This sounds like it might be a start on the artificial skin that the cyborgs in GitS have. But is it 16^2?
Stanford builds super-stretchy skin sensor out of carbon nanotubes (video)
By Daniel Cooper posted Oct 25th 2011 1:11PM
An artificial skin that senses pressure, pinches and touch sounds like a macguffin from The Outer Limits (the episode "Valerie 23" if we recall correctly), but that's what a team from Stanford University has cooked up on the back of its pick-up truck. Sensors made of silicon films with a matrix of liquid carbon nanotubes ensure the material snaps back to its original shape no matter how frequently it's pulled about. When compressed, the electrical conductivity of the skin changes, and by measuring where and by how much, it knows the location and pressure of where you jab your fingers. The team wants to combine this super stretchy film with a much more sensitive sensor and if it can do it, then the technology could end up as an artificial skin for burn victims, covering prosthetic limbs or even replacing your multitouch display -- just be careful, you might hurt Siri if you pinch-to-zoom her too hard.
If you read the footnotes for the GITS mangas, Masamune stated that cyborg skin basically worked the same way. Lots of tubes used to turn light into electronic signals.
It's interesting that all the basic solutions for this kind of thing sit for decades before the technology advances to a level where they can be applied.
"If I believe I have a ghost, I will." Is this true? That's quite a controversy.
Back in 1990/91 I had a job doing speech recognition and I was able to get 90% recognition. This was after a year of both me training the hardware and the hardware training me (practice makes perfect). The tech has gotten better in the mean time, but catch a cold (or whisper because you're in a 'dicey' situation) and you're still screwed.
Still, if they are even near 90% it's a very promising start. As long as Big Brother doesn't get ahold of this tech and glue a long range antennae on it. Remember the early days security issues with RFID? Supposedly only readable at a range of 6" it turned out that with the addition of a Pringles can as a wave guide you could read them from over 90' away.
From the article:
"The real advance is that it shows we are closing in on the code that the brain uses to give meanings to words,"
Wow, can you say "Universal Translator"? !!!!!!
People tend to look at you a little strangely when they know you stuff voodoo dolls full of Ex-Lax.
This is an odd one. It's sorta like tying in an external sensor. A magnetic tattoo (either with ink or without) to give you notifications. They only talk about cell phone/alarm alerts, but by having this in several places and having different notifications, you could get whole messages I think.
People tend to look at you a little strangely when they know you stuff voodoo dolls full of Ex-Lax.
Researchers develop new plastics that 'bleed' and heal like human skin
By Donald Melanson posted Mar 28th 2012 10:14AM
It looks like plastics may not be something for the squeamish in the not-too-distant future. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi recently revealed a new type of plastic they've been working on that takes its inspiration from human skin -- it "bleeds" red when it's scratched or cut and then heals itself when it's exposed to light. As Popular Science notes, self-healing plastics aren't something entirely new, but the "bleeding" (achieved using small molecular links or "bridges" that break when the plastic is scratched) is, as is the fact that this plastic can heal itself over and over again in the same spot. What's more, as it's made from water-based copolymers, it's also more environmentally-friendly than other plastics. Of course, it's all a ways from being used in actual products, but the researchers see no shortage of possibilities, including everything from self-healing car fenders to aircraft applications that could warn of problems before they get too severe.
People tend to look at you a little strangely when they know you stuff voodoo dolls full of Ex-Lax.
And they resisted making a joke about Italians talking with their hands too!
Here's a new one that is pretty cool http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/29/reco ... eality-at/
Still using it for lame purposes - so you can post to social media about your board jump and then show you who clicks 'Like', but that has all the pieces - external sensors, network connectivity, and autonomous function.
People tend to look at you a little strangely when they know you stuff voodoo dolls full of Ex-Lax.