From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Fri Feb 07 2003 - 14:23:41 MST
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&
u=/ap/20030207/ap_on_fe_st/japan_invisible_2
Tokyo Professor Working on Invisibility
Fri Feb 7,12:38 PM ET
NEW YORK - A University of Tokyo professor claims he and his research team
have developed a system that can make you 'invisible.'
Engineering Professor Susumu Tachi is in the early stages of technology that
he says will eventually enable camouflaged objects to be virtually
transparent by wearing an optical device.
Professor Tachi demonstrated the technology on Wednesday. In a photo of
graduate student Kazutoshi Obana, it appears as if three men walking in the
background can be seen 'through' Obana's green overcoat. The retroreflective
material of the coat acts as a screen and gives a transparent - or invisible
- effect.
For the best effect - one that keeps the correct depth of focus - the
observer needs to look through a pinhole. Tachi's second example shows the
image of the skeleton being projected onto a sheet of the retroreflective
material, giving the impression the body has become transparent. The
technology could be useful in medicine, where surgeons might use it during
operations to avoid having their fingers or surgical tools block their view.
In aviation, cockpit floors could become 'invisible' to assist pilots in
landing. Professor Tachi hopes to have a commercially viable system within a
few years.
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