1
00:00:12,310 --> 00:00:15,268
I've been intrigued by this question of

2
00:00:15,283 --> 00:00:18,988
whether we could evolve or develop
a sixth sense

3
00:00:18,988 --> 00:00:23,208
A sense that would give us seamless access

4
00:00:23,208 --> 00:00:29,656
and easy access to meta information
or information that may exist somewhere

5
00:00:29,656 --> 00:00:34,314
that may be relevant to help us make
the right decision about whatever it is

6
00:00:34,314 --> 00:00:38,686
that we're coming across and
some of you may argue, well,

7
00:00:38,688 --> 00:00:41,730
don't today's cell phones do that already?

8
00:00:41,730 --> 00:00:43,530
But I would say no.

9
00:00:43,530 --> 00:00:46,712
When you meet someone here at Ted and this


10
00:00:46,712 --> 00:00:49,502
is the top Networking place of the year

11
00:00:49,502 --> 00:00:52,312
you don't shake somebody's hand 
and then say

12
00:00:52,312 --> 00:00:56,802
can you hold on for a moment, while I 
I take out my phone and Google you

13
00:00:56,802 --> 00:01:00,172
Or when you go to the supermarket and

14
00:01:00,172 --> 00:01:02,532
you're standing there in that huge isle

15
00:01:02,532 --> 00:01:04,912
of different types of toilet papers you

16
00:01:04,912 --> 00:01:07,642
don't take out your cell phone and open

17
00:01:07,642 --> 00:01:09,932
a browser and go to a website 
to try to decide

18
00:01:09,932 --> 00:01:14,972
to try to decide which of these 
toilet papers is the most ecologically

19
00:01:14,972 --> 00:01:16,932
responsible purchase to make

20
00:01:16,932 --> 00:01:19,934
So, we don't really have easy access to

21
00:01:19,934 --> 00:01:24,292
all this relevant information that
can just help us make optimal

22
00:01:24,292 --> 00:01:27,592
decisions about what to do next
and what actions to take

23
00:01:27,592 --> 00:01:30,342
and so my research group

24
00:01:30,342 --> 00:01:35,780
at the media lab has been developing
a series of inventions to

25
00:01:35,780 --> 00:01:38,962
give us access to this information

26
00:01:38,962 --> 00:01:41,902
in a, sort of easy way without requiring

27
00:01:41,902 --> 00:01:46,382
that the user changes any 
of their behavior

28
00:01:46,382 --> 00:01:51,572
and I'm here to unveil our latest effort
and most successful effort so far

29
00:01:51,572 --> 00:01:54,442
which is still very much a work in process

30
00:01:54,442 --> 00:01:57,322
I'm actually wearing the device right now

31
00:01:57,322 --> 00:02:02,009
and, we've sort of cobbled it together 
with, components

32
00:02:02,009 --> 00:02:04,272
that are, off the shelves 
and that by the way

33
00:02:04,272 --> 00:02:08,432
only cost, $350 dollars at 
this point in time,

34
00:02:08,432 --> 00:02:13,052
I'm wearing a camera, just 
a simple web cam

35
00:02:13,052 --> 00:02:18,667
A portable battery powered
projection system, with a little mirror.

36
00:02:18,667 --> 00:02:24,317
The components communicate to my cell 
phone in my pocket which acts as the

37
00:02:24,317 --> 00:02:27,837
communication and computation device

38
00:02:27,837 --> 00:02:30,247
and in the video here we see my student

39
00:02:30,247 --> 00:02:32,647
Pranav Mistry who's really the genius

40
00:02:32,647 --> 00:02:35,297
who's been implementing and designing

41
00:02:35,297 --> 00:02:37,547
this whole system and we see how this

42
00:02:37,547 --> 00:02:40,887
system lets him walk up to any surface

43
00:02:40,887 --> 00:02:43,947
and start using his hands to interact with

44
00:02:43,947 --> 00:02:47,147
the information that is projected
in front of him

45
00:02:47,147 --> 00:02:49,907
the system tracks the four
significant fingers

46
00:02:49,907 --> 00:02:56,177
in this case he's wearing 
simple marker caps

47
00:02:56,177 --> 00:02:58,937
I know you may recognize, but if you want

48
00:02:58,937 --> 00:03:00,997
the more stylish version, you could also

49
00:03:00,997 --> 00:03:04,927
paint your nails in different colors
the camera basically tracks

50
00:03:04,927 --> 00:03:09,237
these four fingers and 
recognizes any gestures

51
00:03:09,237 --> 00:03:12,927
that he's making so he can just go to, for

52
00:03:12,927 --> 00:03:16,227
example a map of long beach zoom

53
00:03:16,227 --> 00:03:20,347
in and out etc, the system also recognizes

54
00:03:20,347 --> 00:03:24,027
iconic gestures such as the 
take a picture gesture

