SCIENCE AND BUSINESS

just Þnished addressing an enve-

lope to myself. The scratchy letters

resembled more the blips of an elec-

trocardiogramI

than handwritten script.

The scanning and recognition machine

from the State University of New York

at BuÝalo thought so, too. First, it was

tripped up by the bouncing array of

happy faces that I had scribbled all over

the envelope. Then it could not deal with

the pretentious, European-style, crossed

seven that I had scribed on the zip code.

Mine was one of the seven out of 10

handwritten addresses that the ma-

chineÕs software could only partially

read or else route directly toward the

reject bin after staring at the words for

up to a minute or so. The worldÕs most

sophisticated neural networkÑa grumpy

human mail sorterÑwould have routed

the envelope on its way, probably in

about five seconds.

POSTAL-CHARACTER READERS, such as the ones shown here, will be supplemented

By the turn of the decade, however,

by devices that can discern handwriting and hard-to-read type on envelopes.

the U.S. Postal Service wants more

address scanning and fewer mail clerks.

The goal, by then, is to distinguish one

supervisor of Advanced Information Sys-

to fund both projects) to help stave oÝ

out of two handwritten addresses in a

tems at AT&T Bell Laboratories. ÒSpon-

a projected $2-billion deÞcit for the

second or, preferably, much less time.

sorship of these development programs

current federal Þscal year. Postal oÛ-

The reason is simple: it costs $40 to

is undoubtedly driving the technology.Ó

cials plan to proceed with a replace-

sort 1,000 letters by hand, an amount

Last year the Postal Service entered

ment for the electronics in the current

that drops to $4 if done by machine.

into nine contracts whose value ranged

generation of OCRs, although much of

Will my handwriting get better, or will

from hundreds of thousands to mil-

the development bill may be footed by

S.U.N.Y.Õs algorithms read more accu-

lions of dollars with AT&T, IBM, West-

the companies that bid for the contract.

rately? Leading academic and corporate

inghouse, TRW, Hughes Aircraft and

Despite the cutbacks, the Postal Ser-

representatives who attended a Postal

other technology Þrms. The goal is to de-

vice will probably continue to fund a

Service conference from November 30

velop a machine that can process both

90-member research center at S.U.N.Y./

to December 2 in Washington, D.C., are

handwritten and type-printed discards

BuÝalo (and some other institutes) de-

betting on the latter.

from high-speed optical scanners. The

voted to pattern-recognition problems,

The sheer volume of mail deÞnes the

intention is to allow these rejects to be

research that the companies develop-

magnitude of the problem facing the

stamped with a bar code for the street

ing the products will eventually use.

Post OÛce. The service now processes

address, letting them be sorted without

The challenge of discerning an address

550 million letters every day, about 85

human intervention.

on an envelope diÝers from that of en-

percent of which have a machine-print-

The production contract, estimated

abling a computer to recognize hand-

ed address; the rest are handwritten.

by one supplier to total about $150 mil-

writing executed with a stylus, a tech-

Half of the mail with machine-printed

lion, will be less than a third of the cost

nology that is now commercially avail-

addresses gets correctly sorted by opti-

of a now scrapped eÝort to develop a

able. The pen device need only be trained

cal character-reading (OCR) machines

new generation of high-speed OCRs that

to recognize one individualÕs handwrit-

that operate at speeds up to 13 en-

would have incorporated a more ad-

ing. Any system that the Postal Service

velopes a second. The goal is to in-

vanced version of these recognition tech-

adopts must be able to work from the

crease the accuracy rate to 90 percent

nologies. The machine currently being

general case to the particularÑand it

for envelopes addressed with machine

developed will perform the same tasks

lacks critical information about pres-

print and to 50 percent for the hand-

but at slower speeds.

sure, motion and time that is captured

written mail. ÒThe Postal Service has the

Postmaster General Marvin Runyon

while a person is actually writing.

most challenging OCR problem in the

dropped research funding for the more

Breaking down cursive script into in-

world today,Ó says Charles E. Stenard,

ambitious eÝort (the original plan was

dividual letters is one of the most dif-

102

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN February 1993

Copyright 1993 Scientific American, Inc.

