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A magnetic pen for smartphones adds another level of conveniences
Utilizing existing features on smartphones, the MagPen provides users with a compatible and simple input tool regardless of the type of phones they are using.
A doctoral candidate at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed a magnetically driven pen interface that works both on and around mobile devices. This interface, called the MagPen, can be used for any type of smartphones and tablet computers so long as they have magnetometers embedded in.
Advised by Professor Kwang-yun Wohn of the Graduate School of Culture Technology (GSCT) at KAIST, Sungjae Hwang, a Ph.D. student, created the MagPen in collaboration with Myung-Wook Ahn, a master"s student at the GSCT of KAIST, and Andrea Bianchi, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University.
Almost all mobile devices today provide location-based services, and magnetometers are incorporated in the integrated circuits of smartphones or tablet PCs, functioning as compasses. Taking advantage of built-in magnetometers, Hwang"s team came up with a technology that enabled an input tool for mobile devices such as a capacitive stylus pen to interact more sensitively and effectively with the devices" touch screen. Text and command entered by a stylus pen are expressed better on the screen of mobile devices than those done by human fingers.
The MagPen utilizes magnetometers equipped with smartphones, thus there is no need to build an additional sensing panel for a touchscreen as well as circuits, communication modules, or batteries for the pen. With an application installed on smartphones, it senses and analyzes the magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet embedded in a standard capacitive stylus pen.
Sungjae Hwang said, "Our technology is eco-friendly and very affordable because we are able to improve the expressiveness of the stylus pen without requiring additional hardware beyond those already installed on the current mobile devices. The technology allows smartphone users to enjoy added convenience while no wastes generated."
The MagPen detects the direction at which a stylus pen is pointing; selects colors by dragging the pen across smartphone bezel; identifies pens with different magnetic properties; recognizes pen-spinning gestures; and estimates the finger pressure applied to the pen.
Notably, with its spinning motion, the MagPen expands the scope of input gestures recognized by a stylus pen beyond its existing vocabularies of gestures and techniques such as titling, hovering, and varying pressures. The tip of the pen switches from a pointer to an eraser and vice versa when spinning. Or, it can choose the thickness of the lines drawn on a screen by spinning.
"It"s quite remarkable to see that the MagPen can understand spinning motion. It"s like the pen changes its living environment from two dimensions to three dimensions. This is the most creative characteristic of our technology," added Sungjae Hwang.
Hwang"s initial research result was first presented at the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces organized by the Association for Computing Machinery and held on March 19-22 in Santa Monica, the US.
In the next month of August, the research team will present a paper on the MagPen technology, entitled "MagPen: Magnetically Driven Pen Interaction On and Around Conventional Smartphones" and receive an Honorable Mention Award at the 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI 2013) to be held in Germany.
In addition to the MagPen, Hwang and his team are conducting other projects to develop different types of magnetic gadgets (collectively called "MagGetz") that include the Magnetic Marionette, a magnetic cover for a smartphone, which offers augmented interactions with the phone, as well as magnetic widgets such as buttons and toggle interface.
Hwang has filed ten patents for the MagGetz technology.
Youtube Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkPo2las7wc, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9GtgyzoZmM
2013.07.25 View 11486 -
Technology Developed to Control Light Scattering Using Holography
Published on May 29th Nature Scientific Reports online
Recently, a popular article demonstrated that an opaque glass becomes transparent as transparent tape is applied to the glass. The scientific principle is that light is less scattered as the rough surface of the opaque glass is filled by transparent tape, thereby making things behind the opaque glass look clearer.
Professor Yong-Keun Park from KAIST’s Department of Physics, in a joint research with MIT Spectroscopy Lab, has developed a technology to easily control light scattering using holography. Their results are published on Nature’s Scientific Reports May 29th online edition.
