|
Holographic and Humanoid Companions
for the Near Future
By Dyanna Culp, 2005
As our lives become
more and more isolated, we seek company from our constant companions, the
machines. Holograms are already in use as interactive guides and
playmates, but the complete personal companion may be just around the
corner in the form of humanoid robots.
Holography was one
of those great accidental scientific discoveries.
An electrical engineer stumbled upon holography while working on improving
the electron microscope. Dennis Gabor, recognized as the father of
holography, received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1971 for his
invention.
Holography is a
recording of light that produces three dimensional images without the use
of lens.
Holograms can be recorded and played back, but unlike other 3-D pictures,
they provide "parallax". This allows the object to be viewed from any
perspective and look as if it were actually there, as if it were real.
Traditional holograms use laser interface patterns to store information
about an object’s size, shape, brightness and contrast. When light is
shined onto a hologram the stored information takes the incoming light and
recreates the original optical wave front.
Researchers
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new
technique for creating holograms made with computers, not lasers. In
either case,
the eyes and brain perceive the object as real, not as a traditional
photographic image.
Holograms have
created a new era of visual information for both work and play.
Hologram applications are currently being used in industry, the arts,
medicine, entertainment, and games. They can produce not only individual
images, but complete realistic environments. These artificial virtual
environments are being suggested as a possible escape from reality for
individuals stressed by modern society and its information overload.
Futuristic holographic applications are being researched around the world
by top notch groups such as MIT and NHK Science and Technical Research
Laboratories.
The difficulty of
producing Holograms capable of motion has been resolved.
Integral stereograms
combine motion picture technology and holographic techniques to produce
the only current type of hologram that can represent motion.
The possibility of
companion holograms has entered the minds of the global public.
There is talk of hologram companions for education as learning assistants
or teachers, holographic substitutes for courtroom judges, politicians and
others of power wishing to protect their frail human bodies from possible
criminals.
MIT’s Media Lab has already developed a robotic device that allows viewers
to interact with a hologram, to touch it and alter its shape.
The pornography
industry is pioneering the new forms of holography.
X-Vision, created by Digital Playground, can
project life sized 3D moving holograms to anywhere in a room. The first
example of its potentials was demonstrated by a moving hologram of porn
starTera Patrick in 2002 at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. The
use of hologram DVD “virtual sex” is a hot new tool for the adult
industry.
In the near future a
holographic “person” could be a lifelong companion, knowing your entire
history, your preferences, passions, weaknesses and strengths.
They may serve as a guide for navigating between the real world and the
artificial world of holography and computers. They may be the only way for
us to maintain a distinction between the two as the artificial worlds
become more and more real. Holography possesses tremendous potential for
business and the arts, but as human companions holograms alone will never
be completely adequate. Holograms are projection images. They require
projection devices and other machines for us to have any form of
interaction with them. Most importantly, we cannot feel them, talk with
them or interact on any substantial level- enter the humanoids….
Humanoid Robotics or
Androids
Robotics R&D first
focused on mechanics, modeling, planning, and control.
The marketing goal was to develop cost saving machines that could perform
repetitious or dangerous human work. And the work was successful as
demonstrated by the multi-thousands of factory workers that lost their
jobs to early industrial robots, the robots used by science for exploring
Mars and volcano depths, and bomb squad robots that take the risks
formerly assumed by humans.
The focus now is on
perfecting the artificial body and mind.
For many years now research has been exploring beyond current
robotic uses into “humanoid” research on robots that look and act human
with complex levels of artificial intelligence or AI. Developing the
ultimate humanoid requires the integration of mechanics, electronics,
perception, cognition, decision making and AI. The primary marketing goals
are for applications in manufacturing, healthcare, the services industry,
defense (think robot soldiers), space exploration, and of course
entertainment.
Researchers are
focusing on robots capable of advanced human social interaction.
Programs that recognize our voice inflections and facial expressions will
soon allow the humanoid to respond in a “humanlike” fashion. This new
field draws from many disciplines including: mechanical engineering,
computer programming, psychology, cognition research, neurosciences and
more.
