Zipping into the future – NextFest in S.F. zeroes in on inventions that are almost ready to take off

In one vision of the future, the world will have flying cars, coats that make people "transparent,” digital cameras that translate foreign signs and robots that can attend classes for sick children.

Benny Evangelista, Jan Sandred, Chronicle Staff Writers

San Francisco Chronicle

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/14/BUGKK6L0LF1.DTL

Of course, it remains to be seen whether this vision of the future remains a science fiction dream. For now, the prototypes for these and about a hundred other inventions will be on display this weekend at the first-ever NextFest, a high-tech exposition at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center.

Organized by the San Francisco technology publication Wired magazine, the three-day NextFest is designed to give the general public a close-up, hands-on view of innovations that may someday become as commonplace as cell phones and the Web are today.

The exhibition spotlights the future of seven main categories — entertainment, communications, transportation, space and oceanographic exploration, health, design and security. Wired Publisher Drew Schutte said the magazine’s research staff waded through about 2,500 research and development projects being done by universities and corporations worldwide to cull the 110 exhibits that will be on display.

"We went to our researchers and said, ‘Find stuff that amazes you, find stuff that surprises you,’ ” said Schutte. "None of this stuff is commercially available yet.”

NextFest opens its doors today for about 4,000 Bay Area students who have pre-registered for Education Day. The expo, held in the Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion, will open to the public Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

The event, expected to draw between 10,000 and 20,000 people, is also sponsored by General Electric, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard Co., Motorola, T-Mobile, the Science Channel, Yahoo and The Chronicle.

The exhibits include the Moller Skycar, a four-passenger vehicle from Moller International of Davis. The Jetsons-style craft is small enough to drive on the ground, but can take off vertically and fly as fast as 380 mph.

Then there’s a "transparent cloak,” technology from the Tachi Lab at the University of Tokyo that seems straight out of a Harry Potter book. The raincoat-like cloak is made out of "retro-reflective” material covered with tiny beads that reflect light back in the same direction it came.

The cloak is designed to make whatever it is covering, a body or object, appear transparent by projecting video shot with a camera from behind the cloak onto the front of the cloak.

Naoki Kawakami, an assistant professor in the university’s department of information physics and computing, said the cloak could be useful in helping pilots see through the floor of a plane’s cockpit at a runway below or for drivers trying to see through a fender to park a car.

HP Labs will demonstrate a "translating camera” under development that could help travelers trying to read street signs and directions in a foreign language. The prototype uses a digital camera, an HP iPaq handheld computer and special optical character recognition software to translate the signs through a Web-based language site.

"We’re hoping to raise awareness of all the different uses of digital imaging” besides snapping photographs, said Dan Tretter, a project manager with HP Labs’ imaging technology department.

GE Medical Systems will demonstrate a prototype medical technology designed to give surgeons access to patients’ data while operating, without having to touch a computer or other object that would require them to re- sterilize their hands.

The technology, being developed with Microsoft, uses simple hand gestures and voice commands to allow a surgeon to select data displayed on a flat-panel monitor.

Other health-related technology on display will include an antibacterial powder developed at the University of Alberta that, when sprinkled on food, can block the harmful effects of bacteria.

The students attending today might enjoy "Pebbles,” a device that combines PC-based videoconferencing with simple robotics technology to allow an ill child in the hospital to see, hear and interact with students and teachers in a classroom miles away.

A video monitor that can turn left and right transmits a live shot of the student’s face.

Telbotics Inc. of Toronto designed the remote-controlled robots to help children who require long-term hospital care. They are being tested in hospitals in Canada, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ohio, Maryland, Florida and Illinois.

A company called IRobot, best known for a robotic vacuum cleaner called the Roomba, will demonstrate other robots being used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. And NASA will have moon rocks and a Mars Rover replica on display.

For fun and games, there’s Brainball, which is best described as an anti- game, because the goal is to achieve nothing.

Developed by Sweden’s Interactive Institute, Brainball players wear headbands with biosensors that measure brain waves. The brain activity is then transmitted by wire to a special game table to control a small ball. The object of the game is to move the ball into an opponent’s goal area, but the more relaxed a player is, the more he or she controls the ball.

The effect is the opposite of a player’s reaction during a standard game, in which thinking and stress are the norm, said Magnus Jonsson, an Interactive Institute researcher.

Brainball has been played by more than 300,000 people, including yoga gurus, the artist and musician Brian Eno, children with attention-deficit disorders, and the king and prime minister of Sweden.

For those seeking something more physical, there’s a game that combines soccer, tennis and the popular computer game Breakout, in which two players in different locations face off using videoconferencing technology.

In Breakout for Two, from the Irish company Media Lab Europe, players throw or kick a ball against a wall. On each wall is a projection of the remote player, enabling the participants to interact with each other through a life-size video and audio connection.

To score, a player has to strike a number of semi-transparent blocks on the screen. These virtual blocks are connected over the network. If you hit a block, it disappears. The player who hits the most blocks wins the game.

The first hit produces a crack. When hit again, it cracks more. On the third hit, the block breaks and disappears.

To encourage intense physical activity, Media Lab Europe added an impact- intensity measurement. So if a player hits a block really hard, it could break and disappear on the first strike.

Schutte said this is the first time the magazine has tried to sponsor such an event, which it hopes will reach an audience far wider than its largely male, mainly tech-oriented readership. It plans to sponsor another NextFest in New York next year, then one in Los Angeles the year after, before returning to San Francisco in 2007.

"What we’ve created is a mini world’s fair,” Schutte said.
Wired’s NextFest

— When: The event runs Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

— Where: Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, in San Francisco’s Marina District.

— Price: Daily admission is $15 per person, $40 for a three-member family pass or $50 for a four-member family ticket. Children 12 and under are free.

— More information: http://www.nextfest.net or (415) 276-5059

E-mail the writers at [email protected] and [email protected].