The immersive quality of virtual real-

ity, Dede says, makes it ideal for such

subjects as physics. ÒWe can get a di-

rect intuitive qualitative sense of physi-

cal laws. Such simulations are not pos-

sible with a mouse running around on

a ßat screen.Ó Furthermore, the virtual-

physics laboratory is not so dangerous

as some real physics experiments, as

anyone who has gotten a shock from a

spark generator or has been bopped by

a pendulum knows.

Although most virtual-reality systems

retain a certain level of unbelievability,

they have proved to be especially use-

ful in situations that would otherwise be

diÛcult to simulate. The near weight-

lessness of space is one such obvious

example. The more conventional tech-

niques all have shortcomings.

In underwater tanks, the viscosity of

water aÝects the training. Freely falling

aircraft such as the KC-135 can pro-

duce true weightlessness for only about

20 or 30 seconds. Air-bearing ßoors that

levitate astronauts on a cushion of air

do not provide the full three-dimen-

sional motion of ßoating in zero gravi-

ty. Virtual reality, on the other hand,

can accurately simulate all the condi-

tions of space, so NASA is now using

that technology for such tasks as train-

ing astronauts to grapple wayward sat-

ellites and use robotic arms.

But it may take a few years be-

fore such computer simulations become

commonplace in the classroom. The

virtual-physics laboratory is still rather

rudimentary. Even by the standards of

video games and television cartoons, the

images have a stilted quality. Also, the

computational speed limits the systemÕs

repertoire to a few simple mechanics ex-

periments. But by March, Loftin expects

to have a version that will enable users

to explore such concepts as angular mo-

mentum and energy conservation.

The future could bring virtual labora-

tories for other domains of science,

such as chemistry, biology and medi-

cine. Indeed, Loftin says that medical

schools have shown interest in virtual

reality for anatomy courses. ÒIt could be

like Fantastic Voyage,Ó Loftin observes,

referring to the movie based on Isaac

AsimovÕs story of scientists shrunk and

injected into a human body.

Prices, too, will have to come down

before virtual laboratories become wide-

spread. LoftinÕs headgear and control

glove cost several hundred thousand

dollars. Researchers are conÞdent, how-

ever, that within 10 years, virtual-reality

circuit boards should become available

for desktop computers. Then, coupled

to modest peripheral devices, the Þdeli-

ty would be suÛcient to do some really

surreal science.

ÑPhilip Yam

104

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN February 1993

Copyright 1993 Scientific American, Inc.

Learning Companies

Lightning Lure

Educating corporations

I

about how people learn

n February 1992 a lightning strike triggered an automatic shutdown of the

460,000-kilowatt Shimane Number One Reactor of the Central Japan Pow-

er Company. To avert another such occurrence at Shimane or any of the oth-

t Steelcase, Inc., in Grand Rapids,

er 43 nuclear power plants operating in Japan, corporate laboratory re-

Mich., researchers are redrawing

searchers as well as workers at universities in Osaka, Nagoya and Kyushu

oÛce blueprints to feature large

have been exploring an unusual preventative.

sharedAspaces, or ÔÔcommons,ÕÕ dotted

Following the lead of experiments conducted in the U.S. and the Soviet

with tiny spots of privacy called per-

Union 20 years ago, the Japanese investigators are attempting to develop la-

sonal harbors. Their goal is to con-

ser-beam conduits that can guide lightning bolts safely to the ground. A

struct an environment in which people

laser beam would do so, the researchers suggest, by creating an ionized path-

learn to accomplish tasks more rapidly

way along which a bolt would flow, like water in a pipe.

and so work more eÛciently. At Ameri-

Last year a team from Osaka University, Kansai Electric Power Company

can Airlines in DallasÐFort Worth, Tex.,

and the Institute for Laser Technology successfully shepherded an artificial

researchers hope to Þnd ways that al-

lightning bolt over a distance of 8.5 meters, setting a world record. At Japan

low diverse airport crewsÑfrom the tick-

Electric Power Industry’s Central Research Institute near Tokyo, another

et agents at check-in to the ßight atten-

group is working to beat the Kansai mark. In one of the institute’s huge exper-

dants on board the aircraftÑto provide

iment buildings, laser-guided lightning bolts routinely zoom three meters hor-

better service by learning to work to-

izontally across a copper-clad lab floor.

gether seamlessly.

