Filed under: Video Games

We’ve always wanted to try yanking a tablecloth off a table without destroying all of the fancy place settings. Leave it to our experimental friends from the east to tap into our strangest wants. According to Arcade Heroes, a new Japanese arcade game called ‘The Tablecloth Hour’ requires players to pull an actual piece of fabric, which yanks a virtual tablecloth from an onscreen table. Naturally, the object is to pull the cloth with just the right amount of touch and quickness so that the virtual dishes don’t crash to the floor. If you make your way over to Taito Station in Shibuya, Japan to test the console out, feel free to shout, “TA-DA!” for us. [From: Arcade Heroes, via: Oh Gizmo!]

Japanese ‘Tablecloth Hour’ Brings Virtual Yanking to the Arcade (Finally?) originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Computers

Strolling around with your wheelchair-bound loved ones might one day be a whole lot less stressful, thanks to a new robotic wheelchair created in Japan. Designed by researchers at Saitama University‘s Human-Robot Interaction Center, the wheelchair uses distance sensors and built-in cameras to keep track of a pedestrian’s position, allowing the chair to remain on the left-hand side of its targeted companion at all times. As Crunch Gear elaborates, the sensor system is also designed to pick up on the movements of a companion’s shoulders, which enables the chair to predict the direction in which the walker might move.

In the event that a person leads the wheelchair down a narrow hallway, or through similarly treacherous terrain, the sensors will detect any obstacles and navigate the chair accordingly. If, for example, other people are walking toward the couple in a tight space, the chair will automatically follow its companion in single-file. And, because several robo-chairs are capable of following the same person, Saitama’s researchers are hopeful that their brainchild will allow elderly care workers to more efficiently move their patients, and to interact with them more fluidly while doing so. To see the chair in action, check out the video after the break. [From: CrunchGear, via: PopSci]

Continue reading Japanese Robotic Wheelchair Automatically Follows You Around

Japanese Robotic Wheelchair Automatically Follows You Around originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cell Phones, Computers

We’ve all lost a high-tech gadget or two to that most low-tech of the natural elements: water. (Or, in the recent case of this writer’s laptop, coffee.) Always miles ahead of us stateside folk, who have alternately used hair dryers and bowls of quick rice to dry out our devices, the Japanese have implemented the Dryer Box, a sort of clothes dryer for drowned gadgets.

The copy-machine-sized boxes have found homes in several of Tokyo’s Yodobashi Camera retail outlets, and promise that, if they don’t resurrect, they don’t collect. If your phone is among the lucky ones (which will have to do with whether or not the electronics have shorted), you’ll owe 1,000 yen (around $12). And that, dear readers, is a small price to pay when you can avoid telling your friends that you totally forgot your phone was in your pocket when you jumped in the lake. [From: Dryer Box and Wired]

Japan Introduces Gadget Dryer For Soggy Phones, Clumsy Bloggers Rejoice originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers

We’re still waiting for flying cars, laser guns and teleportation devices, but it looks like we can scratch one childhood dream off the list: touchable holograms. According to the NTDTV report posted after the jump, researchers at Japan’s Tokyo University have managed to concoct holograms that not only react to touch, but that also create the sensation of touch, itself. Apparently, and not surprisingly, an integral part of the system is Nintendo’s Wiimote technology, which senses user input. That’s right nerdlings, with this contraption, you could not only talk to that Princess Leia hologram, but you could actually lovingly caress her cinnamon bun-like tresses. If that ain’t progress, we don’t know what is. [From: LiveLeak, via: Billionaire Boys Club]

Continue reading Japanese Researchers Invent Holograms You Can Touch

Japanese Researchers Invent Holograms You Can Touch originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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