Sixthsense to Go Open Source

Pranav Mistry, the genius behind SixthSense, said that the software related to his project will be provided open-source starting next months.

Sixthsense is a wearable device that allows interaction between human gestures and data elaboration and display, the device consists of a small camera and projector that is used to show information onto surfaces.

With Sixthsense a person can easily see the Amazon ratings of a book by just holding it up in a bookstore, he can "convert" his hand to a calculator or he can even watch online videos related to an article he is reading on a newspaper. Other practical applications are supposed to appear as Sixthsense is still in development.

Sixthsense was first presented by Mistry at a TED conference in February 2009 (see video), but only in the TEDIndia conference held yesterday Mistry announced the release of his project as open source and other new features including touch interfaces and the possibility to play 3D games.

"Rather than waiting for that time to come, I want people to make their own system. Why not?", said Mistry. "People will be able to make their own hardware. I will give them instructions how to make it. And also provide them key software...give them basic key software layers, they will be able to build their own applications. They will be able to modify base level and do anything".

The Sixthsense device can be built with less than $350, especially after Mistry's decision to release the hardware instructions and the open source software.