55
00:03:24,027 --> 00:03:27,187
and then takes a picture of 
whatever is in front of you

56
00:03:27,187 --> 00:03:30,857
and when he then walks
back to the media lab

57
00:03:30,857 --> 00:03:33,977
he can just go up to any 
wall and project all

58
00:03:33,977 --> 00:03:37,427
the pictures that he's taken 
sort through them

59
00:03:37,427 --> 00:03:40,177
and organize them and resize them etc

60
00:03:40,177 --> 00:03:42,897
again using all natural, ah gestures

61
00:03:42,897 --> 00:03:46,897
so, some of you most likely 
were here two years ago

62
00:03:46,897 --> 00:03:50,897
and saw the demo by, Jeff Han or some

63
00:03:50,897 --> 00:03:53,467
or some of you might think
doesn't this looks like the

64
00:03:53,467 --> 00:03:57,487
microsoft service table and
yes, you also interact

65
00:03:57,487 --> 00:04:01,267
using natural gestures both hands etc.

66
00:04:01,267 --> 00:04:03,477
but the difference here is that you

67
00:04:03,477 --> 00:04:07,197
can use any surface. you can 
walk up to any surface.

68
00:04:07,197 --> 00:04:10,687
including your hand if 
nothing else is available

69
00:04:10,687 --> 00:04:13,697
and interact with this projected data

70
00:04:13,697 --> 00:04:16,407
the device is completely portable

71
00:04:16,407 --> 00:04:25,087
and can be, (laughs) thanks (aplause)

72
00:04:25,087 --> 00:04:27,627
so one importance difference is that

73
00:04:27,627 --> 00:04:31,227
it is totally mobile another 
even more important

74
00:04:31,227 --> 00:04:34,087
difference is that in mass production

75
00:04:34,087 --> 00:04:37,087
this would not cost more tomorrow than today's

76
00:04:37,087 --> 00:04:42,087
cell phones and would actually not, um, sort of be a bigger

77
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
package and could look a lot more stylish

78
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
than this ah, ah version that (laughs) I am wearing around my neck

79
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
um, but other than letting some of you live out your

80
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
fantasy of looking as cool asTom Cruise in Minority Report

81
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
um the reason why we're really excited about this device

82
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is that it um really can act as one of these sixth sense devices

83
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that gives you relevant information

84
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
about uh whatever is in front of you, so we see Pranav

85
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
here going into the super market and he's ah shopping

86
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for some paper towels and as he picks up

87
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a product the system can recognize a product

88
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that he is picking up using either image recognition

89
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
or marker technology and give him the green light or an orange light.

90
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Um, he can ask for additional information

91
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
so this particular um (Audience Aplause) (laughs) choice here is a particularly

92
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
good choice given his personal criteria

93
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
some of you may want the toilet paper

94
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with the most bleach in it rather than the most ecologically

95
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
responsible choice (audience laughter) um but (laughs) if

96
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he picks up a book in the bookstore he can get

97
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the Amazon rating, that gets projected right on

98
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the cover of the book this is, uh Juan's book

99
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
our previous speaker um which gets

100
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a great rating by the way on Amazon and so Pranav

101
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
turns the page of the book and can then see additional

102
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
information about the book, reader comments

103
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
um, maybe, sort of information by his favorite

104
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
critic etc. If he turns to a particular page

105
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he finds an annotation by maybe an

106
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
expert of a friend of ours that gives

107
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
him a little bit of additional information

108
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
about whatever is on that particular page.

109
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Reading the news paper he never has

110
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to be (audience laughs) updated (laughs). You can get video annotations

111
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of the events you are reading about. You can get

112
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the latest sports scores etc.

113
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This is a more controversial one (audience laughs)

114
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
As you interact with someone at TED

115
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
maybe um you can see a word cloud of the tags

116
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the words that are associated with the person

117
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in their blog and personal web pages

118
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in this case the student is interested in cameras

119
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
etc. on your way to the airport if you

120
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
pick up your boarding pass it can

121
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
tell you that your flight is delayed

122
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that the gate has changed etc.

123
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And if you need to know what

124
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the current time is, it's as simple as

125
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
drawing a watch (audience laughs) (laughs) on your arm

126
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, that's where we are at so far

127
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in uh (laughs) developing this sixth sense that would

128
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
give us seamless access to all this

129
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
relevant information. About the things

130
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that we may come across

131
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
my student Pranav who's really, like I said

132
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the genius behind this (roaring applause)

133
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(continued applause)

134
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he does deserve a lot of applause because

135
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I don't think he slept much in the last three

136
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
months actually and his girlfiriend

137
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is probably not very happy

138
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
about him either

139
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
um, but it's not perfect yet

140
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it's very much a work in progress

141
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and who knows maybe in another ten years

142
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
we'll be here with the ultimate um

143
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
sixth sense brain implant, thank you.

144
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(audience applause)