Motion

The latest study published by Virginia Tech on flying snakes revealed a key point in the process. With motion capture technology and high-speed cameras aplenty, researchers created a three-dimensional mathematical model of snake flight that incorporates aerodynamic and inertial effects. They confirmed that it's not any one element that allows this flight, but a combination of the shape the snakes makes, the locomotion of the snake, and other elements that make the glide function. This work shows "a different function than known uses of undulation in other animals" - which COULD be used to make new dynamic flying robots!

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Motion gestures might be the next fad in smartphones, which makes LG's sudden withdrawal in the G8X ThinQ look rather premature. Although not the first, Google's Motion Sense, based on its Soli radar technology, might be inspiring other manufacturers to try their hand as well, no pun intended. Unsurprisingly, Samsung may be one of those but a trademark filed in Europe could hint at how it will avoid the problems the beset the Pixel 4's implementation.

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This week we're having a peek at what Leap Motion is bringing to the table for augmented reality. We've seen them create some unbelievable pieces of technology before - especially when it comes to motion tracking and control. Now it would appear as thought they're jumping into the augmented reality universe face-first.

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Epic Games is no stranger to incredibly detailed motion capture technology. 2017's Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was based on Unreal Engine's motion capture capabilities, and it received a lot of praise for just how detailed the in-game character of Senua was. Now Epic is looking to take what it learned with Hellblade one step further, creating a new digital personality called Siren who is as impressive as she is unsettling.

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A whole bunch of new Nokia-branded products will be appearing on store shelves soon, thanks to their deal with Withings. One brand bought the other, and now the products we've reviewed over the past several years will be coming with a Nokia brand instead of Withings'. This re-branding will take place in the summer of 2017 alongside a major update to the Health Mate App and launch of HIPAA-compliant Patient Care Platform.

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Eye-tracking inside virtual reality headsets may soon become all too real. Oculus' acquisition of The Eye Tribe could jump-start the technology reaching the public. This acquisition may be for more than virtual reality devices as The Eye Tribe's creation of a $99 eye-tracking device for developers works for all manner of hardware - that includes smartphones as well as VR headsets and PCs.

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If you have played a modern video game or seen any movies with CGI characters, you have seen the results of motion capture. This is where the motion of an actor is captured and put into the game or movie. This sort of process requires some tech to pull off and a company called Rokoko has a new motion capture suit that it says puts an entire motion capture studio in one wireless bodysuit.

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If you've ever spent time working at your local Starbucks, you'll probably be familiar with the Coffee Guilt Security Dilemma. It's the feeling that you should probably buy another drink, because you don't want to be labeled a freeloader, yet you're worried about leaving your laptop on the table while you queue. Do you pack everything up and risk someone stealing your spot by the outlet? French Internet of Things firm Sense wants to assuage your paranoid guilt, and it's doing that with the $29 GuardPeanut.

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Display makers these days are trying to think up of ways, some would say gimmicks, to invigorate the PC monitor market and especially appeal to the usually lucrative and high-spending gaming crowd. Samsung and LG both have their new UltraWide curved monitors, and while Acer does have a rather curious curved screen laptop, the first of its kind, it isn’t stopping there. At IFA 2016, it is unveiling three new monitors,, the Predator Z271T, Predator XB251HQT, and Predator XB271HUT, all designed for gaming that, while varying in specs, share one thing in common. All three sport Tobii’s eye-tracking technology, promising new areas of innovation in reactivity and input for games.

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You would think wearables like smartwatches would be just as secure at protecting sensitive data like passwords and PINs as the smartphones they're paired with, especially when they run on the same software platform. It turns out, however, that smartwatches have a very distinct way of making it easier for hackers to obtain that data: the motion sensors used to detect movement and gestures.

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This afternoon the folks at Leap Motion have delivered an update to their VR headset mount hardware - and the software therein. They've made it possible to use the Leap Motion motion tracking device to put your hands in the virtual reality universe. This - you might be thinking - isn't strictly new. You're right. What IS new is the ability to see your hands and work with your hands at the same time as you're using the HTC Vive's wireless controllers.

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Now that we've got the first consumer-level VR headsets out in the wild, it's only a matter of time before we see full motion capture immersion. What I mean is when you see someone inside the virtual world, you'll see their whole body. Their face will reflect what's actually being shown on their actual head in real time. Their body will be represented by a reasonably reconstructed virtual version of their real form. All we need is faster internet and the world's best GPUs.

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