Japanese scientists spawn invisibility cloak

According to The Guardian, Japanese scientists have turned fantasy into reality by creating an invisibility cloak that makes it possible to see straight through its wearer. He, or she, simply vanishes from view.

The garment - demonstrated last week at Nextfest, an exhibition of emerging technologies in San Francisco - is the work of Japanese inventor Susumu Tachi, a professor of computer science and physics at the University of Tokyo. 'It's a kind of augmented reality,' he said of his device.

In reality, the 'optical camouflage' cloak is anything but invisible. It is made up of 'retro-reflective material' coated with tiny light-reflective beads that cover its entire length. The cloak is also fitted with cameras that project what is at the back of the wearer on to the front, and vice versa. The effect, as the Japanese team demonstrated last week, is to make the wearer blend with his background.

The material was used to coat a ball, a brick and a cloak. In each case, it appeared as if the viewer could see through each item as it was moved about by a human operator to the back of the room.

The effect was not total, but it was sufficient to demonstrate that optical camouflage is technically possible, though one expert - writing in Wired magazine recently - pointed out that, for an invisibility cloak to work, it would have to have six stereoscopic cameras built into it, be covered with 11.6 million 'hyperpixels', each consisting of a very bright electronic display, and be controlled by a super-fast computer that would run on a power source that could be built into the cloak.

www.guardian.co.uk...

Awesome!

I know what I am asking Santa for this year.

Could you imagine the possibilities? What if this got into the wrong hands?

Batman needs one of these gadgets.



Nutzo

There's a great pic of the cloak in action here:

www.i4u.com...

It's cool, but as you can see, they have a fair way to go yet!

[edit on 2004-7-2 by Teknik]

Haha, cool. Hope I'm still alive to get one if they ever make a working, reliable version of it.

Sounds Cool! I Bet It Costs An Arm And A Leg Though...

Originally posted by harrisjohns
There's a great pic of the cloak in action here:

www.i4u.com...

It's cool, but as you can see, they have a fair way to go yet!

It's not really invisable. You can still se almost all of the person. I thought it was like in Harry Poter. lol

Thanks for the link HarrisJohns and i was thinking along the same lines as you AD5673 about it being like Harry Potter.

However, if the military are taking a interest there must be alot of potential in what they are doing.

Am thinking along the lines of that film predator, imagine the soldiers being able to hide like that and attack.

Rynaldo

I don't think the picture posted and the story in the beginning article are related (I may be wrong).

The one in the picture debuted a year or 2 ago.

I Always Believed If You Make A Suit Entirely Made Ot Of Fibre Optic Cables Then Light Will Shine Through Them Making You Look Invisible Or Have I Had The Wrong Impession Of Invisibility?

[edit on 13-6-2004 by The Black Death]

that looks like an expensive gift idea lol. Isn't that something like what they did with that james bond car in the last 007 movie? I know it was just a special effect but it was based on the same principles.

I Dunno, Cant Stand Bond, James Bond... What A Load Of Rubbish.

[edit on 13-6-2004 by The Black Death]

Mm Rynaldo, same, I think the best invisibility cloak would be the Harry Potter one...or if you want to be invisible follow the guidlines below:

To go somewhere Invisible:
Dont go.

The name is SGC...Phoenix SGC.

What if all the beads were like one-way mirrors with mini camera type deals behind them. Or better yet, they could make up the pixels of a larger camera. The image on one camera would be displayed on the opaque side of the mirror parallel too it on the other side of the body. Or is that what they did, cause my impression was that the camera was outside of the cloak.

I was so excited, and then I saw the picture! That girl is bright green. She sticks out more than any of those other people! Oh well, I guess its a start.

Your Right There Haha

Hey, TBD, how's it hanging? I'll stop by Hidden Agenda sometime.

The bit that interests me is not the invisibility but the "see through" cockpit system. That would be terrific for landings, especially with VTOL aircraft. I expect this tech to be implemented in some form for the F-35 (although probably some kind of helmet-mounted display is more likely). Anybody who's seen Macross Plus will have seen the holographic cockpit of the YF-19. It would be quite awesome to have in real life.

Originally posted by JustAnIllusion
I was so excited, and then I saw the picture! That girl is bright green. She sticks out more than any of those other people! Oh well, I guess its a start.

LOL i felt similar when i seen the pic. The article really builds it up and it was a bit of a let down the pic. Like you said everything starts from somewhere but i think some1 said the photo is at least two years old but couldnt say for sure.

Rynaldo

What about an invisibility box, wouldn't that be a lot more practical for they way they are trying to do things? It would be awesome to see translucent materials being used in the cockpit.

The recently declassified "Bird of Prey" aircraft, it is said, was a test bed for such optical or daytime stealth. Though this Japanese scientist may get credit for its development, my guess is that something like it has beed around for a while, now...

And, yes, the invisibility isn't convincing in a city setting... But my guess is that this cloak would provide pretty good camouflage in a wilderness seting.