

ZeroN system holds a ball wherever you place it, in mid-air - polymathist
http://www.gizmag.com/zeron-levitates-magnetic-ball/22482/

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pwang
Oh, they do this with classical electromagnets and computer vision. Lame.

I thought this was going to be a quantum spin locking demo at large distances
(>10cm):
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ws6AAhTw7RA)

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sneak
Facebook was just another PHP/MySQL CRUD web app. Lame.

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ww520
If the electromagnet can hold the metal ball in mid-air with precision, it can
move it around in mid-air in a controlled manner. That can have a lot of
applications. Something as simple as raising the phone to my hand when my palm
hovers on top of it, or assembly something in mid-air in a controlled manner.

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hexagonal
The magnet can only make the target closer to it, and has a fairly short
range.

So to lift your phone into your hand, it would have to be positioned over your
phone, and within six inches of it.

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chubot
Found some related projects: <http://www.leejinha.com/Beyond> This is quite
clever. It's a input device that exists halfway between physical and virtual
space.

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dsirijus
This is the reason this guy works at MIT and not Apple.

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postscapes1
Source: <http://www.leejinha.com/zeron>

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Falling3
Finally! Pong IRL!

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ktizo
Makes me think of Arthur Clarke's laws of prediction.

 _When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is
impossible, he is very probably wrong.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little
way past them into the impossible.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic._

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polymathist
I particularly like that quote about magic. I'm curious to see if this
technology will just be a novelty or wether it will actually lead to the
creation of some more sophisticated tactile UIs.

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hesselink
The quote is from Arthur C. Clarke [1].

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws>

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planetguy
_the technology has many potential applications. Using the side-mounted
projector, for instance, images can be projected onto the surface of the
ZeroN. They will not only stay with it through 3D space, but will also rotate
with it as it spins in place. This feature could allow it to be labelled, then
used to help visualize physics problems – instead of simply thinking the
problems through or looking at two-dimensional computer models, physicists
could actually reach in and manipulate models of objects such as electrons by
hand_

Nice try, but I think we can file this under the heading "solutions looking
really hard for problems".

Things I have never, ever heard anyone say: "Man, this problem would be _so_
much easier to visualize if only I had a bunch of metal balls suspended in
mid-air".

Don't get me wrong, it would be kinda cool. But the number of people who'd
actually find it useful enough to justify whatever the cost might be is
probably zero.

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temphn
People do build scale models of construction projects all the time. Might be
interesting to see a scale model assemble itself in three-space on a large
table. Construction is also a big ticket area, so the capital would be
available to fund a better simulation of the construction process than what
you can do on a screen.

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planetguy
Except this thingy can't do any of those things. You've got a single ball
levitating, kept in place by a complicated mechanical system below the deck
which adjusts the position of a bunch of other magnets in real time. You might
be able to scale it up to a couple of magnets, but not to _many_ magnets.

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iRobot
Put a laser on it and give me a light sabre and..

