See also in Resources:Â Chart of Old Projects
Student 1
Invention #1: The De-Scheduler Virtual Rehearsal System
Coordinating artists’ schedules is intense at best. However, it is critical that artists rehearse in the same place at the same time, in order to “feel” each others’ timing, visual cues, and kinesthetic rhythm. To alleviate the annoying and ubiquitous problem of trying to schedule rehearsals, The De-Scheduler Virtual Rehearsal System is developed. The De-Scheduler is a device that allows each artist to project a holographic image of him/herself into a common space occupied by other holographic images or real persons. One space is reserved for a rehearsal. Each participant “logs on” and projects his image into that space at a time convenient for him/her. If s/he is the first person to “log on,” s/he rehearses the material alone. That session is “saved” to the memory of the De-Scheduler once the participant has finished. Other participants log on at other times convenient for them. They are able to access the complete content of the previous participants’ rehearsal sessions. They rehearse virtually along with those previously-recorded holographic images and add their own digestion of the material. They are able to “feel” and interact with the holographic images and the results of this joint session are stored into memory, accessible by all participants. The result is a “compounding” of the rehearsal experience. Each log on adds more interaction and information to the rehearsal; the rehearsal itself becomes a changing entity, just as it would be if all were in one place at one time. Once the total complement has logged on and rehearsed either alone or with others at least once, all participants log on simultaneously for one session only. This is the only “mandatory rehearsal time” for participants. Each participant accesses the compounded information found in the rehearsal session saved in the De-Scheduler’s memory. All review the material simultaneously and then project their holographic images into the rehearsal space at the same time. A dancer in a studio in France is joined by the image of a musician in Senegal and they are joined by five actors in the US. Their holographic images allow for sensory input such that they are able to see and to “feel” each other as they would if their bodies were together. They save the content of this “grand rehearsal” session and use it as the basis for their subsequent log ins. The process continues and repeats itself until the week of the show. The performers show up for tech rehearsals and perform the material as a unit, with the same accuracy that would have been obtained in a traditional rehearsal.
Invention #2: Dream Dump
Many artists create based upon their dreams. But the translation of one’s dreams to concrete images creates frustration. Sometimes, an artist wants to see whether or not something s/he has dreamed actually can be accomplished/performed in real life. Sometimes, an artist wants an exact representation of his/her dream images. Sometimes, an artist wants to recreate the feelings s/he experienced during the dream. All of this is now made possible by the Dream Dump. The Dream Dump is a device that is placed by the bedside of the artist when s/he sleeps. Upon waking, s/he places a palm upon its touch screen. The content of all of that night’s dreams are downloaded into Dream Dump’s memory and saved for later retrieval. Dream Dump not only extracts images, but it also captures sounds, transitions, words, and even feelings. The artist is free to go about his/her day without worry that any artistic vision has been lost. The artist later connects Dream Dump to his/her computer, downloads its contents and begins the artistic process.
Invention #3: Unlimited resource world environment – less an invention than a state of being
As in the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the world no longer functions at the behest of commodities. There is no hunger; there is no homelessness. Human beings’ main function is to create, to improve themselves. There are still disagreements because communication is not perfect, but resources are allocated such that any artist has whatever s/he needs to create. S/he is then left with the more difficult task of creating something of interest. Every film shoot has unlimited resources; it is the creative team of the film who must achieve a superior product. Every artist has his needs met and is left to battle the creative process rather than the economic system.
Invention #4: Production Industry Recycle/Reuse System
All refuse and unused material on film shoots or other entertainment productions are funneled to a central, national warehouse for recycling and dispersal to other productions in need of additional materials. Like Materials for the Arts here in NYC, only on a national scale specific to the entertainment industry. All productions are required by law to comply by donating their unused materials and equipment to the national center for dispersal. All waste must also be recycled at regional recycling centers set up specifically for this program. The whole enterprise is paid for by the National Endowment for the Arts, as specified by President Obama’s economic stimulus plan.
Invention #5: Wearable Thought
Wearable Thought is a small device worn on the body that translates the enormous energy of thought to compute complex algorithms that bring into your environment any person or resource you need. Production managers, directors, and stage managers wear them in order to find, hire, cast, and utilize staff. Also has telepathy function that allows wearer to impart thought into the minds of others, such as stage directions, cue notes, to do lists.