This technology allows us to see things behind visual obstructions such as cloud and smoke, or even human skin that is highly scattering, optically thick materials. The research team applied the holography technology that records both the direction and intensity of light, and controlled light scattering of obstacles lied between an observer and a target image. The team was able to retrieve the original image by recording the information of scattered light and reflecting the light precisely to the other side.This phenomenon is known as “phase conjugation” in physics. Professor Park’s team applied phase conjugation and digital holography to observe two-dimensional image behind a highly scattering wall. “This technology will be utilized in many fields of physics, optics, nanotechnology, medical science, and even military science,” said Professor Park. “This is different from what is commonly known as penetrating camera or invisible clothes.” He nevertheless drew the line at over-interpreting the technology, “Currently, the significance is on the development of the technology itself that allows us to accurately control the scattering of light."
Figure I. Observed Images
Figure II. Light Scattering Control
2013.07.19 View 9057 -
Joint Research Center on EEWS with Hyundai Heavy Industries Plans to Open
The research center will conduct collaborative R&D projects on energy, environment, water, and sustainability for the next five years.Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the world’s largest shipbuilding company, signed an MOU with KAIST for future business development and joint research collaboration.
KAIST and HHI signed an MOU as an agreement to establish the “HHI-KAIST EEWS Research Center (HK Research Center) on June 21st.”
The major mission of the HK Research Center is to build a strong base for creating future businesses through developing fundamental, core technology in the field of EEWS and designing business models based on the new technology.
Toward this goal, HHI will sponsor the R&D budget and operation expenses of the research center for the next five years.
Prior to the signing of the MOU, a delegation from HHI, led by the Vice President, Mr. Si-Young Hwang, visited the Office of EEWS Initiative at KAIST and held a workshop. During the workshop, HHI and KAIST agreed to collaborate in fields such as LNG-propelled ships, solar power generation, energy storage, fuel cells, and CO2 capture.
KAIST has run a EEWS graduate program that receives government grants over the last five years, with a research emphasis on energy, environment, water, and sustainability, which are crucial issues to humankind in the 21st century. The EEWS program achieved 24 core technological developments and educates more than 200 masters- and PhD-degree students annually.
The EEWS program also emphasizes commercializing its research outcomes. Through the annual Business Planning Competition and Investment Drive, there have been eight new companies founded by alumni and professors over the last five years of the program. The HK Research Center will be an excellent foundation for future education and research in EEWS.
Professor Jae-Kyu Lee, the head of the HK Research Center and the director of the EEWS Initiative, said, “This event is a benchmarking example of Industry-KAIST collaboration. We hope that the HK Research Center will be a place for disruptive innovations to translate into creative business opportunities.”
MOU signed for Hyundai Heavy Industries-KAIST EEWS Research Center
2013.07.15 View 9142 -
Prof. Song Chong received the IEEE William R. Bennett Prize Paper Award
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Communications Society (ComSoc), a renowned global network of professionals with a common interest in advancing communications technologies, has announced the winner of the 2013 William R. Bennett Prize in the field of communications networking. The prize was given to a Korean research team led by Song Chong, Professor of Electrical Engineering at KAIST and Injong Rhee, Professor of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. In addition, Dr. Minsu Shin, Dr. Seongik Hong, and Dr. Seong Joon Kim of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. as well as Professor Kyunghan Lee from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology were recognized for their contribution.
The William R. Bennett Prize for communications networking has been awarded each year since 1994 in recognition of the best paper published in any journal financially sponsored or co-sponsored by ComSoc in the previous three calendar years. Only one paper per year is selected based on its quality, originality, scientific citation index, and peer reviews. Among the previous award winners are Robert Gallager of MIT, and Steven Low of the California Institute of Technology, and Kang G. Shin of the University of Michigan.
The Korean research team’s paper, On the Levy-Walk Nature of Human Mobility, was published in the June 2011 issue of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, a bimonthly journal co-sponsored by the IEEE ComSoc, the IEEE Computer Society, and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) with its Special Interest Group on Data Communications (SIGCOMM).
In the paper, the research team proposed a new statistical model to effectively analyze the pattern of individual human mobility in daily life. The team handed out GPS (global positioning system) devices to 100 participants residing in five different university campuses in Korea and the US and collected data on their movements for 226 days. The mobility pattern obtained from the experiment predicted accurately how the participants actually moved around during their routines. Since publication, the paper has been cited by other papers approximately 350 times.
