SIXTH SENSE TECHNOLOGY

Introduction
Although miniaturized versions of computers help us to connect to the digital world even while we are travelling there arent any device as of now which gives a direct link between the digital world and our physical interaction with the real world. Usually the informations are stored traditionally on a paper or a digital storage device. Sixth sense technology helps to bridge this gap between tangible and non-

tangible world. Sixth Sense device is basically a wearable gestural interface that connects the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with this information .The sixth sense technology was developed by Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab. The sixth sense technology has a Web 4.0 view of human and machine interactions. SixthSense integrates digital information into the physical world and its objects, making the entire world your computer. It can turn any surface into a touch-screen for computing, controlled by simple hand gestures. It is not a technology which is aimed at changing human habits but causing computers and other machines to adapt to human needs .It also supports multi user and multi touch provisions. Sixth Sense device is a mini-projector coupled with a camera and a cell phonewhich acts as the computer and your connection to the Cloud, all the information stored on the web. The current prototype costs around $350. The Sixth Sense prototype is used to implement several

applications that have shown the usefulness, viability and flexibility of the system.

SIXTH SENSE DEVICES

'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 The hardware components are coupled in a pendant like mobile wearable device. The SixthSense prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror,colored marker and a camera. The camera, mirror and projector is connected wirelessly to a blue tooth smart phone device that can easily fit into the users pocket. A software then processes the data that is collected by the capturing device and produces analysis.The software that is used in sixth sense device is open source type.

Camera
It captures the image of the object in view and track the users hand gesture. The camera recognizes individuals, images, pictures, gestures that user makes with his hand. The camera then sends this data to a smart phone for processing. Basically the camera forms a digital eye which connects to the world of digital information.

Coloured Marker
There are colour markers placed at the tip of users finger. Marking the users fingers with r ed, yellow green and blue coloured tape helps the webcam to recognize the hand gestures .The movements and arrangement of these markers are interpreted into gestures that act as a interaction instruction for the projected application interfaces.

Mobile Component
The SixthSense device consists of a web enabled smart phone which process the data send by the camera. The smart phone searches the web and interprets the hand gestures with help of the coloured markers placed at the finger tips.

Projector
The information that is interpreted through the smart phone can be projected into any surface. The projector projects the visual information enabling surfaces and physical objects to be used as interfaces. The projector itself consists of a battery which have 3 hours of battery life .A tiny LED projector displays the data sent from the smart phone on any surface in view- object, wall or person. The downward facing

projector projects the image on to a mirror .

Mirror
The usage of a mirror is important as the projector dangles pointing downwards from the neck. The mirror reflects the image on to a desire surface.Thus finally the digital image is freed from its confines and placed in the physical world.

APPLICATION
The sixth sense technology finds a lot of application in the modern world. The sixth sense devices bridge the gap by bringing the digital world into the real world and in that process allowing the users to interact with the information without the help of any machine interfaces. Prototypes of the sixth sense device have demonstrated viability, usefulness and flexibility of this new technology. According to the words of its developers the extend of use of this new device is only limited by the imagination of human beings. Some practical applications of the sixth sense technology is given below.

Map Application
With the help of a map application the user can call upon any map of his/her choice and navigate through them by projecting the map on to any surface .By using the thumb and index fingers movements the user can zoom in, zoom out or pan the selected map.

Taking Pictures
Another application of sixth sense devices is the implementation of a gestural camera. This camera takes the photo of the location user is looking at by detecting the framing gesture. After taking the desired number of photos we can project them onto any surfaces and then use gestures to sort through those photos and organize and resize them.

The user taking making a pose gesture

The camera takes the photo of the location

Drawing Application
The drawing application allows the user you to draw on any surface by tracking the fingertip movements of the users index finger. The pictures that are drawn by the user can be stored and r

replaced on any other surface. The user can also shuffle through various pictures and drawing by using the hand gesture movements

Making Calls
We can make calls with help of sixth sense device .The sixth sense device is used to project the keypad into your palm and the using that virtual keypad we can make calls to anyone.

