Controlled Quantum Levitation Used To Build Wipeout Track 162
First time accepted submitter gentryx writes "Researchers at the Japan Institute of Science and Technology have build a miniature Wipeout track (YouTube video) using high temperature superconductors and quantum levitation. Right now this is fundamental research, but in the future large scale transportation systems could be built with technology akin to this. I have a different vision: let Nintendo sell this as an accessory for the Wii U. I'd buy several of these tracks, let the gliders race through the whole house and track them on our TV!"
Update: 01/05 22:08 GMT by S : As many readers have pointed out, this is CGI.
Um? (Score:5, Informative)
Um... it's a confirmed fake?
Re:Um? (Score:5, Informative)
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The technology exists though and from what I've seen isn't incredibly difficult (although I may be misinformed) to replicate, so I have to wonder why they didn't do so.
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What tipped me off was that it was available in 720p and clear to view. Most science demonstration videos are at best 320p, with alot of grainy artefacts.
In other words (Score:2)
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You could literally tell from the pixels?
In this case he could tell from the lack of visible pixels.
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I do think it's fake. But when people have phones that shoot 720p video and upload it to YouTube in a couple of clicks, being in HD isn't the suspicious bit.
It *is* a fake... (Score:2)
... but it did tip me into making my first PS3 store purchase, Wipeout 2097 from the PSX classics section.
Market-leading bastards. Now if you'll excuse me I have some reflexes to get back...
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If only you could read Japanese....
"This is a short recording Taju Mohn our research and experiments on quantum levitation. Bibliography of young researchers in the lab said the game "Wipe'Out" was inspired by our research led to the launch.
They are the result of research by our near future, life-sized "Wipe'Out" would have been expected to be a race."
Also, the technology (and understood quantum effects) exists and is well documented.
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In english it says that
"This is a short recording of our work in q-levitation in a project inspired by the game wipe'out"
It says that the demonstration is inspired by wipeout, not the quantum levitation research.
Also to GP who thinks this is a fake because it has a copyright disclaimer, the copyright
disclaimer apparently references to all wipe'out IP, that is music, theming, the name wipe'out etc.
Anyway, I'm not saying that this isn't a fake. But if it is a fake I cannot see the telltales.
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No, I'm implying that this could EASILY be manufactured and done IRL. Of course, I know which principles they're using, and how said principles work.
Sure, the video is CGI, but some of these people are saying the ENTIRE thing is fake. They obviously failed some advanced physics classes, or fell asleep in them.
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Sorry to break this, but... (Score:5, Informative)
...the video is a fake. I'm amazed that OP didn't catch this, and I'm amazed it fell through the cracks and ended up on the front page. Seriously, just look at the CGI effects.
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Re:Sorry to break this, but... (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Sorry to break this, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
The real quantum levitation doesn't need that throttle, just give a push and it would skim around really fast. That doesn't even look right. The real thing is much smoother: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws6AAhTw7RA [youtube.com]
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wow, that is absolutely amazing! :/ but if it is, wait till when we can do this at temperatures upto +40C !
Tho is that even real
Now that would be freakishly cool
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You don't cool the track down, you would cool the vehicles themselves, and you could probably cool them enough with dry ice along with "refueling" for some lengthy races.
Re:Sorry to break this, but... (Score:4, Informative)
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The absolutely massive amounts of Nd you would require to cover that much acreage in 1 foot thick rare earth magnets, for one?
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To do IRL Wipeout it would be far easier to build some kind of hovercraft, along these lines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i5WYZdhDFY [youtube.com]
These are closer to regular old hovercrafts, I'm thinking something more like a VTOL craft that uses a combination of lifting thrust and ground-effect aerodynamic lift.
In any case you can forget about the big jumps.
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well you would if you wanted to control the object. Initially I thought they made a break through that allowed it to push itself. Sooo. bummer.
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Very simple electromagnets could handle that...
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indeed, this could be easily done with maglev tech.
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Why would you be amazed? This is pretty much par for the course here these days..
Thats just to cool (Score:1)
More likely to be a Sony or Microsoft accessory. (Score:1)
Nintendo isn't known for making high-cost accessories.
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THIS IS FAKE (Score:5, Informative)
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Look carefully and the vapour trails go through the walls.
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I thought it was obvious: for a new game from Sony Entertsinment: Wipeout Quamtum.
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If you read your own link, it posits that the vid MAY be a viral ad, much like a SIMILAR one previously turned out to be shelling for a movie.
However, this vid has not been in any way associated with an ad campaign. It's just a CGI mockup with what seems like a real track and fake cars. This implies the publishers went through considerable effort to create it physically, but failed to achieve their goal.
Overall, this is deceptive and only does them a disservice.
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Not quite failed. Geeks in /. now are aware of the (upcoming) Wipeout Quantum game, presumably for the PS3.
Slashdot trolled (Score:5, Informative)
Yep, you lose slashdot. This is a troll. If it was controlled levitation the rotation of the vehicles would be fixed to their original position, and would not rotate to match the track.
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And now it shows in Slashdot. Jesus.
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Ya, I was just having a bad day. Don't take it personally.
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Re:Slashdot trolled (Score:4, Informative)
Depends whether the hypothetical field was a trench. If the field bent with the track, then the flux-pinning would make it turn to the field closest to that which it had pinned to. The video is pretty believable in that sense, since the magnets appear to run the length of the track segments.
