Navigation, 3-D Printing in Sensing Technology Lead to New Apps

Navigation, 3-D Printing in Sensing Technology Lead to New Apps

LOS ANGELES—

3-D printing, high-speed navigation and a magic mirror are some of the technologies that have come from new computer chips with advanced spatial¹ sensing. Technology startups that have partnered with chip maker² Intel showed off their products recently in San Francisco.

In one demonstration³, an imaging application scanned a toy bear to create a character for the popular game Minecraft. The three-dimensional image took shape on the computer screen, in one of many new apps that lets user customize their games with a camera with an Intel chip called RealSense.

“It looks at things in the visual spectrum⁴ as well as in the infrared⁵ spectrum,” said Mark Day, chief executive of the company voidALPHA, which developed the app Minescan.

“It's bouncing infrared [light] off, which is what gives things the volume. You could scan your face. You can scan toys, just pretty much any object,” said Day.

Immersive art

Spatial modeling can be used to create 3-D images of people, in this case, using a laser to etch a portrait inside a block of glass. Nearby, a woman raises a tablet computer slowly and moves it above and around a man's head to gather the data for the portrait. The man's image takes shape in three dimensions on the screen, and a laser engraver⁶ creates the artwork.

Viktor Erukhimov of the company Itseez3D, with offices in Russia and California, said his tablet-based software lets users put themselves into games.

“I have a video of myself doing some soccer moves I would never be able to do myself,” he said.

Another app lets musicians play virtual instruments by moving their arms through the air. A man waves and twists his hands to create a tune⁷ on a synthesizer, as a mechanical stringed instrument adds to the music.

Magic mirror

Yet another device, called a Memory Mirror, helps customers decide what clothes to buy as they pose in front of a smart display.

Nadav Neufeld of the company MemoMi says it can sense the person's position and shape, “and change the color of whatever you're wearing, without you needing to actually change the color itself.”

The Memory Mirror is now being used in several San Francisco branches of a department store.

Intel's Natalie Cheung says a RealSense camera helps drones maneuver⁸ through obstacles while flying at high speed.

“It can detect objects at a certain distance and “talk” to the autopilot on the drone,” Cheung explains, “and say, hey, you need to move away. The object is getting closer.”

The same system is helping⁹ robots make deliveries to hotel rooms, and several autonomous¹⁰ robots from a company called Savioke are being used at hotels in San Francisco.

Developers at this forum¹¹ are working on other apps and high-tech¹² products, ranging from the whimsical – a small flying camera – to more practical scanners that workers wear on their gloves to track factory inventory¹³, that are now or may soon be on the market.

1 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

2 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

3 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

4 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

5 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

6 engraver   

n.雕刻师，雕工

参考例句：

• He was a sketcher and a copper-plate engraver. 他也是杰出的素描家和铜版画家。 来自辞典例句
• He was once an engraver in a printing factory. 他以前是印刷厂的一名刻工。 来自互联网

7 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

8 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

11 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

12 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

13 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。