Interacting with physical objects

The SixthSense system also helps to interact with physical objects we use in a better way. It augments physical objects by projecting more information about these objects projected on them. For example, a gesture of drawing a circle on the users wrist projects an analog watch on the users hand. Similarly a newspaper can show live video news or dynamic information can be provided on a regular piece of paper

Newspaper showing live feeds an analog watch projected into the wrist

Getting Information
Sixth sense devices can be used for getting various information relating to our everyday life by getting in contact with objects

Product Information: Sixth sense technology uses marker technology or image recognition techniques to recognize the objects we pick in our hand and then provide information relating to that product. Book Information: By holding and shuffling through the book pages, the sixth sense provides Amazon ratings on that book, other reviews and other relevant things related to the book. Flight Updates:

With the help of the sixth sense technology it is no longer required to log into any sites for checking the status of the flights. The system will recognize your boarding pass and let you know whether the flight is

on time or not.

Information About People: With help of face recognition techniques the sixth sense devices are able to provide information about the people when we meet them. The sensor detects the face and checks the data base for the relevant information. The system will then project the relevant information about a person like what they do, where they work,

WAY FORWARD
Upcoming Projects Making Use Of the Sixth Sense Technology Mouse less:
Mouse less is a concept which is developed in order to avoid the usage of mouse in computers. It helps to provide a familiarity of the physical mouse without actually requiring a physical mouse.

Even though the computer hardware technology has been developed to a greater extent, still there has been no proper substitute for a physical mouse. This new invention aims to remove the requirement of having a physical mouse altogether but still it provides the feeling of a physical mouse that users are

familiar with. It basically consists of an Infrared laser beam and an Infrared camera. Both laser and camera are embedded together with the computer. The laser beam module is modified with a line cap and placed such that it creates a plane of IR laser just above the surface the computer sits on. The user cups their hand, as if a physical mouse was present underneath, and the laser beam lights up the hand which is in contact with the surface. The IR camera detects those bright IR blobs using computer vision. The change in the position and arrangements of these blobs are interpreted as mouse cursor movement and mouse clicks.

Third Eye:
Third Eye is a new technique that enables multiple viewers to see different things on a same display screen at the same time.

With thirdEye, - We can have a public sign board where a Japanese tourist sees all the instructions in Japanese and an American in English. - We don't need to have the split screen in games now. Each player can see his/her personal view of the game on the TV screen. - Two people watching TV can watch their favuorite channel on a single TV screen. - A public display can show secret messages or patterns. - In the same movie theater, people can see different end of a suspense movie.

Inktuitive: Even though there has been a tremendous development of computer aided designing tools, still paper and pencil is the preferred by most of the designers ,especially in the earlier stages of designing

The project inktuitive is aimed to combine the process of creation that is inherent in paper and pencil with the power of computing that the digital design tools provide. It also extends the natural workpractice of using physical paper by giving the pen the ability to control the design in physical threedimensional space, freeing it from its tie to the paper. There always remains an intuition of pen and paper ,but the lines that have been drawn are be captured and translated into shapes in the digital world. The physical paper is augmented with overlaid digital strokes. The platform provides a novel

interaction mechanism for drawing and designing using above the surface pen movements. In other words inktuitive can be considered as an intuitive physical design workspace that aims to bridge the gap and bring together the conventional design tools such as paper and pencil with the power and convenience of the digital tools for design.

TaPuma:
TaPuma is the short form of Tangible Public Map. It is another attempt to bring the digital world nearer to the real world by exploring the techniques of sixth sense technology. Key word based search mechanism has vastly influenced and modified the ways in which we search informations. The keyword based search allows the user to filter out the required data from the vast data that are available on search engines such as yahoo and google. TaPuMa allows people to use their own belongings, the objects they usually carry with them to access relevant and just-in-time information and locations of places from a public map. The project also explores and analyzes the advantages and challenges of this novel interaction mechanism, where real life objects serve as the interface for information acquirement. The broad concept behind the project TaPuMa is Object Amelioration, where the functions of everyday objects can be expanded by using their affordances or functionalities in a variety of different contexts.