India-born digital geek develops MIT's 'Sixth Sense'
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 19:50 IST   |    15 Comments
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New Delhi: An Indian digital geek is conjuring a new tech called 'Sixth Sense', which has aroused a lot of interest among the IT giants like Microsoft, Google, Hewlett Packard and Samsung. Developed by India-born Pranav Mistry, a researcher at the Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the MIT patented device is a pendant-like mobile which is bundled with a pocket projector, mirror and web camera. "Many CEOs of small Indian companies, including some pharma companies from Hyderabad, have evinced interest in my project. I don't understand how companies work, but I would want to make the prototype cheaper for India," Mistry told Business Standard. He also maintains that the device could be used by anyone without the basic knowledge on keyboards or mouse. The webcam and color-coded finger-gloves worn on the index finger and thumb can recognize the movements of a user's hands, which enables gesture-commands. For instance, fathoming a gesture of a 'square frame' the device will click a photo, and users can also stop by any surface or wall and flick through the photos they have clicked. "The possibilities are immense but it's a work in progress," said Mistry. He admits that the device comes under the ambit of wearable computing like the cellphone but the information is not confined to paper or digitally on a screen rather it communicates. Building the technology has cost around $350 (around Rs 17,500). Adhering to its name, the device displays its sixth sense by recognizing a book the user selects from a bookstore, either by image recognition or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and project information, like an Amazon rating. The device also projects a keyboard to type on, detect items on grocery shelves and compare online prices.

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