Can we make a camera see behind walls? [video] (opens in new tab)

(youtube.com)

30 pointsACAVJW4H1y ago14 comments

14 comments

This reminds me of MIT’s work on femto-photography to see around corners. They used ultrafast laser pulses to bounce light off walls, capturing the reflections from hidden objects. By analyzing the time-of-flight data, they could reconstruct 3D shapes of objects not in direct view. <https://web.media.mit.edu/~raskar/cornar/>

juancn1y ago

Using a projector and computing the light field (i.e. single pixel, controlled light source) it is also possible to look around corners.

It's probably easier to achieve than time of flight of photons.

xnx1y ago

That's exactly what I was expecting given he [original] video title.

kobalsky1y ago

The title from the video was changed to "What if we made a camera that sees in reverse?" which is more fitting since "seeing behind walls" was a bit clickbaity since the camera is mounted big arm literally peeking with a mirror.

The guy made a home made camera with orthographic projection, that should been enough for the title...

geerlingguy1y ago

Sadly this post will probably get buried because it's a video link, but it really deserves some front page coverage.

This project involves a bunch of different disciplines, and I'm always amazed by what Shane can do in his (very expensive) mad science lab.

huttyoop1y ago

I really wish HN would have a ‘video’ tag link at the top next to ‘new’, ‘show’, and ‘ask’.

Over the years I’ve written various scripts and tools to only grab yt links or posts with [video] in the title from the HN api.

Be nice if I could just click the link at the top rather than rebuilding each time I lose the old ones. :)

romanhn1y ago

Amazing engineering here, but isn't this equivalent to raising your camera above the wall and then snapping a pic? This wasn't really seeing behind walls in the sense I expected.

geerlingguy1y ago

The idea of a camera that can design its own lens by shifting the sensor in a large area is interesting on its own, but the 'hook' is it can "see behind things" by being so large.

The title appeals to a broader audience, and technically it's true, if comparing to any typical camera or working human eyeball arrangement.

bitshiftfaced1y ago

It's a bit different than that since the image perspective is as if the camera is directly in front of the wall. Normally if you take a picture from above the wall, the perspective is from the angle of the camera pointing over the shoulder of the wall.

pants21y ago

The orthographic image is the coolest thing I've seen in a while! This is some remarkable engineering. I expected the images to be much lower quality but they look great.

Havoc1y ago

Vaguely related. Recently discovered that the 24ghz radar units I’ve got go through walls. Not solid brick walls though

onetokeoverthe1y ago

tempest. 20+ years ago.

can 'see' computer screens thru walls at a distance.

https://yandex.com/search/?text=tempest+program+see+computer...

BatFastard1y ago

Very misleading.

FloNeu1y ago

It’s called a window

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

14 comments

ACAVJW4HOP1y ago

juancn1y ago

Using a projector and computing the light field (i.e. single pixel, controlled light source) it is also possible to look around corners.

It's probably easier to achieve than time of flight of photons.

xnx1y ago

That's exactly what I was expecting given he [original] video title.

kobalsky1y ago

The guy made a home made camera with orthographic projection, that should been enough for the title...

geerlingguy1y ago

Sadly this post will probably get buried because it's a video link, but it really deserves some front page coverage.

This project involves a bunch of different disciplines, and I'm always amazed by what Shane can do in his (very expensive) mad science lab.

huttyoop1y ago

I really wish HN would have a ‘video’ tag link at the top next to ‘new’, ‘show’, and ‘ask’.

Over the years I’ve written various scripts and tools to only grab yt links or posts with [video] in the title from the HN api.

Be nice if I could just click the link at the top rather than rebuilding each time I lose the old ones. :)

romanhn1y ago

Amazing engineering here, but isn't this equivalent to raising your camera above the wall and then snapping a pic? This wasn't really seeing behind walls in the sense I expected.

geerlingguy1y ago

The idea of a camera that can design its own lens by shifting the sensor in a large area is interesting on its own, but the 'hook' is it can "see behind things" by being so large.

The title appeals to a broader audience, and technically it's true, if comparing to any typical camera or working human eyeball arrangement.

bitshiftfaced1y ago

pants21y ago

The orthographic image is the coolest thing I've seen in a while! This is some remarkable engineering. I expected the images to be much lower quality but they look great.

Havoc1y ago

Vaguely related. Recently discovered that the 24ghz radar units I’ve got go through walls. Not solid brick walls though

onetokeoverthe1y ago

tempest. 20+ years ago.

can 'see' computer screens thru walls at a distance.

https://yandex.com/search/?text=tempest+program+see+computer...

BatFastard1y ago

Very misleading.

FloNeu1y ago

It’s called a window

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse