup capable of a data rate of 2.2 Mb/s by employing a new type of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).

To reach this speed, the scientists created new far-red/near-infrared, solution-processed OLEDs. And by extending the spectral range to 700-1000 nm, they successfully expanded the bandwidth and achieved the fastest-ever data speed for solution-based OLEDs.

Described in the journal Light Science & Applications, the new OLEDs create opportunities for new internet-of-things (IoT) connectivity, as well as wearable and implantable biosensors technol...

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Tech to help Autonomous Vehicles better Scan for nearby Fast-Moving Objects

New technology uses acoustics to better control a pulse of laser light split into a frequency comb, potentially helping lidar to achieve detection of nearby high-speed objects. (WoogieWorks graphic/Alex Mehler)

Mechanical control and modulation of light on a silicon chip could enhance lidar. Researchers have built a way that lidar could achieve higher-resolution detection of nearby fast-moving objects through mechanical control and modulation of light on a silicon chip.

A self-driving car has a hard time recognizing the difference between a toddler and a brown bag that suddenly appears into view because of limitations in how it senses objects using lidar.

The autonomous vehicle industry is exploring “frequency modulated continuous wave” (FMCW) lidar to solve this problem...

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