Artificial Retinas Can Balance a Pencil On Its End

mikejuk writes "A team of researchers has built a neural information system that is good enough and fast enough to balance a pencil in real time. If you think it's an easy task, try it! The Institute of Neuroinformatics, ETH / University Zurich have used what look like video cameras to do the job but in fact they are analog silicon retinas. They work so fast that even with fairly basic hardware they can balance a pencil."

Re:Video Date:

[Samantha Wright]

Slashdot is like Playboy: you don't read it for the bits advertised on the front page, but for the large amounts of text in between.

(Also, both are trademarks comprised of two words where the space has been removed and people who capitalise the second word look hella uniformed.)

But...

[93 Escort Wagon]

Can those fancy algorithms make a pencil disappear?

Re:Try it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do not balance pencil on remaining retina :(

Ow!

[Greyfox]

I tried balancing a pencil on my eyeball, and now I need a new retina. Perhaps these guys can sell me one...

#betterthanapokeintheeyewithabluntstick

[lennier]

Stop playing with that pencil. It's all fun and games until someone loses a silicon retina.

Re:Try it?

[bawdymonkey]

Do not balance pencil on remaining retina .(

Fixed that for you. :D