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Student 2
I am looking into the area of human haptic perception, which was brought to my attention as a possible resource for my imagine project. Haptic refers to tasks involving active motor exploration of stimuli, and research in multisensory processing has revealed that many cortical areas of the brain which process specific aspects of visual input are also activated during analogous haptic or tactile tasks. Tactile involves tasks in which stimuli are applied to a skin surface. A test known as a Positron emission tomographic (PET) has revealed that a specific region of the visual cortex responds to a tactile analog of the relevant visual task, indicating that visual cortical activity might be independent of the sensory modality in which a task is presented, what seems to me to be the physical seeing itself. What I propose is to possibly create a device which can utilize sound waves (analog) to reflect and echo off of its environment to stimulate this region of the visual cortex, where frequencies of the sound spectrum serve as a haptic taskforce which gathers and processes information in a visual context or form that is independent of the optic nerve sensors. This device would be implanted somewhere between the inner ear’s fluid and the region of the brain where the sound waves are processed and attached in a three-way inter-connection to the visual cortex region mentioned above. I believe that this mode of ‘seeing’ could be as effective as our eyes if not more so, or that our optical vision can be enhanced into a form of “ultra-sight” for lack of a better term. Perhaps a cure for blindness could be obtained through this radical technology, so that blind people could not only see again but view everything in a superior way that is not restricted to the shortcomings of optic sight. Perhaps the sound spectrum of sight in my proposed device could also haptically convert the calibrations of reverberant frequencies to include color information, or degrees of light and darkness, to include the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums which our eyes cannot see.
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Student 3
For my project i have deiced to do it about the advances in the luxury of cruise control on newer model cars. In recent models they have used a different style of cruise control called adaptive cruise control. Adaptive cruise control allows drivers to maintain a pre-set speed while at the same time automatically monitors the traffic patterns and adjusts the “closing” distance by using the throttle and the brakes to maintain a pre-set distance behind the vehicle ahead. They say that this break threw will help out a lot of the traffic conditions. I find this very interesting and i wonder if there is a way to make the car know were its going also, in other words having a car that drives according to its position in the gps radar.
Here is a link to more information on adaptive cruise control(ACC).
http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/Adaptive-Cruise-Control
Week 5:
Going in deeper into my project I have decided to simplify it a little bit. When I first started doing research I really like the idea of a car that would drive its self with out any help of the driver. But I couldn’t really find any information that would help me to know how to achieve this creation. So finally I decided to step it down a notch and focus on a “smart car” sort of like the smart phones you guys are use to. The purpose behind my invention is to create a car that is more cautious then a human. The car will have key features like knowing how far you are from the car in front and behind you. It will also keep in mind that they may be also cars on the right and left of you. If a car gets to close to your car the car will automatically react and take the precautions that a normal human would take, for example slow down, speed up, or even swerve off to safety. Another feature of the car would be the ablity to see the car from a birds eye view as infinity called it on there newly redesigned cross over.
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Student 4
FIRST IDEA/CONCEPT:
My initial idea for the IMAGINE project is one that incorporates technology that we have today with future biohuman technology. I’ve got a few ideas on how this should work.
I first thought of the need for this invention when watching DVDs of concerts I’ve seen myself and hating the angles (and ever changing shots) chosen by the editor in post production. I would be watching shows that I loved in person thinking, “this is so boring on TV, why isn’t it coming to life like it did in person.” Now granted, not being in the actual venue at the time of the concert, you lose a lot of the energy of the show, (and of course the 20,000 other screaming fans). I first thought of a viewer being able to chose their own angles from all the cameras that are used on a concert shoot – but this is already in practice in limited terms on certain multi-angle DVDs. Then, I thought, what would be even better is if every concertgoer had a camera attached to them somewhere that wirelessly transmitted the signal to storage devices somewhere and also streamed it live onto the internet. At first the cameras may be attached to eyeglasses, and eventually built into contact lenses.
Eventually, I think this will lend itself to eye implants and flat, miniscule cameras inserted into an eyeballs’ lens.
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