Weird Science: Space-Age Exhibit Solutions That are Stranger Than Fiction

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	Hello Proto: Shapeways Status: Currently Available Rapid prototyping machines that create three-dimensional objects have been around since "Star Trek: The Next Generation," when the Enterprise's replicators manufactured everything from machine parts to human organs. Similar to an ink-jet printer, these devices work by taking an image of virtually anything supplied by a standard computer-aided-design (CAD) program, then ladling out an "ink" of plastic particles and glue on a hard surface where they solidify into the intended shape. But with these machines-that-make-machines costing upwards of $100,000, they're not for anyone whose budget isn't in high orbit. Enter Shapeways, which offers an inexpensive alternative that beats the others' costs by light years. Instead of buying your own rapid prototyper, you upload an image of what you want made to its site. In about two weeks, the company manufactures and sends you the finished product, which can be as large as 17-by-17-by-15 inches. With more and more of these services appearing, it's clear that rapid prototyping is the shape of things to come. Source: Shapeways, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, [email protected], www.shapeways.com
	Look Who's Stalking: Sociometric Badge Status: In Development In the novel "Hominids," people are implanted at birth with a device that records every moment of their lives and sends it to the authorities. Now you can "implant" a similar device into your staffers and booth visitors. Researchers at MIT and Hitachi Ltd. are experimenting with Sociometric Badges that track, record, and interpret how booth staff or visitors to your event or exhibit interact. Outfitted with infrared sensors, a wireless radio, an accelerometer, a microphone, and, in the Hitachi version, an LCD screen, the badges - which are about as big as a deck of cards - monitors how many other people the wearers speak to, how close they stand to each other, where and how they move, their speech patterns, and even their levels of interest, boredom, and empathy. Then it transmits all this data to a visualization program on a monitor in real-time so your staffers can see what they're doing - and how their socializing stacks up next to each other. So despite what you may have heard in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," yes, maybe you do need those stinkin' badges. Source: MIT's Media Lab Human Dynamics Lab, Cambridge, MA, 617-253-3818, hd.media.mit.edu; Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, 81-3-3258-1111, www.hitachi.com

The Sky's the Limit: SkyCeiling
Status: Currently Available
Between blowing acid-spewing monsters out of the airlock, Sigourney Weaver took a time out from combating creepy crawlies in "Aliens" for some R&R next to a life-size virtual-reality projection of a rain forest, complete with chirping birds and life-size trees. Like the movies' synthetic wilderness, the SkyCeiling is a virtual atmosphere that can transform the sunless interior spaces of the trade show floor into the great outdoors. Constructed of high-definition photographs backlit by LED or fluorescent lights, SkyCeilings also use an "elevator" - a patented aluminum frame that recesses the translucent image above the ceiling grid - which creates a 3-D effect. For those exhibits without a roof, the SkyCeiling's sister product, the Luminous Virtual Window, can also light up your life - or at least your booth - with the same sunny results. Source: The Sky Factory LC, Fairfield, IA, 866-759-3228, theskyfactory.com

Get the Picture: 3-D Holographic Projection
Status: Currently Available
Ever since a 3-D projection of a Barbie-sized Princess Leia beseeched Obi-Wan Kenobi for his help in the first "Star Wars," holograms have remained a tantalizing technology that was always just around the corner but never quite arrived. Until now, that is. Musion Eyeliner's 3-D Holographic Projection system uses a special foil that reflects images from high-definition video projectors to create virtual images of varying sizes and ultra-real clarity. Based on an illusionist's trick from the 1860s known as Pepper's Ghost, you record your subjects in HDTV, broadcast the footage onto the foil (usually positioned in back of a bespoke cabinet or stretched over a truss framework), which then reflects back a solid-seeming object to the audience. Using either an HD Mpeg2 digital hard-disc player or HD cam player connected to the projector, you can produce lifelike and life-size images from about 20 square inches to virtual vistas approximately 66-by-328 feet. With prerecorded routines, you can even appear to interact with the hologram - like human actors did with Yoda - but with effortless acting that won't require a lot of the Force. Source: Musion Systems Ltd., London, 44-0-207-636-9200, www.musion.co.uk

Home Sweet Home: Push Button House
Status: Currently Available
The Monsanto House of the Future, featured at Disneyland from 1957 to 1967, bragged it was a "revolution." The house washed dishes by using sound vibrations, cooked food using microwaves, and featured telephones operated by push-button dialing. You could do almost anything with the House of the Future but pick it up and move it. For that, you'd need the Push Button House. Debuting in 2007 at the 52nd Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, the 11,000-pound prefabricated dwelling unfolds in 45 seconds from a shipping container-like shape that's 8-feet-wide, 8.5-feet-tall, and 20-feet-long into a structure that's 800 square feet. After the show, simply push the button again, and the house folds up almost as quickly as a card table. Set on wheels that allow it to be moved easily by human labor on the show floor, the house is towed by forklift once it's closed up. Made of sustainable materials, the one-story Push Button House is a ready-made option for exhibitors that will have you saying, "There's no place like home." Source: Kalkin Co., New York, 908-696-1999, www.architectureandhygiene.com