The bolts are produced when pulses of infrared radiation from a 300-mega-

From management wizards such as

watt carbon dioxide laser are directed across the gap between a hanging

Tom Peters to pop business magazines

wire electrode and a grounded post. The laser energy heats dust and other

such as Inc., there is a blizzard of en-

particles in the air, vaporizing them into beads of plasma that line up like a

thusiasm for spurring learning at work.

string of minute conductors between the electrodes. Although the plasma ex-

ÒWeÕre trying to unravel why, in spite

ists for only a fraction of a second, it is time enough for a 600,000-volt

of this enormous investment in com-

streak of lightning to zap to the ground. “The lightning makes a very big

puters, we have had no productivity

sound,” says Takatoshi Shindo, head of the institute’s research team.

gains to show for it,Ó says William L. Mil-

Shindo hopes to be ready later this year to move the tests to the institute’s

ler, director of research and develop-

outdoor site high on a mountain plateau in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

ment at Steelcase. Many believe an an-

The facility features a 12-million-volt impulse generator, the world’s most

swer may lie in building environments

powerful. In a test conducted with the device last July, Shindo’s group guid-

that support learning. Firms may then

ed a lightning bolt over a course seven meters in length.

boost workersÕ abilities to solve prob-

Now he plans to extend the distance to 20 meters or more. To this end,

lems on the fly and so innovate. But spir-

Shindo has been testing new cone-shaped lenses that can focus the laser

its sag as companies realize they know

light over greater distances than can concave lenses. These, along with

very little about what strengthensÑor

multibeamed lasers, may be refined to extend plasmas for tens of meters.

cripplesÑlearning.

Shindo’s team has also come up with a clever way to use the relatively short

Consultants sell ready-made solutions

plasma beams produced by existing technology. The workers have designed

for companies. Panels of experts try to

an array of beam splitters and lenses that would produce a segmented curve

fix schools. But the small, nonprofit In-

of plasma reaching from the clouds to a grounded tower.

stitute for Research on Learning (IRL)

The system will first be used in winter, because the bases of storm clouds at

in Palo Alto, Calif., is one of the few ef-

that time of year are much closer to the ground than in summer. Even so,

forts looking for the common threads

Shindo believes his high-tech version of Ben Franklin’s kite and key will

in how people learn at school, work or

eventually lure lightning away from dangerous targets. —Tom Koppel, Tokyo

anywhere else. ÒIÕve been studying orga-

nizational learning for five or six years

now, and it seems that IRL has done the

most basic, innovative and profound re-

search in this area,Ó declares Patricia

Seybold, president of the Patricia Sey-

bold Group, an established publishing

and consulting firm in Boston.

IRL is itself an experiment. The insti-

tute, which has roots in XeroxÕs Palo

Alto Research Center, was launched as

an independent research collective in

1987 by former Xerox chairman David

T. Kearns. Its montage of linguists, an-

thropologists, computer scientists and

professional teachers began with the

hunch that people learn less through

formal instruction and more through

social interactions. ÒWe canÕt assume

ARTIFICIAL LIGHTNING is guided by a laser to a grounded post at Japan

that one discipline [professional teach-

ing] has a lock on learning,Ó says Susan

Electric Power IndustryÕs Central Research Institute near Tokyo.

U. Stucky, associate director of IRL.

Copyright 1993 Scientific American, Inc.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN February 1993

105

Copyright 1993 Scientific American, Inc.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN February 1993

107