Dance Dome?!

Dance Dome!

• If you love to dance, but fear that your partner might step on your toes, then a new virtual, computer-controlled dancer might be for you. This virtual dancer may even teach you some new moves when you tango with it. 
• The computer-generated dancer, dubbed virtual artificial intelligence, is the brainchild of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
• Once the human dancer responds to the VAI's moves, the virtual dancer responds again, making an impromptu dance with its deft artificial intelligence.
• The project, called LuminAI, uses Microsoft Kinect devices to capture the person's movements.
•  These dance moves are then projected as a digitally enhanced silhouette on the dome's white, screened walls. 
• Once the dancing starts, a brightly outlined virtual dancer appears next to them on the projection panels, the researchers said.
• A computer dissects the person's moves, and, based on its memory of previous dances, decides the next move for the virtual dancer. 
• So, the more the VAI dances with real people, the better its moves become.

UFO Home Concept??!!

UFO HOME

• While you can always head for the hills to wait out the apocalypse, a more stylish option could be a fully sustainable floating home from Italian mini yacht-maker Jet Capsule. The company has drawn up a concept for a saucer-shaped UFO, or Unidentified Floating Object, which offers a completely off-grid existence floating on the ocean.

• According to the company's co-founders, Pierpaolo Lazzarini and Luca Solla, the UFO is intended for "living in a floating house and moving slowly around the world." "Slowly" in this case means a leisurely maximum speed of 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h, 4 mph), using a waterjet-propelled Torqeedo Deep Blue 1800 electric motor.

• Two half-spherical shells of fiberglass make up the two stories of the interior housing, with flexible floor plans for various configurations. Generally, the orb-shaped home will consist of a transformable kitchen and dining/living area on a 20-sq. m (215-sq. ft.) top level, with stairs leading down to a 10-sq. m (107-sq. ft.) submerged lower level with bathroom and bedroom surrounded by a large window for viewing sea life.

Modular seating system shifts its shape for custom comfort

Designed by Carlo Ratti Associati, in partnership with Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra, the Lift-Bit is described as an "internet-of-things sofa." It comprises individual upholstered stools that combine together to form a digitally-reconfigurable piece of furniture.

Smartphone Light = 3D Printing?

Light Hardens 3D Prints

• OLO is designed to be simple, consisting of three plastic pieces, one chip, and one motor, all operated by four AA batteries.
•  Measuring 6.8 x 4.5 x 5.8 in (17.2 x 11.5 x 14.8 cm) and weighing 1.7 lb. 
• This device is compact and light enough to fit in satchels or backpacks.
• Once an object has been loaded on the OLO mobile app, users then place the smartphone – even the large iPhone 6S+ will fit – into the base. 
• The resin chamber, which offers 400 cubic cm of printing volume, rests directly above to hold the desired resin of choice. Set the top piece in place for a complete seal, and OLO will be prepped for printing.
• The OLO smartphone 3D printer is currently funding on Kickstarter, having raised 507 percent of its US $80,000 goal in under two days, with another 28 days left to go. 
• Pledges start at $99 for one OLO 3D printer with one resin bottle and a sticker set. Optional accessories and extra packs of resin can be added for an additional amount.

HTC VIVE

HTC VIVE NOW WITH LIGHTSABER?

• This VR-centric week at GDC 2016 we couldn't live with ourselves if we left out the HTC Vive, which may be the most mesmerizing of the bunch. 
• The Oculus Rift looks like an awesome VR headset, but you could say the exact same thing about the Vive. 
• The Vive's experience has only gotten better since our first trip into its magical worlds last year. 
•  A full game like Hover Jumper shows off the Vive better than anything.
• All the demos used the system's excellent motion controllers and room-scale tracking to make you feel like you're really in those places.
• Right now you can get your body into Vive content more than any other VR system. 
• The Vive is the one that feels less like a video game machine and more like a magical teleporting machine.

Bionic Fingertip?!

Bionic Fingertip

• An amputee for the first time can feel rough and smooth textures in real-time, as though the fingertip were naturally connected to his hand.
• Researchers connected a postage-stamp-size artificial fingertip to electrodes surgically implanted to nerves.
• Researchers have already integrated the new fingertip into a prosthetic hand. 
• Currently, the fingertip can discern textures on a millimeter scale
• They have developed an artificial fingertip that can discriminate such fine textures, and they hope to have patients test it on items such as clothes.

Spherical Tire?!

Spherical Tire, Eagle 360

• Goodyear has two concept tires designed for cars of tomorrow including a spherical tire that allow cars to drive sideways and one that can sense road conditions and adapt to them. 
• This is a spherical tire that's linked to the car by magnetic levitation rather than axles, so it can rotate on any axis in any direction.
•  The Eagle-360 has embedded sensors that allow the tires to assess the local environment and communicate with other vehicles or the local traffic control system. 
• Even the tread is advanced, with a 3D-printed bio mimetic design that imitates the pattern of brain coral.
• According to Goodyear, this allows the tread to act like a natural sponge , so it stiffens in dry conditions and softens in the wet to reduce aquaplaning and improve handling.