Spray 'n Watch: Spray-on Monitors
Status: In Development
In 1910, a French food manufacturer published a series of postcards that showed the marvels that awaited us in the year 2000, such as underwater croquet, flying tennis - and television. The idea of a gadget that could transmit sound and pictures over vast distances was as amazing then as Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.'s spray-on screens are now. Based on the emerging concept of "spreadable electronics," you simply spray liquids containing the same kinds of molecules used in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) onto any surface with the abandon of a graffiti artist - from walls and tables to floors and staffers' T-shirts. Then simply connect (or beam) a video source to it, and, voila, you have instant video on any surface you choose - without the drayage and other costs associated with bulky plasma monitors. And there's no need to worry about an energy source, because the molecules in the spray are solar powered. Armed with just a spray can, you'll be able to turn your exhibit's flooring, your meeting rooms' tabletops, or an entire exterior wall into something that everyone will want to monitor. Source: Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., Tokyo, 81-3-6414-3000, www.m-kagaku.co.jp; Sumitomo Chemical Company Ltd., Tokyo, 81-3-5543-5102, www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp

In Living Color: TheAnemix
Status: Currently Available
If you could transform your exhibit's walls into the clouds of interstellar gas and dust called nebula, they would shine in the ruby hues of Jupiter's Red Spot, the sapphire shades of Earth's oceans, and the golden tones of the sun's flames. Now you can turn your exhibit space into something equally, well, spacey with theAnemix. Designed by two Chilean architects, theAnemix uses LED technology that shines through glass/aluminum panels comprising a luminescent layer and a reflective layer to create what appear to visitors as 3-D images that seem nearly alive. The panels can be used as walls or flooring, with customizable visual effects that you can control wirelessly. Source: Luixa, Santiago, Chile, 56-2-233-50-34, theanemix.com

The Writing's on the Air: Flowlight Status: In Development Whether you scribble a grocery list with a 20-cent Bic, or write the great American novel using a $730,000 Limited Edition Mont Blanc pen encrusted with 840 diamonds, they both leave a snail-like trail of goo on a hard surface. Compared to that, Flowlight turns mere writing into high-tech wizardry. The device allows you to write and draw in the air - without the need for any solid surface. The Flowlight in effect creates a series of dots in the air that the human eye perceives as a continuous line. Then whatever you compose - from sales pitches to sonnets - hangs there in space, like semi-permanent skywriting that glows like a light saber. Source: D-Vision, Herzelia, Israel, 972-9-962-6413, www.d-vision.co.il		Guiding Lights: Litrospheres Status: Currently Available The greatest spectacle at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago wasn't the 265-foot-high Ferris wheel, the first belly dancers in America, or the temple built from 30,000 pounds of chocolate. The real stars of the show were the 100,000 incandescent lights that bathed the historic fair in what one reporter called a "grand illumination." The expo had the "light stuff," and now, more than a century later, Litrosphere microparticles do, too. The Grand Prize winner of NASA's 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, the micro-particles can be injection molded into virtually any size or shape, or added to any paint to create a material that emits light 24/7 for at least 12 years. Exhibitors could forgo traditional energy-intensive lighting options by creating art-like objects to illuminate the booth space; make tables, floors, and desks that beam like neon signs; or paint their walls or floor tiles in everything from Piet Mondrian-like blocks of color to sensual paisley swirls that glow like Tiffany lamps. Now that's a bright idea. Source: MPK Co., Clayton, WI, 715-948-2100, www.glopaint.com
Make Your Mark: Thermosensitive Furnishings Status: Currently Available Fifty years ago, the Owens-Illinois Glass Co. assured Americans that the homes of the future would have glass refrigerators, chairs, and walls. Its forecast didn't quite come true. Instead of transparent panes and furniture, you can have Touch Walls and matching thermosensitive furnishings that rainbow through a variety of hues when you make contact with them. The panels, seats, and pillows morph through one of three color changes when the body heat from a visitor's touch activates their thermosensitive properties. The effect lasts for 30 seconds, turning your exhibit into a kaleidoscoping property. Source: Visual Reference Studio, Jackson, MS, 601-944-0023, www.visualreferencestudio.com	Staffers 2.0: Actroid DER2 Status: Currently Available From Gort in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to the evil Decepticons in "Transformers" to the Cylons in "Battlestar Galactica," the world has always been fascinated by the intelligent robots of science-fiction fame. But that science fiction is becoming modern-day fact faster than you can say "Fembots," with humanoid machines such as the Actroid DER2. Made in the likeness of a Japanese girl, the silicone-skinned android comes with the ability to produce a wide range of natural facial expressions and body movements - such as blinking and breathing - run by pneumatic-powered motors. The Actroid's sensors allow it to make eye contact with anyone who approaches the automaton, while its artificial intelligence allows it to understand and react to questions and statements. With 1 million robots already in workplaces worldwide, the Actroid might soon replace your human staffers and become a regular part of your exhibit, fielding product-related questions from booth visitors - after they locate Sarah Connor, of course. Source: Kokoro Co. Ltd., Tokyo, 81-3-3779-8506, www.kokoro-dreams.co.jp/english