Fall/Winter 2007-2008
 

What's all this about Object-Based Media, anyway?

We conduct research into the future of electronic visual communication and expression, and ways to make a richer connection among the people at the ends of the system, whether a broadcast system or a peer-to-peer environment. To enable this to happen, we use content descriptions in terms of objects and procedural metadata telling how to assemble the objects. Part of our research looks at ways of "understanding" content as part of its capture, and another part looks at the kinds of tools and content that such representations enable. We also develop hardware and software technologies to support the requirements of such a scenario, with a particular focus on self-organization among smart devices.

UROP OPENING: The Object-Based Media group at the Media Lab is usually looking for undergraduates with experience in image processing, OpenGL, RF electronics, PC board design, optics, or user interfaces. Contact Michael Bove, vmb (at) media (dot) mit (dot) edu

Current Research Projects

Connectibles

The Connectibles system is a peer-to-peer, serverless social networking system implemented as a set of tangible, exchangeable tokens. Read more...

The "Bar of Soap": Grasp-Based Interfaces for Reconfigurable Devices

The "Bar of Soap" is a hand-held device that can detect the finger-touch pattern on its surface and determine its desired operational mode (e.g. camera, phone, remote control) based on how the user is grasping it. More information coming soon.

Holographic Video on your PC

Holographic video work previously done in the Spatial Imaging Group (using computing hardware developed by the Object-Based Media Group) has now moved to our lab. Recent results include development of real-time rendering methods for driving the holographic video display from off-the-shelf PC video cards using OpenGL; we are now developing electro-optics for an inexpensive holovideo deskop monitor for a standard PC.
D. E. Smalley, Q. Y. J. Smithwick, and V. M. Bove, Jr., "Holographic Video Display Based on Guided-Wave Acousto-Optic Devices," Proc. SPIE Practical Holography XXI, v. 6488, 2007.

Metarchivist

Metarchivist is a virtual environment for organizing and browsing documents and other content. It seeks to provide a seamless space for both browsing content and visualizing high-level relationships among resources. More information coming soon.

Collaborating Input-Output Ecosystems

The Smart Architectural Surfaces system is one of several platforms we have developed for exploring group-forming protocols for self-organized collaborative problem solving by intelligent sensing devices. It's also a platform we use for experiments in ecosystems of networked consumer electronic products.

Read about smart sensors:
V. M. Bove, Jr. and J. Mallett, "Collaborative Knowledge Building by Smart Sensors," BT Technology Journal, 22:4, Oct. 2004.

Read how SAS tiles (and other devices like phones or PDAs) can figure out their locations using sound:
B. C. Dalton and V. M. Bove, Jr., "Audio-Based Self-Localization for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks," Proc. 118th Audio Engineering Society Convention, 2005.

Classic Favorites

As featured on Good Morning America, Jay Leno's monologue, and in the comic strip Sylvia...

Yes, we (Gauri, to be specific) were responsible for Clocky, the alarm clock that hides when the user presses the snooze button. Read more...

BYOB (Build Your Own Bag)

BYOB is a computationally enhanced modular textile system that makes available a new material from which to construct "smart" fabric objects (bags, furniture, clothing). The small modular elements are flexible, networked, input/output capable, and interlock with other modules in a reconfigurable way. The object built out of the elements is capable of communicating with people and other objects, and of responding to its environment. Read more...

Personal Projectors

The Personal Projection project is looking to add video projection capabilities to very small devices without adding appreciably to their cost, form factor, or power consumption. One experiment involved the use of VCSEL arrays:
V. Michael Bove, Jr. and Wilfrido Sierra, "Personal Projection, or How to Put a Large Screen in a Small Device" Proc. SID 2003.

Isis, a scripting language for responsive, distributed media applications (and it's free!)

Named after the Egyptian goddess of fertility, Isis is tailored in a number of ways -- both in syntax and in internal operation -- to support the development of demanding responsive media applications. Isis is a "lean and mean" programming environment, appropriate for research and laboratory situations. Isis software libraries strive to follow a "multilevel" design strategy, consisting of multiple interoperable layers that each offer a different level of abstraction of a particular kind of functionality but that also use the same core language elements as a basis. The small yet complete syntax fosters collaboration by lessening the burden on novices while still allowing experienced programmers to take full advantage of their skills. Isis also provides an efficient mechanism for extending functionality by accessing software libraries written in other languages. The Isis Web site gives a complete manual on the language, and more importantly it links to many different projects that use Isis.

Isis is now available for free download under the GNU GPL (though certain libraries and applications are made available only to our sponsors and collaborators).

The application of Isis to personalized television:
Stefan Agamanolis and V. Michael Bove, Jr., "Viper: A Framework for Responsive Television," IEEE MultiMedia, 10:3, July-Sept. 2003.

iCom, an Isis application for linking distributed workspaces

Hypervideo TV programs prototyped using Isis: V. Michael Bove, Jr., Jonathan Dakss, Edmond Chalom, and Stefan Agamanolis, "Hyperlinked Video Research at the MIT Media Laboratory," IBM Systems Journal, v. 39, no. 3-4, 2000.

Links