keio university

Many people would probably say their handwriting has suffered the more they use computers to communicate. But imagine trying to exercise your rusty penmanship on letters that have not 1 or 2 strokes but 5, 10, 15, or more.

The Japanese often complain that sending e-mails and texts erodes their skills in writing the thousands of kanji, or Chinese characters, they learn in school. Some are maddeningly complex and, if rarely used, easy to forget.

But brush-painting kanji calligraphy is also a centuries-old art form. Keio University engineering professor Seiichiro Katsura has a way to help preserve it with his Motion Copy System robot. … Read more

Even if you have a dashboard display showing what's behind your car when you back up, it's hard to be 100 percent sure you won't hit something. Or someone. That's why researchers at Japan's Keio University are working on a system that makes the back seat invisible, so to speak.

From the driver's perspective, the back of a car, in this case a Prius, is transparent, thus eliminating blind spots that could conceal hazards. The system is called the "see-through Prius" and it's being showcased this month at the 2012 Digital Content Expo in Tokyo. … Read more

Next time you're tempted to flip someone off, these robotic rings might help you get the message across.

The prototype rings consist of motorized eyes and a mouth. Developers from Japan's Keio University showed them off at Interaction 2012 last month in Tokyo, along with a whack of other nutty notions like cyborg houseplants.

The idea is to promote wearable robots and expand the natural expressive abilities of hands. … Read more

Mad scientists at Keio University's Inami Lab in Yokohama, Japan, are set to unleash cyborg houseplants on the world.

Shown off at the recent Interaction 2012 in Tokyo, the "interactive plants" can move their branches in response to people moving around them.

As seen in the video below, they've been rigged with motion sensors, microphones, actuators, and wires, which make their leaves sway when someone approaches. The mechanism is hardly visible, making it seem like the plants are trying to give you a high-five out of their own free will. … Read more

When "Star Wars" projected a hologram of Princess Leia in 1977, lots of viewers surely dreamed that the technology could one day become real.

Some 34 years later, Japanese display company Burton is working on something akin to George Lucas' vision with a projector that focuses laser light into moving 3D shapes capable of being displayed in air or under water.

If this technology continues to advance, we could one day have 3D experiences without the need for glasses or even a screen. To create the effect, focused laser light excites the naturally occurring oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the air, otherwise known as plasma excitation.

The current prototype can manifest up to 50,000 points of light at 10-15 frames per second, while efforts are already underway to improve that to a film-like 24-30fps. Those cringing at the Unix-esque green scheme can be rest assured this 3D display is not limited to just green: the traditional red, green, and blue color mix can be combined to create full-color 3D moving images. … Read more

While humanoid robots in the U.S. are helping paralyzed patients regain some independence, a Japanese firm has released a Twitter client for iPad that lets people tweet simply by breathing.

TechFirm's Breath Bird is a free app that works as a simple pointing device for people who can't use their hands or fingers.

The software was developed in collaboration with Keio University in Tokyo and other partners. It's linked to a Twitter account and displays the timeline to the left of a grid of letters in the English version or hiragana characters in the Japanese version.

A moving cursor slowly highlights rows of letters one at a time. The user breathes into a microphone headset to make selections.

When the user blows into the mic, the row will be selected. Next, individual letters will be highlighted in turn, and are selected by blowing into the mic. Finally, a "tweet" function can be selected to send out the message.

The process takes time, but it seems to be quicker than Guger Technologies' EEG skullcap that lets you type just by thinking. … Read more

Japan's Keio University has seen the future of touch interfaces, and it looks to be disposable. A research group at the school has its finger on a touch interface that uses paper as the point of contact. You could one day touch a museum ticket to the curved display, for example, to learn more about a piece of artwork.

What's more, because it uses shape deformations, the display can be operated by blowing or shaking rather than actual touch. A projector and camera create active 3D images, so the processing speed is fast, and input is immediately returned as output.

But don't take our word for it. Check out the paper interface in action in the video below. … Read more