Search This Blog

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

ESP ~ the 6th [mindsense] gadget of Jaguar cars !

NooravathuNaal (100thDay) directed by Manivannan starring Mohan, Vijayakant, Nalini and Sathyaraj was released in 1984 ….the suspense thriller was of a psychopath who abducts young women and kills them.  In the film, they will see a weekly magazine with a cover photo of horse (much before the release of the magazine) and sooner the same will hit the stands …. More of such premonition would follow ……… including killings..In the 1990s, Malayalam films of Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi had good run in Chennai, especially in Saffire theatre… ‘Iyer the Great; was one such psychological thriller directed by Bhadran, starring Mammootty&Geetha.  The storyline was on ‘ESP’…..


Extrasensory perception or ESP, includes reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition. ESP is also sometimes referred to as a sixth sense.

Jaguar”.. .. ..Pantheraonca, is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in theWestern Hemisphere.  This spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard physically, although it is usually larger and of sturdier build and itsbehavioral and habitat characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. 

The luxury cars of Jaguar needs no introduction … sometime back Jaguar was quoted as stating that it would invest $2.4 billion in a new range of lightweight aluminium sports sedans and crossover SUVs aimed at the mass market, creating 1,700 jobs in a British economy showing signs of resilience. The spending is part of a move to launch more affordable models from 2015 to emulate the success of lower cost luxury vehicles made by its sister company Land Rover.  Jaguar Cars  headquartered in Whitley, Coventry,England, owned by Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC, is now a subsidiary of Indian automaker Tata Motors. Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company by Sir William Lyons in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before developing passenger cars.



One fascinating thing about the Car is its logo ~ the  Jaguar logo comprises of a jumping jaguar above the company’s name, depicting speed, power and brilliance of the cars produced by the company.The Jaguar logo was created in 1935. The logo was first seen on a sedan called S.S. 100 Jaguar that was manufactured at the time. However, later, when the production of Jaguar cars commenced, the logo was changed to the eminent wild cat symbol, known as ‘Jaguar’, which looks like it is pouncing over the name of the company.There are many models and the Jaguar F Type costs around Rs.1.40 crores in India.  Jaguar XF is much cheaper – starting around 45 lakhs and rising beyond 1.5o crores. The latest brainwave from Jaguar - a car with a 'sixth sense' that reads your mind  !!!!

The newsitem in MailOnline on the car that can read one’s mind is fascinating;  this sixth sense would help save people by measuring how well its drivers are concentrating through their brainwaves.The aim is to reduce the number of accidents caused by drivers who are stressed, distracted and failing to concentrate on the road ahead.  It is stated that Jaguar will use a range of sensors in steering wheels and seats to monitor the driver.

The brainwave research project called ‘MindSense’ is to see if a car could effectively read the brainwaves that indicate a driver is beginning to daydream, or feeling sleepy, whilst driving.Currently, the most common method for monitoring brainwaves is close to the source using sensors attached to a headband. But this would be impractical in a vehicle. So Jaguar Land Rover is investigating a method already used by NASA to develop a pilot’s concentration skills and also by the US bobsleigh team to enhance concentration and focus. This detects brainwaves through the hands via sensors embedded in the steering wheel. The Jaguar Land Rover ‘Sixth Sense’ research project uses advanced technology from sports, medicine and aerospace to monitor the driver’s heart rate, respiration and levels of brain activity to identify driver stress, fatigue and lack of concentration.

Jaguar’s UK-based researchers are looking at other innovations that would reduce the amount of time the driver’s eyes are off the road whilst driving. This includes a ‘wellness seat’ in a Jaguar XJ which analyses the driver’s heart rate and breathing to monitor driver health and stress, touchscreens that predict which button you want to press as the user’s fingers are in mid-air, and a new vibrating and pulsing accelerator pedal that communicates hazards to the driver. They were being shown off at JLR’s engineering and research centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire recently. 

The brainwave research project called ‘MindSense’ is to see if a car could effectively read the brainwaves that indicate a driver is beginning to daydream, or feeling sleepy, whilst driving.A Jaguar spokesman said: ‘Because the sensing is taking place further away from the driver’s head, software is used to amplify the signal and filter out the pure brainwave from any background ‘noise’'. The car firm is currently conducting user trials to collect more information on the different brainwaves identified through the steering wheel sensors and will involve leading neuroscientists in the project to verify the results.

Even if the eyes are on the road, a lack of concentration or a daydream will mean the driver isn’t paying attention to the driving task. They may miss a warning icon or sound, or be less aware of other road users so we are looking at how we could identify this and prevent it causing an accident.’ He said: ‘If brain activity indicates a daydream or poor concentration, then the steering wheel or pedals could vibrate to raise the driver’s awareness and re-engage them with driving’. To reduce driver distraction by minimising the amount of time the driver’s eyes are on the dashboard or ‘infotainment’ screen, a prototype car uses cameras embedded in the car to track the driver’s hand movements and this enables the system to predict which button the driver intends to press.JLR said: ‘This allows successful button selection to take place in mid-air, which means users wouldn’t have to touch the screen itself. Jaguar says the system could also use ‘mid-air touch’ to provide the driver with a sensation, otherwise known as ‘haptic feedback’, that their button selection has been successful.

This strange sensation is created using ultrasonic signals to create a touch sensation in mid-air without the skin needing to be in contact with any surface. These sensations could include a ‘tap’ on your finger or a ‘tingling’ on your fingertips. Such sensations could also be used to ‘communicate’ with the driver using pulses and vibrations through the accelerator pedal to increase the speed of response and to ensure the correct action is taken.

So there are cars fitted with gadgets of modern technology and here is a car where technology would drive you !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

18th June 2015.

No comments:

Post a Comment