If you know anything about physics, you already know why spinning tops come in conical or pointed spheroid shapes: in order to spin, they have to have a precise center of gravity and moment of inertia. Tops have been used for several thousand years and no one has really played with their shape or function much until now. Disney researchers have used 3D printing and some fancy physics to make just about any shape into a well-spinning top.

By selectively changing the amount of mass contained in different parts of 3D printed figures, the researchers were able to change the objects’ moment of inertia. This partial hollowing of the shapes allows the unusual shapes to easily spin just like a traditional top. Even a very asymmetric shape like the armadillo above can do some impressive moves once its weight has been distributed in all the right places.

Some shapes weren’t able to be optimized for spinning even with selective hollowing; in those cases, the Disney folks added metal to the interior of the shapes to give them the proper balance they needed to spin. The researchers also made yo-yos in unusual shapes using the same method. Like tops, yo-yos typically need to be round and smooth in order to move up and down on their strings. But in the Disney project, even a cuboid yo-yo works normally.

The post Spin Doctors: Disney Creates Impossible Spinning Tops first appeared on Gajitz.

Believe it or not, Disney is about more than just cartoons and creepy singing automatons. Their research division is constantly coming up with some pretty crazy technology, and they haven’t failed us with their newest unveiling: a “paper generator” that produces power from the simple acts of touching, sliding or rubbing its components.

According to Disney Research in Pittsburgh, this small and inexpensive energy harvesters could be used in books and other printed media to light up LEDs, activate e-paper displays, play simple animations and sounds, or power little games.

They weren’t kidding about the simplicity of the setup. Its components are Teflon, paper, conductive adhesives, silver-coated polyester, wires, and plain old tape. Rubbing the paper against the Teflon creates a small amount of voltage which can power lots of amazing little actions that were previously limited by the size of the required power source. This setup is flat enough to fit into a kids’ book and cool enough to entertain and amaze kids and adults.

The post Disney’s Paper Generators Put the Power in Kids’ Hands first appeared on Gajitz.

Remember reading your favorite book as a kid and feeling like the stories were alive? Like you could really see what the characters were doing? Disney is making that fantasy a reality with a new device they call HideOut. The HideOut is a simple hand-held projector that augments the characters in a book or board game with characters that seem to leap off of the page.

It works with hidden infrared-absorbing markers that are invisible to the naked eye. A special camera in the hand-held projector sees them, though, and digital imagery interacts with the surface onto which it’s projected. Little characters run around on the pages of a book, adding a real-feeling layer to the words. Games use real-life physical pieces that interact with the projected characters, causing them to move this way or that.

The really fun part of the HideOut is that little children can handle it with ease, and their entertainment experience is not interrupted when they wiggle around. The digital flashlight-like device keeps track of its position relative to the position of the book at which it is pointed and keeps the characters playing and amusing kids all day.

Disney hasn’t released the HideOut yet, but hopefully we’ll see this kind of immediate, ultra-fun augmented reality platform in homes soon. Because there is no need for special hardware like a visual translator between the book and the viewer, the flashlight becomes a kind of magic wand that brings little pretend characters to life. And that is exactly how you delight kids both young and old.

The post Magic Flashlight Lets Cartoons Interact with Real Objects first appeared on Gajitz.