Robotic Total Station, Scanner and Digital Cameras. The new Topcon Imaging Station has it all! The newest addition to Topcon's robotic total station series-the Topcon Imaging Station -- now offers the added productivity and versatility of integrated digital imaging, a world's first technology Topcon introduced in 2005 with its GPT-7000i total station.

Full Encyclopedia Britannica Page

In 2002 Ratti established the design office carlorattiassociati – Walter Nicolino and Carlo Ratti in Torino, Italy. The office was selected at the 2004 Venice Biennale as one of the top Italian practices. In May 2007 the office presented a design for a pavilion featuring walls made of "digital water" at the entrance to the 2008 International Exhibition in Zaragoza, Spain. Their Digital Water Pavilion, chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the Best Inventions of 2007, was unveiled at its official opening on June 12, 2008, at Expo 2008.

Full Wikipedia Page on designer Carlo Ratti

Blog

The user interface (also known as human computer interface or man-machine interface (MMI)) is the aggregate of means by which people—the users—interact with the system—a particular machine, device, computer program or other complex tool. The user interface provides means of:

Full Wikipedia Page

Blog

Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture, or colour to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.

Full Wikipedia Article

Blog

More Than A Sum of Parts

Photosynth is a software application from Microsoft Live Labs and the University of Washington that analyzes digital photographs and generates a three-dimensional model of the photos and a point cloud of a photographed object.^[1] Pattern recognition components compare portions of images to create points, which are then compared to convert the image into a model. Users are able to view and generate their own models using a software tool available for download at the Photosynth website.

Full Wikipedia Page

BLOG

You have to see this to believe it...

Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is an ancient concept recently returning to scientific thought that examines nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements— and emulates or takes inspiration from them to solve human problems sustainably. Scientific and engineering literature often uses the term Biomimetics for the process of understanding and applying biological principles to human designs. This includes biomaterials, biomechanics, biological systems composed of individuals of one species (e.g., schools, herds and swarms), or multispecies ensembles.

-Wikipedia (full link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimicry)

Blog: http://news.mongabay.com/news-index/biomimicry1.html


The field of biomimicry is a growing field of study that has yielded some of the most fascinating innovations I have personally seen ("innovation" may be a strong word since its actually mimicry). It may seem like common sense to turn to mother nature for ideas about design, but it seems that only now in recent times has man had the depth of understanding to unlock how nature works. Nature's structures are the restult of millions of years of evolution. Only the most effective organisms have stood the test of time. Our technology that we have invented along our own guidelines has served well, but to find the true genius designers we must first get over ourselves, for lack of a better phrase, and humbly recognize that many of the processes we try to perfect for ourselves has been childs play for mother nature. Today, there is a high level of awareness of our inability to coexist with the natural world. Perhaps by copying the processes of nature we can learn to better integrate ourselves into the biosphere around us instead of having to resuscitate our planet like a hospital patient on life support.

Emotional Robots

Emotional Intelligence (EI) describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.^[1] Different models have been proposed for the definition of EI and disagreement exists as to how the term should be used.^[2] Despite these disagreements, which are often highly technical, the ability EI and trait EI models (but not the mixed models) enjoy support in the literature and have successful applications in different domains.

-Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence)


^{I know, I know..... AI is not exactly a new concept these days, but the level of "realism" AI is approaching is becoming impressive. The daunting complexity of creating a truly "intelligent" machine makes AI a field of study that has virtually infinite room to grow. Emotion is a human phenomenon that we are still trying to fully understand because it stems from our deep comprehension and contemplation of the world around us. Our past experiences allow us to empathize with one another's emotional states. The fact that AI is approaching a level of emotion shows not only that we are closer to understanding our own emotions, but that we are coming closer to creating an artificial "thinking" mind. We are already capable of making machines with an effective but very linear system of reasoning, but perhaps one day we can program an AI that can "calculate" things such as ethics or aesthetics even better than humans.}