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On Tech Brief today: Put away your fat pants, virtual drug dens and the robot bear that tries to heal your brain.
• It has often been said that the camera adds pounds to its subject. Not any more, , who writes about the Movie Reshape program that can alter the morphology of people in films:
"The software builds on existing programs that track an actor's silhouette through a scene, mapping the body into a morphable model. Using the compiled 3D scans, the program can create realistic-looking and moving body parts to the programmer's specifications. The more dramatic the alteration, the more noticeable it may be against a constant background, but in a survey of 30 viewers, none reported the distortions to be distracting."
• More virtual-is-real shenanigans via addiction researchers at UCLA. to build a virtual meth house - "the everyday life experiences faced by stimulant addicts" - and let addicts have their avatars wander through to see if virtual cravings match the real deal:
"Their heart rates and blood pressures were measured, they were allowed to click on pipes and syringes if/when they wanted to use, and they self-reported on their levels of craving."
The researchers are doing more than just making a home-from-home for addicts:
"[T]he next step is to record and analyze more participant behavior within the virtual meth house so that they can design treatments that help avoid and/or overcome the strongest temptations to use again."
• If meth is not your thing, perhaps SUVs are. that has a novel web element:
"Using a combination of remote control software and hardware and a unique system interface, participants will be able to take an actual 2011 Outlander Sport for a virtual spin on a closed course from their personal computers."
• One way in which the virtual has become real is in the therapeutic robot bear developed by Fujistu and shown off at the Ceatec show. :
"Fujitsu's 'social robot teddy bear' has but one goal in life: to provide interactive comfort for demented old folks. To aid in that noble mission, he's equipped with an arsenal of sensors and motors beneath his cozy, furry coat, plus a synthesizer with the voice of a five-year-old boy and a nose-mounted camera capable of recognizing a human face."
Early results, suggests Fujitsu, are good:
"...the salubrious effects of the cuddly robo-companions are measurable. Testing has shown that after playing with the cute li'l guys, test subjects showed increased autonomic and lowered sympathetic nerve activity, which improved the subjects' ability to resist stress and to relax."
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