Electronic Perception Design Contest

Canesta Announces Electronic Perception Design Contest

San Jose, CA; November 11, 2004 -- Canesta has announced a design contest for the best applications of Canesta's revolutionary, low-cost "Electronic Perception Technology." The two-phase contest has been created to spur development of applications in a broad range of markets--from automotive to security and facial recognition, gesture control, human computer interaction, entertainment, and many others.

The CanestaVision Contest, which is open to all eligible applicants 18 years and older, features a $10,000 first prize, a $5,000 second prize, summer internships for two promising student entries, and awards of ten $7,500 development kits that each include a Canesta 3-D sensor module. The winners in each phase will be those that simultaneously demonstrate novel applications of electronic perception technology, high market potential, a substantive advance in computer or "machine" vision, and the ability of the application to address an important or "real" need.

Details are available at www.canesta.com/contest.

The contest will feature an idea phase, and an implementation phase, each with its own prizes. During the idea phase, contestants will be asked to submit application ideas in the form of brief written descriptions and drawings. From the submitted proposals, due on or before December 6, 2004, the judges will select 10 proposal winners, each of whom will be awarded a Canesta DP200 Electronic Perception Development Kit. This development kit (EP DevKit) has a $7,500 list price and contains the CanestaVision 3-D electronic perception sensor chip--with a USB interface, and application program interface (API) software. The kits may be used by the winners to translate their proposals or other application ideas to working prototypes. Winners of the first phase of the contest will be notified by January 12, 2005.

The second phase of the contest--the implementation phase--will begin on January 12, 2005 and close June 10, 2005. Contestants in the implementation phase will submit to Canesta a working prototype built using the EP DevKit. From the submitted prototypes, judges will select a first place winner and a second place winner. Additionally, the top two student entries will be chosen. The first place winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000, with the second place winner receiving $5,000. Two paid summer internships will be granted to promising student entries at Canesta's headquarters in San Jose, California, during 2005. In addition, the winning entries will be displayed during SIGGRAPH 2005. All submitted proposals and prototype applications will become public domain.

Interested individuals should note that it is not necessary to participate in or be a winner in the idea phase to enter the second phase contest for cash prizes or internships. It is only required to submit a working prototype by June 10, 2005 that incorporates the CanestaVision sensor in some type of electronic vision application. Contestants who wish to begin application development immediately, or who fail to win one of 10 Development Kit awards in the proposal phase, can purchase their own EP DevKits from Canesta immediately. Academic institutions may receive special pricing.