Virtual Worlds

Babystepping Towards the Holodeck

Babystepping Towards the Holodeck

Sci-fi fans have grown up dreaming of stepping into a virtual world that’s indistinguishable (in sensual terms) from this one. Just load up a program and you’re in different a time, or another world. As technology has advanced, we’ve seen virtual worlds and characters become increasingly realistic, but we’ve only had a chance to view […]

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Weekend Projects – Mini Rover Redux

Weekend Projects – Mini Rover Redux

Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at http://makeprojects.com/Project/Mini-Rover-Redux/2479/1

Learn the basics of modding a remote controlled (RC) vehicle for the purpose of making your own terrestrial rover. Mount one wireless camera onto your vehicle’s chassis, and see how far you can drive it and see what it sees. Then, add a second camera for ultra-wide-angle vision, front and rear viewing, or sterescopic 3D video of the world!

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Minecraft Augmented Reality App

Minecraft Augmented Reality App

Can’t get enough of Minecraft? Wish you could bring your creations with you wherever you go and interact with them in the real world? Now you can with the Minecraft Reality app by Mojang. That’s right–get chunky 8-bit style graphics rendered in hardware accelerated real-time 3D and mapped over your smartphone’s field of view to […]

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An AR Desktop Behind a Clear LCD

An AR Desktop Behind a Clear LCD

Stevie Bathiche, director of Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group, introduces this video from GeekWire by explaining that “it looks like we just took an LCD and took the backlight off, but that’s actually not true. There’s actually been a lot of work that Samsung has done to improve the transmission quality of this display.” Be that as it may…

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Replica HALO First Aid Kit Actually Is One

Replica HALO First Aid Kit Actually Is One

Shawn Thorsson’s HALO First Aid Kit is cooler than merely a replica — it actually serves as a first aid kit. So the other day (which was a Wednesday in this case) I was suffering from some time alone with my macabre imagination and decided that I needed my first aid kit to be more […]

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VR Kitty Brushing System

VR Kitty Brushing System

Taylor Veltrop created a controller for a NAO humanoid robot using a treadmill, Kinect, Wii remotes, and a head-mounted display… and demonstrated it by brushing his cat remotely. This is the culmination of my last year’s work. I control the robot’s arms through the Kinect and Wii remotes. I control the robot’s navigation through the […]

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