>> Background noise It's the daily dilemma, what to eat? Online recipe guides can help, but what if you could take what ingredients you have, place them on the counter and find out exactly what you could whip up for dinner? In the future, our Countertops may have those answers and more.
Background noise Researchers at Intel are trying to create what they call islands of interactivity in our homes The technology is called oasis. Oasis can turn any surface, whether it's a coffee table, countertop, or cabinet into a touch screen. The key components of the technology are a computer, 3D camera, and compact projector, but the real brain behind oasis is a series of algorithms. Background music The 3D camera gauges the exact location of user's fingers, allowing interaction with the system by touching and dragging projected images. The camera also enables object recognition.
>> What we do is take things about each object, like its shape, its colors, its texture, and we match that against objects we've seen before and know about, and so essentially over time, you've accumulated this bigger and bigger database.
>> Background music So the technology can tell an orange from a lemon. Once an object is recognized, oasis can offer further details such as nutritional information. If two or more objects are placed next to each other, it can suggest recipes. Beyond cooking instructions, oasis could remind users that certain items like ice cream need to go back into the freezer when they've been left on the counter too long. And the technology can make sure you don't forget anything at the grocery store.
>> As you're using ingredients up while making you're a dish, you can add that automatically to a shopping list which gets pushed to your cell phone so that you have this list of things you need to purchase to replace.
>> While still in the early stages, ultimately the technology could use a combined camera and projection system about the size of a cell phone.
>> You could screw these into, for example, light bulb sockets, on reading lamps, or under counter lighting as a way of getting the power to the pieces that need power, and then all of the data is sent wirelessly to some kind of computer buried in the background somewhere in your house.
>> The future of kitchen counters, a creative and well-organized culinary assistant. For ZDNET, I'm Sumi Das.
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