The team’s research results will apply to many fields such as the prevention and control of epidemics, the design of efficient communications networks, and the development of urban and transportation system.
The research team received the award on June 10th at the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) held in Budapest, Hungary, from June 9-13, 2013.
Professor Song Chong
2013.07.06 View 14106 -
Foreign graduates donate to development fund for six years
International graduates of the Global IT Technology Graduate School at KAIST have continued a tradition of giving something back to their alma mater.
On May 10th, President Steve Kang held a donation ceremony with 12 donors.
Started in 2008, the graduates, mostly consisted of government officials from developing countries, have raised a development fund for KAIST, and in the past six years, a total of 81 graduates donated USD 10,000.
“KAIST provided me with an excellent education and research environment during my studies. I’m glad that I can have an opportunity to help my juniors and the university,” said Naryn Kenzhaliyev of Kazakhstan, a graduate present at the ceremony.
“Every year, these students voluntarily give when they are about to graduate. We feel proud and greatly appreciated for their philanthropic efforts,” said Professor Jae-Jung Noh, responsible for the global IT technology graduate program.
Established in 2006, the Global IT Technology Graduate School has attracted IT specialists from Korea and abroad, offering master’s and doctoral degrees. The school has invited many public servants in developing countries whose expertise lies in IT technology.
2013.07.04 View 6554 -
Thinking Out of the Box: KAIST Silicon Valley Innovation Platform
KAIST established a liaison office in San Jose, California, to support the entrepreneurship of KAIST graduates, students, and faculty who aspire to transform their innovative ideas into business.
The office, KAIST Silicon Valley Innovation Platform (SVIP), is located within the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) IT Center on North First Street in San Jose.
SVIP collects information and analyzes trends on emerging technologies; provides various educational programs on entrepreneurship and technology translation; offers opportunities to prospective entrepreneurs to engage with industry and research and government organizations; and assists Korean startups in accessing the US and North American market.
President Steve Kang attended the opening ceremony of the office on June 14th and encouraged KAIST alumni living in the US to share their ideas and technology innovations and transform them into business opportunities.
For more information, please contact Professor Soung-Hie Kim (seekim@business.kaist.ac.kr) from the Graduate School of Information and Media Management, KAIST.
2013.07.04 View 9041 -
A KAIST research team developed in vivo flexible large scale integrated circuits
Daejeon, Republic of Korea, May 6th, 2013–-A team led by Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST has developed in vivo silicon-based flexible large scale integrated circuits (LSI) for bio-medical wireless communication.
Silicon-based semiconductors have played significant roles in signal processing, nerve stimulation, memory storage, and wireless communication in implantable electronics. However, the rigid and bulky LSI chips have limited uses in in vivo devices due to incongruent contact with the curvilinear surfaces of human organs. Especially, artificial retinas recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (refer to the press release of FDA"s artificial retina approval) require extremely flexible and slim LSI to incorporate it within the cramped area of the human eye.
Although several research teams have fabricated flexible integrated circuits (ICs, tens of interconnected transistors) on plastics, their inaccurate nano-scale alignment on plastics has restricted the demonstration of flexible nano-transistors and their large scale interconnection for in vivo LSI applications such as main process unit (MPU), high density memory and wireless communication. Professor Lee"s team previously demonstrated fully functional flexible memory using ultrathin silicon membranes (Nano Letters, Flexible Memristive Memory Array on Plastic Substrates), however, its integration level and transistor size (over micron scale) have limited functional applications for flexible consumer electronics.
Professor Keon Jae Lee"s team fabricated radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) interconnected with thousand nano-transistors on silicon wafer by state-of-the-art CMOS process, and then they removed the entire bottom substrate except top 100 nm active circuit layer by wet chemical etching. The flexible RF switches for wireless communication were monolithically encapsulated with biocompatible liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) for in vivo bio-medical applications. Finally, they implanted the LCP encapsulated RFICs into live rats to demonstrate the stable operation of flexible devices under in vivo circumstances.
