Here is a video showing a sandbox equipped with a Kinect 3D camera and a projector to project a real-time colored topographic map with contour lines onto the sand surface. The sandbox lets virtual water flow over the surface using a GPU-based simulation of the Saint-Venant set of shallow water equations. The UC Davis [...]

  Singing Fingers lets you fingerpaint with sound. Just touch the screen while you make a sound, and colorful paint appears. Touch the paint to play back the sound again.  

  I have heard of 3D printers but this is the first time I’m actually witnessing the machine in action, that is, if my eyes aren’t deceiving me. This process took place at the NASA’s tool lab. That’s just amazing.  

  pxl is a new iOS app, designed by visual artist Rainer Kohlberger, that does for abstraction what Instagram does for nostalgia. It’s essentially a series of filters that break down your image into interpretive shapes and colors. But the user actually retains quite a bit of control through a simple interface: Pinching/zooming will increase [...]

  With Starfield, you don’t have to wait for those special nights when the sky is filled with dazzling stars. The installation uses a swing to create a large interactive starry sky. With a Kinect installed behind the swing and a video projector, the software creates a galaxy of stars in which the user wanders [...]

  Scientists from Switzerland and the US discuss their research on humanoid robots, cognitive robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Hear how some robots self-reflect, self-improve, and adapt to new circumstances, and whether it’s possible for robots of the future to possess the same cognitive characteristics as humans. Cornell University’s Hod Lipson is seeking to understand [...]

Neuroscientists have developed a way to listen to words you’ve heard, by translating brain activity directly into sound. Their findings represent a major step towards understanding how our brains make sense of speech, and are paving the way for brain implants that could one day translate your inner thoughts into audible sentences. Every language on [...]

This is a DIY robot, built and programmed to create landscape paintings in the style of American Abstract Expressionism. The computer system uses real time video input to control motor movement and pump actions to release paint drops on the canvas. The drops are then drawn downwards courtesy of gravity. This robotic artist is developed [...]

Samsung has said that it will start to ship ‘bendy screened’ gadgets in the first half of 2012 – with the first ‘flexible’ gizmos on the market certain to be mobile phones. At technology shows, the Korean company has also demonstrated flexible screens just 0.3mm thick. But its latest video demo shows off truly out-there [...]

The Board of Awesomeness by mobile app developer Chaotic Moon is an experimental motorized longboard that is controlled by the rider’s gestures, thanks to a XBox 360 Kinect motion sensor. So how does it work? Video recognition, speech recognition, location data, accelerometer data, and other factors determine what the user wants to do and allow [...]