university of tokyo Archive

  • CubeSat XI-V: Japan gets tweeting satellite

    CubeSat XI-V: Japan gets tweeting satellite

    Posted on May 10, 2010 | No Comments
    As if the Akiba Pulse Box (the Twitter heart beat posting device) or the Bowlingual (the iPhone Twitter app for dogs) weren't enough: Japan now boasts the world's first tweeting satellite, the CubeSat XI-V. Developed by the Nakasuka Lab at the University of Tokyo, the pico satellite (four inches) is currently orbiting Earth and keeps posting [JP] various data to its followers on Twitter.

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  • New technology heats up cell phones when callers get agitated

    New technology heats up cell phones when callers get agitated

    Posted on March 11, 2010 | No Comments
    I can't think of too many use cases for this, but they did it: A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo (Japan's MIT if you will) has developed a technology that makes it possible to "physically" convey emotions from cell phone to cell phone. The key elements of the technology are a sensor and a Peltier device that's attached to the back of the phones. Read the rest on CrunchGear.

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  • Hey, Google: Check out this ultra-fast book scanner

    Hey, Google: Check out this ultra-fast book scanner

    Posted on October 14, 2009 | No Comments
    Wikipedia says Google is using a special camera that's able to scan books at a rate of 1,000 pages per hour, which doesn't sound bad at all (I am talking about Google Books of course, the company's online collection of digitized books ). But now a team at the elite University of Tokyo has announced the development of a device that can scan a 1,000-page book in four minutes.

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  • Touchable Holography: New projector lets you “touch” 3D objects with your hands (video)

    Touchable Holography: New projector lets you “touch” 3D objects with your hands (video)

    Posted on August 6, 2009 | No Comments
    Here's some more info on a Sci-Fi dream come true: As if looking at floating images in free space produced by mid-air displays isn't cool enough, a research team from the University of Tokyo now makes it possible to even touch (kind of) those images with a newly developed projector system. The so-called Touch Holography is essentially made of three parts: Provision Interactive Technologies' Holo display, two Wii remote controls to track your hands in front of the display and a tactile display that uses ultrasound to provide tactile sensation onto your hand.

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  • Video: Two robots playing baseball (kind of)

    Video: Two robots playing baseball (kind of)

    Posted on July 24, 2009 | No Comments
    Baseball is a national sports in Japan and so it was just a matter of time for this baseball- and robot-crazy country to invent (industrial) robots that are able to play baseball. The 2-robot team can't run around and doesn't look human, but both machines are able to throw and bat the ball in quite an impressive way.

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