descriptive camera by matt richardson

‘descriptive camera’ by matt richardson, 2012 all images courtesy the designer

the new york city-based researcher matt richardson has developed a prototype camera which, rather than capturing an image of its environment once the shutter button has been pressed, instead produces an output of text describing the visualized scene. though this point and shoot camera functions in a manner very similar to any automatic camera, its memory perceives its surroundings, and the brief written account for the scene explores the idea of removing the visualization of the lens, leaving only the information about the content of the captured viewpoint.

‘as we amass an incredible amount of photos, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage our collections. imagine if descriptive metadata about each photo could be appended to the image on the fly—information about who is in each photo, what they’re doing, and their environment could become incredibly useful in being able to search, filter, and cross-reference our photo collections. of course, we don’t yet have the technology that makes this a practical proposition, but the descriptive camera explores these possibilities.’ -matt richardson

matt richardson created ‘descriptive camera’ for dan o’sullivan’s spring 2012 computational cameras class at new york university‘s interactive telecommunications program (NYU ITP).

the three scenes have been captured once with a standard camera  (left) and once with the descriptive camera (right)

the ‘descriptive camera’ is powered by amazon’s mechanical turk API. this core technological component allows for the initial developer to add human intelligence tasks (HITs) for other workers connected to the internet to complete. in addition to getting text descriptions of each image explained by each online developer, the camera may also be set to instant message any other person with the just documented image from the photographic device. this instant message would contain a link to the picture and a form in which he/she may input the description of the image. 

four results from the descriptive camera’s discernment, as seen in written form

the embedded linux platform, beaglebone from texas instruments, powers the camera itself. a USB webcam, shutter button, three LED status lights, and a thermal printer from adafruit have been affixed to the body of the device. ‘descriptive camera’ is also outfitted with a series of python scripts defining the interface and making cohesive all of the separate components and functions which comprise the image processing object. richardson’s mrBBIO module is employed for the LED display and shutter button while the designer used open-source command line utilities to communicate with mechanical turk. the entire device is then connected to the internet through an ethernet cable while receiving its power from an external 5 volt source.

richardson aspires to develop an additional version of ‘descriptive camera’ in which the device operates entirely wirelessly as it should ‘look and feel like a typical digital camera‘, says the designer.

the components which comprise the literal camera

the ‘descriptive camera’ functions as such: the user pushes the shutter button and an image is sent, via the internet, to mechanical turk for processing as the device awaits its human output. while waiting for the printed response, the yellow LED light is illuminated. the designer believes this feature is a tribute to film-based photo technology. results are typically achieved in six minutes to three minutes. richardson notes, ‘the thermal printer outputs the resulting text in the style of a polaroid print‘.

additional acknowledgments fswebcam by philip heron to help capture images from a USB webcam on the beaglebone. UART serial working on beaglebone using python by dan watt to help develop the printing aspect. beaglebones tutorial by nuno alves. professor dan o’sullivan‘s and computational cameras course peers for their conceptual feedback. 

via the new aesthetic

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INFINITI digital art competition – CURVED VISIONS designboom in collaboration with INFINITI is offering an international competition asking participants to design spectacular or interactive digital artworks or performances, to be exhibited throughout europe. participation is open to applicants from every country in the world: to professionals, design-enthusiasts, and students.

registration is free and now open, through july 10th, 2012. view the call-to-entry for more details!