Japanese scientist Masatoshi Ishikawa develops technology that allows manipulation of 3-D imagery

Japanese scientist Masatoshi Ishikawa, a creative Roboprof at the University of Tokyo, and a U.S. company has jointly developed a special package of glasses and a camera that allows users to manipulate computer-generated 3-D virtual reality images with their hands. The system uses eyeglasses with polarized light filters similar to those used to view 3-D movies in conjunction with a high-speed processing camera.

The high-speed camera captures the motions of the hand, which are then projected in such a way as to make the user feel like he or she is actually moving the 3-D image. The camera is so fast, it only takes 0.027 second to project the movement. The researchers gave a demonstration of their device May 21 in Tokyo. They manipulated a virtual reality heart and dice. The technology can be used in simulation training such as surgery.
Using the special high-speed processing camera, Ishikawa previously developed a rock-paper-scissors robot that always defeated any opponent.