Navigation gadget from Tokyo’s University of Electro-Communications a big hit at tech show
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) If you pull on my ear, will I follow you anywhere?
Attention-grabber: A man tries out the Pull-Navi, a helmet-mounted guidance system developed by the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo that works by tugging on the user’s ears, at a technology show in New Orleans. AP PHOTO
Yes, say researchers at University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo. And along complex paths. Even when the pulls are directed from a distance.
Their ear-tugging navigator looks like a bug-shaped hat and may be the oddest gizmo among nearly three dozen in the “Emerging Technologies” area of SIGGRAPH ’09, the 36th international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques.
The conference this Monday through Friday includes an animation festival, game design and animation workshops and contests, a studio, an art show, and other showcases and exhibits.
The 33 Emerging Technologies exhibits include a click-and-drag graphical editor to tell robots how to perform complex tasks such as folding clothes; an umbrella that moves as if you were fending off a downpour of rain, spaghetti or toy snakes; and a virtual reality floor that designers say can feel like walking on snow.
Japan Times for more