Earlier this year, Nagoya University presented the world’s smallest shooting game in collaboration with Hirosaki University. Inspired by their love of retro games, Professor Takayuki Hoshino and his team created the game to provide a real-time demonstration of their advances in nano-mixed reality (Nano MR) – the seamless integration of virtual objects (the game’s “spaceship” and “bullets”) with extremely tiny, real physical objects (nano-scale polystyrene balls acting as “enemies”). Rather than just being a bit of Space Invaders-inspired fun, this technology has potential for some exciting real-life applications, especially in the field of medical treatment (Source: phys.org).
The world’s smallest shooting game is so tiny that it is completely invisible to the naked eye – in fact, it is nano-sized. For reference, nanoparticles are one millionth of a millimeter in diameter. Even your best pair of glasses is not going to help you get anywhere near to seeing this.
As seen in Nagoya University’s video above, a highly magnified projection was shown on a special display in real-time. The white, round shapes of differing sizes on the screen are actually physical microspheres, nano-sized balls of polystyrene, that are used as enemies. To manipulate these physical “enemies”, the researchers used high-speed electron beams. These super powerful beams can be used to generate dynamic patterns of electronic fields or optical images on a display surface.
For this game, high-speed electron beams were used to form the player’s triangular “spaceship” and its tiny “bullets.” The game controller was used to manipulate the scanning pattern of these electron beams, resulting in a playable game. The player can shoot electron beam “bullets” out of the tip of the ship. The video shows that these bullets have an actual impact on the nanoparticles, causing them to move around.
Thus, the world’s smallest shooting game was created to demonstrate the research team’s breakthrough in an easy-to-understand manner. The real-time interactions between the virtual and the physical that this game demonstrates are an important advancement in Nano MR, a technology that has important applications across various fields, including nanotechnology and biomedical engineering.
As quoted in the phys.org article, Hoshino commented on potential future developments based on this research: “We could 3D print the created objects in real time, potentially revolutionizing the world of 3D printing. Or use the same guidance technique to guide toxic agents to virus cells in living organisms and kill them.”