Professor Lee said, "This work could provide an approach to flexible LSI for an ideal artificial retina system and other bio-medical devices. Moreover, the result represents an exciting technology with the strong potential to realize fully flexible consumer electronics such as application processor (AP) for mobile operating system, high-capacity memory, and wireless communication in the near future."
This result was published in the May online issue of the American Chemical Society"s journal, ACS Nano (In vivo Flexible RFICs Monolithically Encapsulated with LCP). They are currently engaged in commercializing efforts of roll-to-roll printing of flexible LSI on large area plastic substrates.
Movie at Youtube Link: Fabrication process for flexible LSI for flexible display, wearable computer and artificial retina for in vivo biomedical application
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PpbM7m2PPs&feature=youtu.be
Applications of in Vivo Flexible Large Scale Integrated Circuits
Top: In vivo flexible large scale integrated circuits (LSI); Bottom: Schematic of roll-to-roll printing of flexible LSI on large area plastics.
2013.06.09 View 14138 -
International Student Conference (ICISTS-KAIST) to be Held in August
- 300 participants including university students worldwide and renowned speakers expected to gather
- Ideal coexistence of science & technology and society explored under the theme of “Perfect Alliance”
Science & technology and society are at the core of 21st century’s development. ICISTS-KAIST 2013, international conference for university students, seeks ways for the two to coexist harmoniously and is to be held from August 5 to 9 on KAIST campus as well as at Daejeon Convention Center.
ICISTS stands for International Conference for the Integration of Science, Technology and Society. ICISTS-KAIST is a non-profit organization run by KAIST students who are directly engaged in the coordination, planning, finance, public relations, and management of this academic event. The upcoming ninth annual event of ICISTS (www.icists.org) 2013 is centered around the theme, “Perfect Alliance: Coexistence for Human Society.” The conference will last for four nights and five days; scholars and students across various academic backgrounds gather to narrow the gap between fields of study and discuss possible solutions to the problems in today’s society.
The annual conference, ICISTS-KAIST attracts hundreds of participants from all over the world to KAIST, Daejeon and its most recent event last year witnessed discussions among some 300 students from 22 countries hearing the lectures from 40 academics and scholars. This year’s event will welcome the 16-year old inventor, scientist, and cancer researcher Jack Thomas Andraka, the founder of the “One Laptop Per Child” project Walter Bender, Chemistry Nobel Prize laureate Harold Walter Kroto, and many more.
The application period for ICISTS-KAIST 2013 runs from May 20 to July 12, and applications are received through the website at www.icists.org.
ICISTS-KAIST 2013 Promgram Summary
Event Title: International Conference for the Integration of Science, Technology and Society 2013 (ICISTS-KAIST 2013)
Theme: Perfect Alliance: Coexistence for Human Society
Date and Venue: 2013 Aug. 5 (Mon.) ~ Aug. 9 (Fri.), KAIST Campus and Daejeon Convention Center
Host and Organizer: ICISTS KAIST
Sponsor: Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Korea Tourism Organization, Korea Ministry of Education, Science & Technology, KOFST
Session Description:
Keynote Speech - Keynote address on fundamental approach to coexistence
Parallel Session - Multiple simultaneous lecture of delegates’ choice
Group Discussion - Small group discussions among delegates and speakers
Panel Discussion - In-depth and thought-revealing discussion among speakers
Experience Session - First-person experience on relevant technology
Team Project & Poster Fair - Team mission, poster exhibition and evaluation
Subtopics:
- New Values from Coexistence of Science & Technology and Society
- Synergetic Resolution via Coexistence of Science & Technology and Society
- Essential Communication for Coexistence of Science & Technology and Society
Notable Speakers:
- Gretchen Kalonji: Assistant to Director-General at UNESCO
- Sheila Jasanoff: Director of STS Program at Harvard Kennedy School
- Walter Bender: Former Director of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop Per Child- Jack Andraka: 16-year old Cancer Resesarcher
2013.05.31 View 9616 -
Complex responsible for protein breakdown in cells identified using Bio TEM
Professor Ho-Min Kim
- High resolution 3D structure analysis success using Bio Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), a giant step towards new anticancer treatment development
- Published in Nature on May 5th
Using TEM to observe protein molecules and analysing its high resolution 3D structure is now possible. KAIST Biomedical Science and Engineering Department’s Professor Ho-Min Kim has identified the high resolution structure of proteasome complexes, which is responsible for protein breakdown in cells, using Bio TEM.
