A friend of mine shared with me a video from TED talks of Pranav Mistry going over the potential of SixthSense technology. Now you may have to watch the full fourteen minute video to understand my excitement over this technology that is being referenced.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the technology and don’t want to watch the 14 minute video just yet I will go into a bit of detail as to the scope of this technology, I would still highly recommend watching the video though. SixthSense technology as he call it is a device that is worn that can interpret certain objects that are in front of you and provide useful information for you. In one of his examples he holds up a boarding pass and this unit reads the boarding pass and then provides useful information on if the flight is delayed or on time. He also goes into detail to about many other uses in the video and shows examples of the device and software in action.
The biggest thing that got me is at the end of the video when the host of the event that he was speaking at gets back up on the stage with him to answer a few questions as well as ask a few initial questions. One of the questions asked and answered is that about his plans for the project. He states that he is already in talks with several different types of companies that are looking it use it in completely different ways. Then he drops the bombshells saying that the equipment is very cheap and that he is going to open source the code of the application.
He is the type of inventor that I personally look up to. He’s inventing to see his inventions brought to the masses and help improve the lives of anyone that it touches, rather than being in it solely for the money involved. He is one of those people that I would relish the opportunity to sit down and talk to and pick his brain solely for the purpose of learning from him.
I want to just touch briefly on TED. It was only recently that I learned about TED and what it actually is and I have to say that i’m quite impressed. I highly applaud any organization that is out there trying to foster and promoting innovative thinking. I only wish there was more organizations out there like TED as this type of thinking and collaboration is vital to making large technological leaps.
I was also very surprised to hear that he is going open source the project. I think it is great as well that he wants to get the invention out there in the world and see what people can do with it.
Also, the videos on TED are great to watch. I try to watch them regularly, specially if it is something that sparks my interest.