28-year-old Pranav Mistry, a MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) based researcher hailing from Gujarat has created a digital prototype of a “sixth sense” device that is being currently evaluated by corporations including Google, Microsoft, HP and Samsung.
Sixth Sense Device
The “Sixth Sense” device (patented by MIT) comprises a pocket projector, mirror and web camera bundled in a wearable pendant-like mobile. The projector can turn anything into a touch screen. The webcam (and colour-coded finger-gloves worn on the index finger and thumb) can recognise the movements of a user’s hands, which enables gesture-commands.
“Many CEOs of small Indian companies, including some pharma companies from Hyderabad, have evinced interest in my project. I don’t understand how companies work, but I would want to make the prototype cheaper for India,” Mistry told Business Standard. He also maintains that the device could be used by anyone without the basic knowledge on keyboards or mouse. The webcam and color-coded finger-gloves worn on the index finger and thumb can recognize the movements of a user’s hands, which enables gesture-commands. For instance, fathoming a gesture of a ’square frame’ the device will click a photo, and users can also stop by any surface or wall and flick through the photos they have clicked.
Sixth Sense Fingers
“The possibilities are immense but it’s a work in progress,” admitted Mistry in a telephonic chat from the US. The device costs around $350 (around Rs 17,500) to build.
Adhering to its name, the device displays its sixth sense by recognizing a book the user selects from a bookstore, either by image recognition or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and project information, like an Amazon rating. The device also projects a keyboard to type on, detect items on grocery shelves and compare online prices.
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