This research has been published on the world"s most prestigious journal, Nature, online on May 5th. Our body controls many cellular processes through production and degradation of proteins to maintain homeostasis. A proteasome complex acts as a garbage disposal system and degrades cellular proteins when needed for regulation, which is one of the central roles of the body.
However, a mutation in proteasome complex leads to diseases such as cancer, degenerative brain diseases, and autoimmune diseases.
Currently, the anticancer drug Velcade is used to decrease proteasome function to treat Multiple Myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Research concerning proteasome complexes for more effective anticancer drugs and treatments with fewer side effects has been taking place for more than 20 years. There have been many difficulties in understanding proteasome function through 3D structure analysis since a proteasome complex, consisting of around 30 different proteins, has a great size and complexity.
The research team used Bio TEM instead of conventionally used protein crystallography technique. The protein sample was inserted into Bio TEM, hundreds of photographs were taken from various angles, and then a high–performance computer was used to analyse its structure. Bio TEM requires a smaller sample and can analyse the complexes of great size of proteins.
Professor Ho-Min Kim said, “Identifying proteasome complex assembly process and 3D structure will increase our understanding of cellular protein degradation process and hence assist in new drug development using this knowledge.” He added, “High resolution protein structure analysis using Bio TEM, used for the first time in Korea, will enable us to observe structure analysis of large protein complexes that were difficult to approach using protein crystallography.” Professor Kim continued, “If protein crystallography technology and Bio TEM could be used together to complement one another, it would bring a great synergetic effect to protein complex 3D structure analysis research in the future.”
Professor Ho-Min Kim has conducted this research since his post-doctorate at the University of California, San Francisco, under the advice of Professor Yifan Cheng; in co-operation with Harvard University and Colorado University.
Figure 1: A picture taken by Bio TEM of open state protein sample (proteasome complex)
Figure 2: Bio TEM image analysis showing protein 3D structure
2013.05.25 View 11263 -
KAIST Holds Robot Taekwondo Competition Recognized by the World Taekwondo Federation
KAIST will host the 12th Intelligent System-on-Chip (SoC) Robot War in October 2013, a robot competition. The event will have two entries: robot Taekwondo contest and HURO competition.
The World Taekwondo Federation has decided to offer an honorary Taekwondo degree to the winner of SoC Taekwondo Robot competition.
The Intelligent SoC Robot War was created in 2002 by KAIST’s Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo in the Department of Electrical Engineering.
For SoC Taekwondo Robot event, two robots compete in the form of Taekwondo, traditional Korean martial arts. The robots competing in this event have a camera and semiconductor chips on board, and therefore they have the brain-like functions to identify an object and control movements on their own. The robots have 21 joints with humanoid robot technology on their body for the techniques needed to compete in a typical Taekwondo match. They employ moves such as front kicks, side kicks, and upper punches.
In particular, KAIST’s System Design Innovation & Application Research Center, the organizer of this competition, has operated a team to demonstrate robot Taekwondo since last year with the purpose of displaying the basic movements of Taekwondo.
“Robots received attention as the source of growth in the near future. We have been developing robotics technology, and as part of our endeavor, preparing the Taekwondo demonstration team since 2012 to exhibit Korea’s robot technology and introduce our traditional martial arts,” said Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo. “We will continue to develop various capabilities for Taekwondo robots in cooperation with the World Taekwondo Federation.”
In HURO-Competition, robots compete for crossing the finishing line first by completing various missions, such as putting in a golf ball or overcoming obstacles while avoiding unexpected accidents. The winning team is awarded with a Presidential Award of Korea.
