Reach into the computer and grab a pixel
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0:00 - 0:03Throughout the history of computers
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0:03 - 0:06we've been striving to shorten the gap between us
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0:06 - 0:08and digital information,
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0:08 - 0:10the gap between our physical world
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0:10 - 0:12and the world in the screen
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0:12 - 0:14where our imagination can go wild.
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0:14 - 0:18And this gap has become shorter,
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0:18 - 0:21shorter, and even shorter,
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0:21 - 0:23and now this gap is shortened down
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0:23 - 0:24to less than a millimeter,
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0:24 - 0:26the thickness of a touch-screen glass,
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0:26 - 0:27and the power of computing
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0:27 - 0:32has become accessible to everyone.
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0:32 - 0:37But I wondered, what if there could be no boundary at all?
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0:37 - 0:41I started to imagine what this would look like.
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0:41 - 0:44First, I created this tool
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0:44 - 0:46which penetrates into the digital space,
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0:46 - 0:48so when you press it hard on the screen,
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0:48 - 0:51it transfers its physical body into pixels.
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0:51 - 0:54Designers can materialize their ideas
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0:54 - 0:55directly in 3D,
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0:55 - 0:58and surgeons can practice on virtual organs
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0:58 - 1:00underneath the screen.
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1:00 - 1:05So with this tool, this boundary has been broken.
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1:05 - 1:08But our two hands still remain outside the screen.
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1:08 - 1:10How can you reach inside and interact
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1:10 - 1:12with the digital information
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1:12 - 1:15using the full dexterity of our hands?
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1:15 - 1:17At Microsoft Applied Sciences,
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1:17 - 1:19along with my mentor Cati Boulanger,
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1:19 - 1:20I redesigned the computer
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1:20 - 1:23and turned a little space above the keyboard
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1:23 - 1:26into a digital workspace.
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1:26 - 1:28By combining a transparent display and depth cameras
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1:28 - 1:30for sensing your fingers and face,
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1:30 - 1:32now you can lift up your hands from the keyboard
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1:32 - 1:35and reach inside this 3D space
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1:35 - 1:37and grab pixels with your bare hands.
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1:37 - 1:40(Applause)
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1:40 - 1:45Because windows and files have a position in the real space,
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1:45 - 1:48selecting them is as easy as grabbing a book off your shelf.
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1:48 - 1:50Then you can flip through this book
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1:50 - 1:52while highlighting the lines, words
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1:52 - 1:54on the virtual touch pad below each floating window.
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1:54 - 1:57Architects can stretch or rotate the models
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1:57 - 1:59with their two hands directly.
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1:59 - 2:01So in these examples,
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2:01 - 2:04we are reaching into the digital world.
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2:04 - 2:06But how about reversing its role
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2:06 - 2:11and having the digital information reach us instead?
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2:11 - 2:13I'm sure many of us have had the experience
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2:13 - 2:15of buying and returning items online.
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2:15 - 2:17But now you don't have to worry about it.
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2:17 - 2:22What I got here is an online augmented fitting room.
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2:22 - 2:23This is a view that you get from
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2:23 - 2:25head-mounted or see-through display
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2:25 - 2:30when the system understands the geometry of your body.
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2:30 - 2:34Taking this idea further, I started to think,
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2:34 - 2:37instead of just seeing these pixels in our space,
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2:37 - 2:39how can we make it physical
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2:39 - 2:43so that we can touch and feel it?
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2:43 - 2:46What would such a future look like?
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2:46 - 2:50At MIT Media Lab, along with my advisor Hiroshi Ishii
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2:50 - 2:52and my collaborator Rehmi Post,
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2:52 - 2:55we created this one physical pixel.
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2:55 - 2:58Well, in this case, this spherical magnet
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2:58 - 3:00acts like a 3D pixel in our space,
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3:00 - 3:03which means that both computers and people
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3:03 - 3:05can move this object to anywhere
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3:05 - 3:07within this little 3D space.
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3:07 - 3:11What we did was essentially canceling gravity
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3:11 - 3:13and controlling the movement by combining
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3:13 - 3:16magnetic levitation and mechanical actuation
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3:16 - 3:18and sensing technologies.
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3:18 - 3:21And by digitally programming the object,
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3:21 - 3:23we are liberating the object from constraints
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3:23 - 3:27of time and space, which means that now,
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3:27 - 3:31human motions can be recorded and played back
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3:31 - 3:34and left permanently in the physical world.
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3:34 - 3:37So choreography can be taught physically over distance
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3:37 - 3:40and Michael Jordan's famous shooting can be replicated
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3:40 - 3:43over and over as a physical reality.
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3:43 - 3:46Students can use this as a tool
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3:46 - 3:48to learn about the complex concepts
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3:48 - 3:52such as planetary motion, physics,
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3:52 - 3:54and unlike computer screens or textbooks,
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3:54 - 3:57this is a real, tangible experience
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3:57 - 4:01that you can touch and feel, and it's very powerful.
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4:01 - 4:03And what's more exciting
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4:03 - 4:06than just turning what's currently in the computer physical
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4:06 - 4:09is to start imagining how programming the world
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4:09 - 4:13will alter even our daily physical activities.
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4:15 - 4:17(Laughter)
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4:17 - 4:20As you can see, the digital information
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4:20 - 4:22will not just show us something
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4:22 - 4:24but it will start directly acting upon us
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4:24 - 4:26as a part of our physical surroundings
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4:26 - 4:30without disconnecting ourselves from our world.
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4:30 - 4:35Today, we started by talking about the boundary,
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4:35 - 4:37but if we remove this boundary,
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4:37 - 4:41the only boundary left is our imagination.
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4:41 - 4:42Thank you.
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4:42 - 4:48(Applause)
- Title:
- Reach into the computer and grab a pixel
- Speaker:
- Jinha Lee
- Description:
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The border between our physical world and the digital information surrounding us has been getting thinner and thinner. Designer and engineer Jinha Lee wants to dissolve it altogether. As he demonstrates in this short, gasp-inducing talk, his ideas include a pen that penetrates into a screen to draw 3D models and a computer desktop prototype that lets you reach through the screen to manipulate digital objects.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:07
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for Reach into the computer and grab a pixel |