I want a Femtosecond Camera

By Evil Genius Mum on September 26, 2012 • ( Leave a comment )

I want a Femtosecond Camera.

Remember the periscopes you used to make as a child?

Basic sketch of periscopes from a long-ago childhood.

Long, cardboard box (or pvc, if your dad was a plumber), couple of mum’s compact mirrors (or dad’s, if he was a musician), and suddenly you have the ability to peer around corners on unsuspecting citizens. Brilliant.

But MIT has taken it further – much further. And I want one.

The Femtosecond Camera is awesome. It captures light bouncing around the corner. That’s right – it can take photos AROUND CORNERS!!

(Short version here: http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10011717.html)

(Geek’s curiousity here: http://web.media.mit.edu/~raskar/cornar/)

Now, I originally thought “Camera requires light, dudes”. But this is quite ingenious. The camera fires a laser at a surface, to ‘ping’ your ~~victim~~ target. Then the geek minions take over with the calculations of light, distance, colour, contrast, etc. All done immediately. And I want one.

Think of the evil potential in this! <*insert evil laugh here*> I can finally learn how Evil Genius Dad is making my skirt smell like bacon (read: World-wide bacon shortage now explained). And don’t even get me started on Sinister’s current fascination with LEGO trebuchets.

Oh yeah – MIT says they intend for it to be used in Search and Rescue, and something like that. Not when my NEW FEMTOSECOND CAMERA arrives…