Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

newscientist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 50 posts

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#41

Post by mhb »

samstave wrote: post #22
mhb wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that a big problem? Why don't the gun owners who perceive that as a problem use the safety or buy a gun with greater trigger pressure? If they don't do those things, why would they want to pay to add this feature?

Drunks cleaning their gun, kids, poor training. All factors in fatal shootings. I am not saying it will solve all this - but if this can be applied, it may easily reduce it.

It can't be applied. No one wants their gun's efficacy to be subject to the failure of batteries.

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#43

Post by HyprMusic »

tocomment wrote: post #42

Does anyone know how this works in detail? Also I never understand capacative sensing. Does the human have to be grounded for it to work? Why not?

This site provides a nice, simple overview: http://www.analog.com/library/analogDialogue/archives/40-10/...

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#44

Post by jasonlotito »

harrisonp wrote: post #18
jasonlotito wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What the hell is that part about kids and breakfast?! "Could be used to monitor and train kinds to use the right implements to eat breakfast". That is just messed up. Messed up? You're just looking at what it's doing, not how it can be applied. The ability to monitor a child with special needs with this sort of application is pretty amazing. Suddenly, this information can be transmitted and used to assist with ther…

That is a really great point! I was really only appalled by the specific application of audio feedback used in the demo. And as such I blatantly discarded the whole idea of feedback systems. But when I think about it, that area is huge. I really want one of those sensor plates with an arduino interface!

> And as such I blatantly discarded the whole idea of feedback systems.

That happens far too often. You have to disconnect yourself from only looking at one element though. Generally, you have an interaction taking place in the form of Event > Action. Something occurs, and then something happens. In this case, the method of eating is the event. The sound happens to be the action. However, you can always replace the Action with anything else (you can also replace the event with anything else.

Basically, this is how you should approach demos. Not as the end, but as the possibilities.

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#45

Post by heyitsnick »

famousactress wrote: post #30
vasco wrote: post #5

There's also more important applications for this, for example detecting common postures and grips on fallen asleep drivers or knives that know when their not being handled properly. Additionally a world of possibilities opens up for the blind and disabled if you can inform them of objects they are touching in a room. I find these applications (and surely many more I am not enumerating) much more appealing then contr…

Totally! I actually found it really surprising how boring the potential usage examples in the video were compared to what's possible with some of these ideas.

The jarring switch from "show amazing new tech with countless possibilities" to "you can train your child how to eat cereal!" made me question whether the whole video was really a clever parody.

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#46

Post by evincarofautumn »

eevilspock wrote: post #26
harrisonp wrote: post #4

What the hell is that part about kids and breakfast?! "Could be used to monitor and train kinds to use the right implements to eat breakfast". That is just messed up. In all seriousness this is freaking awesome tech. Will definitely be huge, unless they fuck up the licensing or patent it to death.

It's a new cereal called Clockwork Orange Berries.

Sounds right horrorshow.

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#47

Post by zf1234 »

hsshah wrote: post #37
lukifer wrote: post #3

This needs to leap into the marketplace as soon as possible. The music player concept is brilliant, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. I wonder about the potential of a screen-less touch vocabulary, such that you could type a text message without taking the phone out of your pocket. (Siri is nice and all, but it requires the user to yield control to the Cloud and pray that it responds accurately.)

Indeed. Pair this with Google's Project Glass and you can avoid the awkward (in public) voice commands.

And then combine with a motion capture system for your hands to be able to manipulate virtual 3d objects that give haptic feedback.

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#49

Post by anamax »

doktrin wrote: post #35
anamax wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but if this can be applied, it may easily reduce it. Or, it can result in more dead people. Guns that don't go off when the trigger is pulled get people killed. FWIW, "cleaning their gun" is usually cop for "the family doesn't need the stigma of a suicide ane needs the insurance money if any". There's also some evidence that a lot of the "kid found a gun" are successful murders (by parents) or, at best, depraved in…

Can you site some sources, please?

IIRC, the stuff about kids is in Gary Kleck's "Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America" although there was probably some stuff in Philip Cook's "Gun Control".

I stopped reading the research 10-15 years ago, long after it became clear that the research didn't have any effect on people's positions.

Re: Touché by Disney Research brings touch control to everyday things

#50

Post by anamax »

anamax wrote: post #49
doktrin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you site some sources, please?

IIRC, the stuff about kids is in Gary Kleck's "Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America" although there was probably some stuff in Philip Cook's "Gun Control". I stopped reading the research 10-15 years ago, long after it became clear that the research didn't have any effect on people's positions.

The other good source is "Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms" by Wright and Rossi. They were tasked by the Carter administration with gathering the available research to prove that gun control worked.
Post reply on HN