[From the Georgia Tech News Center, where the story includes additional images] [Image: Akanksha Prakash, a graduate student in the School of Psychology, found that people assign emotions to robots, based on their face.] Putting a Face on a Robot What does the assistive robot of the future look like? It depends. Posted October 1, 2013 | Atlanta, GA A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology finds that older and younger people have varying preferences about what they would want a personal robot to look like. And they change their minds based on what the robot is supposed…

[From The Construction Index, where the story includes additional images] Keeping it real Virtual reality has come out of the games console and onto site. David Taylor looks at a new approach to training. With any kind of training, there’s nothing quite like first-hand experience to make all that theory come alive. But on the other hand if you drop a complete rookie in at the deep end there’s always the danger they will sink instead of swim. Some trainees simply cannot be allowed to make big mistakes – think of trainee airline or fighter pilots. But on the other…

[From MIT’s Technology Review] [Image: Copy and paste: A tablet can be used to make 3-D scans of an object using the Structure Sensor and other new hardware coming to mobile devices.] Depth-Sensing Cameras Head to Mobile Devices Adding 3-D sensors to existing and future mobile devices will enable augmented-reality games, handheld 3-D scanning, and better photography. By Tom Simonite on October 1, 2013 Just over a decade since cameras first appeared in cell phones, they remain one of the most used features of mobile devices, underpinning wildly popular and valuable companies such as Instagram and Snapchat. Now hardware that…

[From NPR’s Monkey See blog, where the story includes more images and an extended video] [Image: The creators of Breaking Bad judiciously use the point-of-shot sequence in critical scenes of the pilot, including when Walter White is forced to clean the tires of student’s car. Doug Hyun/Courtesy of AMC.] Point Of View: How So Many Rooted For ‘Breaking Bad’s’ Walter White by Michaeleen Doucleff September 27, 2013 If you were still cheering for Walter White at the start of the sixth season (or, as AMC contracts call it, the second half of the fifth season), a mustard stain on a…

[From IEEE Spectrum’s Automaton blog, where the story includes many additional pictures and a video] Testing Robotic Companions on a Simulated Mission to Mars By Simon Engler Posted 26 Sep 2013 | 20:02 GMT Simon Engler (pictured above with robotic dinosaur Pleo) recently spent four months in a Hawaii habitat that simulated a Mars mission. In this guest post, he tells us about the experience and his research on robotic companions for long-duration space missions.…

[From Fast Company’s Co.Create, where the story includes more images and a video] [Image: Death At The Border: Security camera footage was used to plop bystanders at the scene of Anastacio Hernández-Rojas’ death in a wraparound, fully-immersive digital world.] Put On A Helmet, And You’re In The Story: Why Virtual Reality Journalism Is The Future Google, the Associated Press, and the Tribeca Film Institute are funding one of the most ambitious virtual reality projects yet: A 3-D, fully immersive re-creation of the death of a migrant at the U.S.-Mexico border. By: Neal Ungerleider Nonny de la Peña isn’t your typical…

[From the Huffington Post, where the story includes more images and a video] Visualise Studio Explains How To Use Virtual Reality For Marketing — And Not Suck Michael Rundle Posted: 24/09/2013 Of the myriad possible uses for the next-gen of virtual reality, marketing might not seem like the most thrilling. But if you take a trip down to the Visualise Studio in London for Social Media Week, you might come away with a different impression. Visualise, the team behind some of the web’s most impressive ultra-high 360-degree resolution images – from the London Olympics to the Queen’s Jubilee – have…

[From U-T San Diego (the San Diego Union-Tribune); for more information, including the significance of the image, see “Second Life’s Second Life for Social Innovation” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review] PARKINSON’S PATIENT, 86, BUILDS A NEW LIFE IN VIRTUAL WORLD Parkinson’s patients shed their limitations in simulated online universe By Pam Kragen  Sept. 24, 2013 CARLSBAD – When Fran Swenson visits Creations Park each day, she takes tai chi classes, swims, ice skates and goes ballroom dancing. Although Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration have reduced the 86-year-old La Costa resident’s ability to walk, see and leave her one-bedroom apartment,…

[From psfk, where the story includes more images] Virtual Reality Art Show Takes Viewers Into A Seedy Underworld The Nail Polish Inferno uses the Oculus Rift to transport people to a hallucinatory alternate universe. Laura Chase on September 13, 2013 Step inside a virtual reality art show without moving a finger. ‘The Nail Polish Inferno’ is a digital art installation that immerses people in a hallucinatory 3-D ecosystem, that resembles a strip club full of mutant fantastic creatures such as provocative galactic purple pole dancers, sharks swinging on the ceiling, a giant hand that moves like an octopus, a grotesque…

[From Develop, where the story includes several more images] Crossing the UI Rift with Oculus Virtual reality opens the doors to a new era for user interface design. Oculus VR speaks to Develop about its opportunities by Will Freeman Wednesday, 11th September 2013 [This feature was published in the September 2013 edition of Develop magazine, which is available through your browser and on iPad.] Virtual reality doesn’t present user interface design with its first opportunity for transformation. The dawn of 3D long ago afforded games makers the prospect of moving beyond flat heads-up-displays and conventional menus. And when mobile gaming…

[A news release from Iowa State University; see also “Professors use virtual reality to train firefighters” in the Iowa State Daily] [Image: Nir Keren, left, and Warren Franke, center, have conducted research on firefighter stress levels using virtual reality simulations. Photo by Robert Elbert.] Experienced firefighters are more analytical under stress than novices, according to ISU study Posted Jul 31, 2013 AMES, Iowa – Experienced firefighters take longer to make decisions under stress than novice firefighters, according to research conducted at Iowa State University. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After conducting dozens of virtual reality trials in which…

[From Gizmag, where the story includes many more images and a video] Intelligent Headset aims to immerse users in augmented reality of sound and space By Heidi Hoopes September 12, 2013 Running down an alley you make out the low growls of a zombie approaching distinctly above you and to the right. Touring a famous city you get lost, happen upon a fascinating art exhibit, and touch your headphones to find out where you are and what you see. Intelligent Headset hopes to create these augmented reality scenarios with its GPS-enabled 3D audio headset and a complementary suite of smartphone…