Physicists build laser tweezers controlled with Kinect
November 5, 2012
(Credit: Craig McDonald et al.)
Now anybody can pick up and move micron-scale particles using their hands and arms thanks to a Kinect-controlled infrared holographic laser device called HoloHands. The interface allows user to “pick up” and “push” particles they see on a computer screen using hand, arm and body movements alone, Technology Review Physics arXiv Blog reports.
The system shows users the field of view in which the tweezers operate. A wave of the hand creates a trapping region, which holds particles. This can then be picked up and moved with further arms movements.
It may also be possible to build stuff by hand using a Lego-like set up where students make microscale devices and machines using HoloHands.
Comments (5)
by DCWhatthe
Molecule Man
by Bri
The Kinect and leap controllers seem like they will out compete Oblongs tech. All those motion capture cameras are very expensive. I think they will realize a Minority Report style interface for the masses. This device is more suited for research than manufacturing. The tweezers would be manipulated by a robotic system , for any meaningful production of goods. The building blocks are so small that it would take a long time to assemble anything of any great complexity.
by Fistofbacon
Just wait until the leap motion becomes widely available very soon. you aint seen nothin yet…
by GatorALLin
I keep filling out all the LEAP developers sign up forms on their website and emails, but still nothing…. I think there are lots of us just waiting for them to get going with some real world samples. I know I keep offering to pay good money to get some product…. (just hear crickets). meanwhile other products keep making progress…. maybe they are just waiting for others to …… (wait for it…) Leap them. (boo hiss….)
Next up… Leap asks for poems on why you need one of the early developers kits…. maybe a song written about them…. write us a paragraph….then boil it down to one sentence that best describes your idea and how you plan to make us millions of dollars (I mean change the world)….. yada…yada ….LEAP us already!
by Gorden Russell
This will lead to the carbon nanocells that I’ve been talking about all along. I keep calling them “nanocells,” but they might need to be the size of the cells in a leaf, which is on the scale of 2 to 10 microns.