Of course at that point, you wouldn't be able to change lanes.
I think they did a pretty good job of making this look a lot like a real setup would have looked.
Wipeout, on nVidia Riva 128 (Score:2)
Wipeout, on nVidia Riva 128
So many memories that I don't care if the film is fake or not.
Nostalgia.
How can you NOT spot that this is fake? (Score:3, Insightful)
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Re:How can you NOT spot that this is fake? (Score:4, Funny)
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There used to be the Toronto Institute of Technology and Science (TITS). I'm not sure what it's named now.
Nice one. They should collaborate with the Curtin University of New Technology (CUNT). Who knows what might eventuate?
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Curtin never had "New" in it's name, that's just a joke.
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Yeah. It might be.
Seth
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How did this slip through and reach the front page?
You must be new here...
FAKE FAKE FAKE!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Fake (Score:2)
This seems pretty clearly to be fake. Look at, for example, at 1:13-1:16 and, in particular, the "exhaust" from the yellow car thing as it is rendered on top of the track instead of being obscured by it.
Come all already (Score:5, Funny)
The only thing more embarrassing for /. for posting this obvious fake...well, it'll be when it gets reposted in 2 days...
Off-Topic with Karma to Burn (Score:2)
So... how about that new design that just popped up? (Go on, hit F5.)
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Looks the same to me.
Fake, but Quantum Levitation is real. (Score:3)
Re:Fake, but Quantum Levitation is real. (Score:5, Informative)
"Quantum levitation" is just trying to make old superconductivity effects somehow sound even more cool. Try Meissner effect and flux pinning instead.
Sorry! (Score:5, Funny)
...didn't know this was a fake. Kind of spoils the fun of having a ./ story posted for the first time. :-/
ps: I'm not affiliated with the creators of the video.
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Also, while we're nitpicking, it's /. not ./ you insensitive clod!
Re:Sorry! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sorry! (Score:4, Insightful)
Kind of spoils the fun of having a ./ story posted for the first time. :-/
Don't worry. Even if it had been authentic, someone would have thrown feces at it anyway. XD
Fluke. (Score:1)
And this is why... (Score:1)
And this is why we can't allow first-time accepted submitters.
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Why not just go all out and disallow first-time parents?
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Why not just go all out and disallow first-time parents?
I'd prefer to not allow procreation on Slashdot at all, first-time or otherwise.
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What quantum levitation.? (Score:3)
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Presumably they're talking about the Meissner Effect, since they're also talking about superconductors. Flux pinning is another phenomenon also related to the Meissner Effect. The Casimir Effect doesn't seem to have any relationship to the levitation mentioned (and the phenomenon doesn't seem to have had much in the way of applications outside of nanotechnology).
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"Quantum levitation" is just a new fancy buzzword for superconductivity [wikipedia.org] to make sound like something new what's essentially a hundred year old discovery.
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I must admit it worked. It does sound cool.
P.S. Did something change in here?? I need to hit " Reply" twice now. The first time I click it, the Twitbook and Myface icons pop up, and the second time it takes me to the Reply page. WTF???
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err... not exactly. Its for a specific effect regarding Quantum levitation.
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Why is it so special, it's a consequence of zero resistance. Any superconductor will levitate not just specific ones.
Why the Wii? (Score:3)
They didn't actually do it? (Score:4, Informative)
It's quite possible to do this. See this video [youtube.com] of quantum-locked magnetic levitation. And this one, with an actual levitating skateboard. [popsci.com]
It looks like the people behind this video cheaped out and didn't actually build the thing, which is lame.
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More of same. [youtube.com]
In the words of KnowYourMemes... (Score:2)
English, do you speak it? (Score:5, Funny)
Please. It's "have builded".
Soundtrack? (Score:1)
I tend to be a drum & bass junkie long before a nerd (though, in some parts, it seems that bassheads are always the nerds).
Next time...RTFA? (Score:1)
From the description of the video, the soundtrack is:
Noisia - Seven Stitches
Mist - Smart Systems
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First one is MIST - Smart Systems [youtube.com]. Second one is Noisia - Seven Stitches [youtube.com].
My guess: Vita ad (Score:1)
Advertisement (Score:2)
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Pretty sure Maglev wouldn't have kept them floating over the vertical part of the track.
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It depends on the type of superconductor. With the right setup, the fields become locked to each other so that you can levitate over, under, off to the side, etc. That falls under the category of things you can call "maglev". Of course, this video is faked, but the things it depicts are perfectly real, if imperfectly presented in this fake.
Two kinds of people (Score:1)
Better than average Timothy post (Score:2)
I mean, fake obviously but still more interesting than the 45th "I'm too cool for 3d, which isn't even really 3d" pile-on thread.
Oh, and here's a video of someone who actually implemented a Meissner effect racetrack, complete with elevation changes: here [videosift.com]
highlighting a mistake in the fake (Score:2)
This shows the smoke on the wrong side of the track...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K610EpvszLk
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I can see the double slit experiment with my own eyes. Does the word quantum apply to wave-particle duality? Also, isn't the alteration of rhodopsin from reaction with a photon a quantum effect, making the word 'quantum' apply to everything you can see with your own eye?
Doesn't seem like the sort of thing you can really successfully nit-pick about in a place filled with pedants like this.
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or this one?
4:40 in: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/401902/november-09-2011/americone-dream-of-the-future [colbertnation.com]