Gearfuse

We’ve seen robots controlled by all kinds of applications. From your standard remote control to innovative path finding methods, robots are sharing more and more traits with their creators. Take this latest bot based upon the LEGO NXT system. Using multiple webcams, software analyzes video of your pupils staring in a specific direction and then sends the robot in the same direction.

Yes, this is a robot controlled by eye movement and private eyes. With this design, simple actions such as blinking, moving your head, staring off in to a distance or making any other distinctive facial motions are capable of controlling robots hands-free. A robot that can travel to where my eyes stare? Think of the possibilities!

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If you thought that you looked real when staring at yourself in a mirror, think again. Compared to the photo-realistic computer animation of Emily, you’re a closer to a plastic doll than real flesh and bone. Using new modeling technology that enables the most minute details of a facial expression to be captured, Image Metrics have created the first ever animation to overcome the longtime obstacle known as “uncanny valley”. This is the perception that animation looks less realistic as it attempts to approach realism.

“Ninety per cent of the work is convincing people that the eyes are real,” Mike Starkenburg, chief operating officer of Image Metrics, said.

A lot of precision and detail goes into calculating the most precise way that a human should look and I must say, Emily looks more real than those Beijing fireworks, or even the highly-detailed, corporeal robot. I can’t wait to see this kind of computer animation in movies and video games.  We’ve finally reached that point where we can’t differentiate between real life and computer graphics. This makes Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within look like Manos: The Hands of Fate.

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