Sixth Sense is a wearable gestural interface developed by Pranav Mistry that allows users to interact with digital information overlaid on the physical world using natural hand gestures. It consists of a camera, projector, and mirror connected to a mobile device. The camera tracks hand gestures while the projector displays additional digital information on surrounding surfaces based on what the camera sees. This bridges the gap between physical and digital worlds by letting users seamlessly access and interact with digital data in the real world through intuitive hand motions.

1. INTRODUCTION<br />Sixth Sense is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.It was developed by Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab.<br />SixthSense bridges the gap by bringing intangible, digital information out into the tangible world, and allowing us to interact with this information via natural hand.SixthSense comprises a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera. The hardware components are coupled in a pendant like mobile wearable device.<br />All of us are aware of the five basic senses – seeing, feeling, smelling, tasting and hearing. But there is also another sense called the sixth sense. It is basically a connection to something greater than what their physical senses are able to perceive. To a layman, it would be something supernatural. Some might just consider it to be a superstition or something psychological. But the invention of sixth sense technology has completely shocked the world. Although it is not widely known as of now but the time is not far when this technology will change our perception of the world.<br />Pranav Mistry, 28 year old, of Indian origin is the mastermind behind the sixth sense technology. He invented ‘ Sixth Sense / WUW ( Wear UR World) ‘ which is a wearable gestural , user friendly interface which links the physical world around us with digital information and uses hand gestures to interact with them. He is a PhD student at MIT and he won the ‘Invention of the Year 2009 ‘- by Popular Science. The device sees what we see but it lets out information that we want to know while viewing the object. It can project information on any surface, be it a wall, table or any other object and uses hand / arm movements to help us interact with the projected information. The device brings us closer to reality and assists us in making right decisions by providing the relevant information, thereby, making the entire world a computer.<br />The Sixth Sense prototype consists of a pocket projector, mirror and a camera. The device is pendant shaped like mobile wearing devices. Both the projector and the camera are connected to the mobile computing device in the user’s pocket. The projector projects visual information enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects around us to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognizes and tracks user’s hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques. The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tip of the user’s fingers using simple computer-vision techniques. It also supports multi touch and multi user interaction.<br />The device has a huge number of applications. Firstly, it is portable and easily to carry as you can wear it in your neck. The drawing application lets user draw on any surface by observing the movement of index finger. Mapping can also be done anywhere with the features of zooming in or zooming out. The camera also helps user to take pictures of the scene he is viewing and later he can arrange them on any surface. That’s not it. Some of the more practical uses are reading a newspaper. Imagine reading a newspaper and viewing videos instead of the photos in the paper. Or live sports updates while reading the newspaper. The device can also tell you arrival, departure or delay time of your air plane on your tickets. For book lovers it is nothing less than a blessing. Open any book and you will find the Amazon ratings of the book. To add to it, pick any page and the device gives additional information on the text, comments and lot more add on features. While picking up any good at the grocery store, the user can get to know whether the product is eco friendly or not. To know the time, all one has to do is to just gesture drawing circle on the wrist and there appears a wrist watch. The device serves the purpose of a computer plus saves time spent on searching information. Currently the prototype of the device costs around $350 to build. Still more work is being done on the device and when fully developed, it will definitely revolutionize the world.<br />COMPONENTS <br />The hardware components are coupled in a pendant like mobile wearable device. <br />Camera

2. Projector

3. Mirror

4. Mobile Component

5. Colored Markers <br /> <br />FIG: The above diagram shows the components used in sixth sense technology.<br />Camera <br /> <br /> Captures an object in view and tracks the user’s hand gestures<br /> It sends the data to smart phone<br /> It acts as a digital eye, connecting you to the world of digital information<br />Projector<br />The projector projects visual information enabling surfaces and physical objects to be used as interfaces<br />The project itself contains a battery inside, with 3 hours of battery life.<br />A tiny LED projector displays data sent from the smart phone on any surface in view–object, wall, or person.<br />Mirror<br /> <br /> The usage of the mirror is significant as the projector dangles pointing downwards from the neck. <br />Smart Phone<br /> <br />A Web-enabled smart phone in the user’s pocket processes the video data

