Smart countertop: A new system features a camera that recognizes objects on a surface, and a projector that surrounds them with interactive information.
Technology Review
A depth-sensing camera and palm-top projector turn an ordinary work surface into an interactive one.
When Ryder Ziola places a bell pepper on the kitchen work surface in front of him, the tabletop springs to life, suggesting recipes and other information. He can also use the work surface like a touch screen, selecting options with a finger--to see, for example, what ingredients might go well with his pepper. Ziola, a graduate student at the University of Washington, developed the system, dubbed Oasis, with researchers at Intel Labs Seattle led by senior scientist Beverly Harrison. Ziola is demonstrating Oasis at the ninth annual Intel Research Day, held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
"If you put, for example, a steak on the surface, it will recognize the steak and come up with recipe," says Ziola. "It may also come up with nutritional information." The camera can also track the motion of a person's hand, and discern when he is touching the surface or not, allowing the surface to be interactive.
A touch with a finger can bring up a timer, or summon up images or video to offer guidance on a particular step in the recipe. When two ingredients are placed on the surface together, Oasis suggests recipes that combine them. Any of the information displayed on the surface can be dismissed by sweeping a hand across the projected images.
Oasis uses a palm-sized "pico-projector" made by Microvision to project images onto the surface. The positioning and recognition of objects is worked out using a depth-perceiving camera made by PrimeSense, the company that supplies sensors to Microsoft's Kinect Xbox gestural controller. Although the camera can be used to recognize objects using their 3-D shape, recognition currently involves only color information. "Being able to sense depth can make recognition easier and more robust," says Ziola, who adds that this feature will eventually be added to the system.
Oasis can rapidly be trained to recognize new objects. When presented with a pack of gum, it took only a few clicks of a mouse to inform the system this was a new object to track. "It really just needs a snapshot of it," says Ziola.
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The technology developed for the "Intuitive" kitchen counter is impressive.
The proposed counter top ideas for use are underwhelming, but that does not diminish the value. I foresee many more applications for this technology.....for a lab or office.
Converting a busy cook's kitchen counter into the home-office "cockpit" where the household can be easily managed has merit, especially if it helps to clear 98% of gadgets and clutter off of the counter, never crashes before the Thanksgiving dinner, and of course, syncs with the cook's blackberry. (Recognizing a green pepper and proposing recipes for it... not so much).
What I am thinking is can the thing detect my kitchen countertop... it has about 50 different items on it. I'm not sure I want recipes for every item mixed with everything - that would be kind of messy.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
National Instruments has gathered customer information and data regarding some of the cost differences between building a custom solution versus using NI off-the-shelf tools. Using this data, we built the Graphical System Design ‘Build vs. Buy’ Calculator. The calculator can help show the financial differences between building a custom solution versus buying an off-the-shelf system. This paper discusses the benefits and drawbacks of both a traditional custom design approach and off-the-shelf embedded tools.
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64 Comments
books
cookbooks are a pain when you're cooking and in the way otherwise. i've got a t.v. on the kitchen wall that takes a feed from my flaptop and displays recipes in godzillion point type, readable from anywhere. this thing would be useful for that as many kitchens haven't the wall space for a t.v.
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