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Japanese Scientist Invents 'Invisible Cloak'

Margin Walker

11:09 / 07.02.03

I love this bit here:
It's hoped the technology will be useful for surgeons frustrated their own hands and surgical tools can block their view of operations and pilots who wish cockpit floors were transparent for landings.

Riiiiight. Link to story here

Cailín

15:43 / 07.02.03

I particularly like how the objects you see "through" the coat do not line up with anything around the wearer and are way off the mark in terms of perspective geometry. (Red diagonals = vanishing point determination, red horizontal = horizon line, yellow diagonal = average head height for any person located approximately in line with the cyclist). Here's hoping I manage to post the picture properly.

fluid_state

16:03 / 07.02.03

Philistines. The suit is in actuality powered by a trio of undersized circus performers, stored in the wearer's chest cavity. Only $19.95. Comes with x-ray glasses, too.

Cailín

21:04 / 07.02.03

Philistines. Philistines? Wise-ass.

07:24 / 08.02.03

okay, so it may not have that much in the way of a practical use, but the damn thing sure looks pretty freakin' cool. i want one.

_pin

09:00 / 14.02.03

"I particularly like how the objects you see "through" the coat do not line up with anything around the wearer and are way off the mark in terms of perspective geometry."

What?? I particularly like the way IT'S A FUCKIGN INVISBLEITY CLOAK! HELLO!!

deja_vroom

12:54 / 14.02.03

EXACTLY! FUCK IT, THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME! CAN'T YOU SEE THE GIRL IS WEARING A FUCKING INVISIBLE CLOAK THERE??????

Wait a minute.

The Photographer in Blowup

15:55 / 14.02.03

Perhaps it's just a problem of perspective, but how can three guys be about two meters behind the girl and be completely within the Invisible Cloak? Shouldn't parts of them be visible through naked eye - as in not through the cloak?

Jack Fear

17:50 / 14.02.03

Well, although the article is so poorly written that it appears to have been translated froim English to Japanese and back via BabelFish, this sentence

The photograph was taken through a viewfinder that uses a combination of moving images taken behind the wearer to give a transparent effect

suggests that the picture in question is a trick shot, a green-screen/chroma-key job, intended perhaps to show what such a cloak will look like when it's fully functional.

deja_vroom

18:04 / 14.02.03

WHich is such, *such* a downer...

The Photographer in Blowup

20:47 / 14.02.03

suggests that the picture in question is a trick shot, a green-screen/chroma-key job, intended perhaps to show what such a cloak will look like when it's fully functional.

But didn't they prove invisibility was possible already?

Or was it all a publicity stunt?

Jack Fear

00:57 / 15.02.03

Your guess is as good as mine: I can't make heads or tails of that Ananova article.

Jack Fear

01:00 / 15.02.03

But looking at it again, with key words bolded...

The illusion was part of a demonstration of optical camouflage technology at Tokyo University. It is the brainchild of Professor Susumu Tachi who is in the early stage of research he hopes will eventually make camouflaged objects virtually transparent

...yeah, it sounds pretty much theoretical at this point.

TheNeonLobster

07:15 / 05.07.04

nanotech.. cameras/projectors covering the entire suit, reading input from all around and feeding it back to the opposite side, spacially alligned. gov't claims to "be working on it"

read it in some engineering journal at the library. anyway, the tech looks similar.

Lionheart

09:15 / 06.07.04

Jack Fear: That's not how the cloak will look when fully functioning. The media's been overhyping this invention. What the cloak actually is supposed to be is a wearable projection screen. That's the whole point of the invention. A wearable projection screen.

Lord Morgue

10:17 / 06.07.04

SHUT UP! Just SHUT UP! Don't you dare ruin my filthy girl's locker room bad eighties college sex comedy fantasies!

Sob.

Warewullf

16:28 / 09.07.04

nanotech.. cameras/projectors covering the entire suit, reading input from all around and feeding it back to the opposite side, spacially alligned

[Nerd Alert] That's how Ghost Rider 2099's invisibilty worked, that is. [/Nerd Alert]

Lord Morgue

05:01 / 10.07.04

Hah! I knew I knew your name from somewhere, Wolfy.
"Better E-Mail the body banks. Tell 'em... get ready for rush hour."

Warewullf

12:03 / 11.07.04

Yeah, that was just a coincidence, believe it or not!

gravitybitch

14:40 / 11.07.04

I've seen the thing "in action" and it's probably not that useful... (NextFest, a couple of months ago)

The illusion of invisibility isn't in the ugly silver jacket itself, but in the viewing device you have to look through to get the effect. However, looking through the magic eyepieces is pretty damn cool - it actually looks much better than the photographs do.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

grant

21:11 / 07.03.05

They've come up with another way.

This one actually sends light away from you rather than projecting images of what's behind you.

It's *freaky*.

distractile

16:49 / 08.03.05

Er -

And crucially, the effect only works when the wavelength of the light being scattered is roughly the same size as the object. So shielding from visible light would be possible only for microscopic objects; larger ones could be hidden only to long-wavelength radiation such as microwaves. This means that the technology could not be used to hide people or vehicles from human vision.

[/killjoy]

Though I'm sure there must be some value in being invisible at radio frequencies. Radar?

grant

16:37 / 09.03.05

The Enterprise's scanners!

astrojax69

00:12 / 02.08.05

a propos of this thread, check this out. spooky.

07:33 / 02.08.05

Pardon, but the flash advertising made that link useless/infuriating. Mind summarizing?

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