6. Other software searches the Web and interprets the hand gestures Color Markers<br /> <br /> <br />It is at the tip of the user’s fingers .<br /> Marking the user’s fingers with red, yellow, green, and blue tape helps the webcam recognize gestures<br />The movements and arrangements of these makers are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces.<br />HOW IT WORKS?<br />Images Pictures GesturesInfo on surfacecaptureSend for processingReflect on desired surfaceProject imageSend Info<br />The hardware that makes Sixth Sense work is a pendant like mobile wearable interface<br />It has a camera, a mirror and a projector and is connected wirelessly to a bluetooth smart phone that can slip comfortably into one’s pocket<br />The camera recognizes individuals, images, pictures, gestures one makes with their hands<br />Information is sent to the Smartphone for processing<br />The downward-facing projector projects the output image on to the mirror<br />Mirror reflects image on to the desired surfaceThus, digital information is freed from its confines and placed in the physical world<br />RELATED TECHNOLOGIES<br />Augmented reality is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer generated imagery.

7. Gesture recognition is a topic in computer science and language technology with the goal of interpreting human gestures via mathematical algorithms.

8. Computer vision is the science and technology of machines that see. It is concerned with the theory behind artificial systems that extract information from images.

9. Radio Frequency Identification is basically an electronic tagging technology that allows the detection, tracking of tags and consequently the objects that they are affixed to.APPLICATIONS<br />Make a call

11. You can use the Sixth Sense to project a keypad onto your hand, then use that virtual keypad to make a call. <br />Call up a map

12. With the map application we can call up the map of our choice and then use thumbs and index fingers to navigate the map <br />Check the time <br />Draw a circle on your wrist to get a virtual watch that gives you the correct time <br />Create multimedia reading experiences <br />Sixth Sense can be programmed to project related videos onto newspaper articles you are reading <br />Drawing application <br />The drawing application lets the user draw on any surface by tracking the fingertip movements of the user’s index finger.<br />Zooming features <br />The user can zoom in or zoom out using intuitive hand movements <br />Get product information Sixth Sense uses image recognition or marker technology to recognize products we pick up, then feeds us information on those products <br /> <br />Get book informationThe system can project Amazon ratings on that book, as well as reviews and other relevant information.<br />Get flight updatesThe system will recognize your boarding pass and let you know whether your flight is on time and if the gate has changed. <br />Feed information on people The system will project relevant information about a person such as what they do, where they work, and so on. <br />Take pictures<br /> <br /> If you fashion your index fingers and thumbs into a square (\"
framing\"
gesture), the system will snap a photo. <br />After taking the desired number of photos, we can project them onto a surface, and use gestures to sort through the photos, and organize and resize them. <br />ADVANTAGES <br />Portable

13. Supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction

14. Connecdedness between world and information

15. Cost effective

16. Data access drectly from machine in real time

17. Mind map the idea anywhere

18. It is an open sourceCONCLUSION <br />Sixth Sense recognizes the objects around us, displaying information automatically and letting us to access it in any way we need

19. The Sixth Sense prototype implements several applications that demonstrate the usefulness, viability and flexibility of the system

20. Allowing us to interact with this information via natural hand gestures

21. The potential of becoming the ultimate "transparent" user interface for accessing information about everything around usREFERENCES <br />http://boingboing.net/2009/11/12/sixth-sense-technolo.html

22. http://gizmodo.com/5167790/sixth-sense-technology-may-change-how-we-look-at-the-world-forever

23. http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

24. http://theviewspaper.net/sixth-sense-technology-will-revolutionize-the-world/

25. http://www.freshcreation.com/entry/sixth_sense_technology/