iSTAR camera takes 360 degree images in the click of a button

Scottish company NCTech has created an all in one 50 megapixel camera that's designed to make 360 panoramic photography quick and easy to achieve. A flexible system in terms of use, the iSTAR combines ingenuity with an ability to generate high quality and information rich results.

The elongated field of view obtained from panoramas can be put to use for multiple applications. This is seen in sectors like mining where 360 panoramas are used for open pit mine or tunnel analysis, as well as in the film industry for the production of special effects.

NCTech commercial director, Alex Eachus, emphasizes that the iSTAR is "the first 360 degree camera with the power to process its images internally, with no need for a computer to complete post-production processing or stitching."

Since 2006, products like Gigapan and Microsoft’s Image Composite Editorhave popularized the 360 panorama - making the process easier and the type of images used more accessible to casual and general audiences.

The NCTech iSTAR, however, takes this 360 degree revolution one step further. It provides a system capable of obtaining accurate GPS information and High Dynamic Range imaging for spatially oriented, exposure perfect photography - all in the touch of a button. It also boasts a host of additional functionalities like full color touch screen, Wi-Fi connectivity and USB/SD card output.

A provisional starting price around £5000 (US$7,900) has been given ahead of an expected release in Q3 2012.

Two models are on offer - FUSION and PULSAR - with the latter packing additional capabilities such as speed and time saving features, an enhanced user interface and direct output to HDMI.

NCTech iSTAR key features

• Fully automatic, no setup and no PC required
• Monitors and records a location remotely in full 360 degree coverage
• Rugged, waterproof and highly portable 10cm3
• Open file format output
• Integrated Wi-Fi, GPS, compass and tilt sensor
• Live spherical video preview
• Easy to carry and deploy in various environments and conditions
• Integrates with existing software applications and systems
• Captures remote GPS and digital compass tagged images

Source: NCTech

Seoul National University develops inexpensive, super sensitive electronic skin

The quest to give robots touch-sensitive artificial skin and develop medical prostheses with a sense of touch has shown much promise in recent years. The latest promising development comes out of Seoul National University's Multiscale Biomimetic Systems Laboratory where researchers have created a new biomimetic “electronic skin” that is inexpensive, yet sensitive enough to “feel” a drop of water.

Biomimetics is the school engineering that builds machines by imitating nature. Sometimes it’s something obvious, such as an ornithopter that flaps its wings like a bird. Some are less obvious, like hooks on a seed burr inspiring Velcro. Then there is Seoul National University’s approach of imitating the microscopic cilia found in ears, intestines and kidneys to create a touch-sensitive electromechanical skin that can detect something as light as a human pulse or a lady beetle walking across it.

The electronic skin is essentially a skin-like polymer that uses nanotechnology to incorporate a vast number of microscopic strain gauges. Compared to similar sensors, the design is very simple, yet extremely sensitive. The skin is actually two layers of polyurethane acrylate. The inner surface where the two layers meet is coated with the silicone polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Sticking like hairs out of the PDMS is a forest of polymer nanofibers 100 nanometers in diameter (by comparison, a human hair is 60,000 nanometers in diameter) and 1,000 nanometers tall, which are coated with platinum.

The idea is that as the nanofibers mesh together they allow electrical currents to pass between the two layers. The nanofibers act like little potentiometers and they way that they mesh, rub or bend against one another alters the amount of current passed in that part of the skin. Touching pushing or twisting the skin places different kinds of strain on it, which the nanofibers detect and results in different electrical resistance patterns.

In this way, the skin can “feel” pressure, shear forces and torsion with great sensitivity. Furthermore, it can do this over and over again for up to 10,000 cycles, making this a very durable system. Additionally, unlike other touch sensors, such as those based on graphene, the nanofibers can detect strain in more than one direction.

It’s also very cheap to produce. According to the researchers the skin has no complex integrated nanomaterial assemblies or layered arrays. This means that the skin can be manufactured without costly manufacturing processes or exotic materials.

Sources: IEEE Spectrum Nature