The 12th Intelligent SoC Robot War Competition is open to all graduate or undergraduate students. For details, visit the homepage at http://www.socrobotwar.org/.
2013.05.06 View 11059 -
KAIST hosts 2013 Wearable Computer Contest
2013 Wearable Computer Contest (WCC) will be held in early November. This year’s contest is hosted by KAIST and sponsored by Samsung Electronics.
Wearable computers are drawing attention in the IT world as a potentially convenient information and communication device for future generations, which are attached to clothing or on the body. As smartphones have grown increasingly more popular, various supporting devices are being developed. The IT industry is targeting wearable computers for future development. The main leaders of the field, Samsung, Apple (i-Watch) and Google (Google Glasses) are joining the race for its development.
European and US firms halted their research in wearable computers in the 2000s, but there has been a great burst of interest recently. Korea has been consistently taking on wearable computer research since 2003 and held the Wearable Computer Contest for the last nine years. Since 2005, the contest aims to promote leading edge technological research and Intellectual Property (IP) as well as cultivate a professional workforce in Korea. The contest has promoted world class research in the field of wearable computer technology.
Moreover, KAIST has increased support for its competing teams through Samsung sponsorship and is considering applying the technology from the contest into Samsung products. Winning teams receive 1,500,000 Korean won and Samsung smart IT devices to produce an actual wearable computer. KAIST has increased the number of members who can participate in the competing teams in the finals from 10 to 15 to provide more opportunities to develop wearable computers.
With the theme “Smart IT: Any-information for Anybody,” the 2013 Wearable Computer Contest requires competing teams to suggest an innovative idea which combines IT and fashion for wearable computers. Teams that pass the paper and presentation evaluation go on to the finals, where 15 teams will have four months of production period for the final evaluation in November.
The final teams also receive systematic education on ubiquitous computing, wearable computer platforms, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
The Wearable Computer Contest is holding an ideas contest pitched in a poster format. This contest evaluates proposals for wearable computers, and there is no requirement to enter the rest of the contest. Anyone can compete without having to physically make the product.
More information on the registration and the contest can be found at http://www.ufcom.org/.
2013.04.30 View 8024 -
Award Winning Portable Sound Camera Design
- A member of KAIST’s faculty has won the “Red Dot Design Award,” one of three of the most prestigious design competitions in the world, for the portable sound camera.
KAIST’s Industrial Design Professor Suk-Hyung Bae’s portable sound camera design, made by SM Instruments and Hyundai, has received a “Red Dot Design Award: Product Design,” one of the most prestigious design competitions in the world.
If you are a driver, you must have experienced unexplained noises in your car. Most industrial products, including cars, may produce abnormal noises caused by an error in design or worn-out machinery. However, it is difficult to identify the exact location of the sound with ears alone.
This is where the sound camera comes in. Just as thermal detector cameras show the distribution of temperature, sound cameras use a microphone arrangement to express the distribution of sound and to find the location of the sound. However, existing sound cameras are not only too big and heavy, their assembly and installation are complex and must be fixed on a tripod. These limitations made it impossible to measure noises from small areas or the base of cars.
The newly developed product is an all-in-one system resolving the inconvenience of assembling the microphone before taking measurements. Moreover, the handle in the middle is ergonomically designed so users can balance its weight with one hand. The two handles on the sides work as a support and enable the user to hold the camera in various ways.
At the award ceremony, Professor Suk-Hyung Bae commented, “The effective combination of cutting edge technology and design components has been recognized.” He also said, “It shows the competency of the KAIST’s Department of Industrial Design, which has a high understanding of science and technology.”
On the other hand, SM Instruments is a sound vibration specialist company which got its start from KAIST’s Technology Business Incubation Centre in 2006 and earned its independence by gaining proprietary technology in only two years. SM Instruments is contributing to developing national sound and vibration technology through relentless change and innovation. ;
Figure 1: Red Dot Design Award winning the portable sound camera, SeeSV-S205
Figure 2: Identifying the location of the noise using the portable sound camera
Figure 3: The image showing the sound distribution using the portable sound camera
2013.04.09 View 20440