Japan is at the
forefront of humanoid robotics research.
·
In 2002
Japan’s Humanoid Robotics Institute at Waseca University revealed four
of their new anthropomorphic robots.
·
Honda’s
P3 model is already capable of complex flexible movements and their next
step is utilizing neuroscience research to develop detailed visual
capabilities.
·
Sony’s
QRIO bot recently successfully conducted an entire orchestra, April 2004
and can be viewed in a 2003 robot dance sequence at
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2003/1218/sony_06.wmv
America’s MIT has a
variety of groups working in robotics fields.
Four top contributing
departments are the Media Lab Spatial
Imaging Group, the Media Lab Erotic Computation Group, and of course
MIT’s Humanoid Robotics Group.
The Erotic Computation
Group, a division of prestigious MIT, works on the implications of modern
technology on human eroticism. Their
goal: to broaden the range of human sexual expression and heighten our
potential for sexual gratification. MIT research seeks to make the fantasy
of sexual robots a reality. The researcher S. Cinnamon seeks to go far
beyond the current Real Doll offered at www.realdoll.com. Research is
working towards building functioning life like robotic sex creatures and
determining how the new technology will affect human sexual activity.
Humanoid female
entertainers are now available for a mere $20,000.
In a few years this type of humanoid will be considered primitive, but
she’s available now. Florida Robotics Ursula is a life size entertainment
robot selling for $20,000 or available for rental at
www.floridarobotics.com/ursula.htm Ursula is just the beginning….
The NS-5 automated
domestic assistant became available on July 16th, 2004.
The humanoid comes with audio/video capabilities and custom orders include
options for skin and eye color. They claim it is more intelligent than
most PhD graduates, can react to changes in your voice tone and anticipate
your needs… Custom order your model at
www.irobotnow.com a site that utilizes Flash in the most impressive
fashion I’ve ever seen.
In the foreseeable
future almost any job that does not require creative thought will be
performed by humanoids or outsourced to India.
Factory, fast food,
domestic help, service/ support and sales workers will all be out of jobs.
Those of us with creative minds and employment will be able to possess our
own personal assistant or companion. The initial prices for advanced
models are projected to be in the $300,000 range, but as with all new
technologies the price will quickly drop to middle class affordability,
perhaps the price of an automobile. Japanese developers estimate that
within 20 years 50 percent of all U.S., Japanese, and western European
homes will possess a humanoid.
They will require no sleep, no food, no
end of the day small talk, no emotional understanding.
They will always be there for us, listening to our worries, talking with
us, reaching out a hand indistinguishable from a human hand, anticipating
our every need and desire. Will we need each other anymore?
Resources
Android World
www.androidworld.com
Florida Robotics
www.floridarobotics.com
Holaxis Corporation
Hypermedia Technologies
http://hmt.com
HoloCom Gateway
www.holo.com
Honda Humanoid Robots
www.honda-robots.com/index_ori.html
Humanoid Robotics
Institute
www.humanoid.waseda.ac.jp/
I Generation
www.irobotnow.com
International Journal of
Human-Computer Studies
Volume 59, Issue 1-2 (July 2003)
International Journal
of Humanoid Robotics
Vol.
1, No. 1 (March 2004)
Application of affective computing in
human—Computer interaction by Breazeal, Cynthia.
Michigan engineering
www.engin.umich.edu/alumni/engineer/03FW/research/holography/
MIT
MIT Humanoid Robotics
Group
www.ai.mit.edu/projects/humanoid-robotics-group/
MIT Media Lab Spatial
Imaging Group
http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~lucente/holo/holovideo.html
MIT Media Lab: Erotic
Computation Group
http://www.monzy.com/ecg/
Science World,
Holograms
Go Futuristic - future of animated billboards”
Feb 8, 1999
SpaceDaily.com
A Novel Microwave
Holographic Technique for 3D Imaging Applications
Northumbria - Mar 04, 2004
www.spacedaily.com/news/3d-04a.html
|