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Comment Re:RTS games? (Score 1) 106

Well, that and I just don't really care much about robots. The UML Robotics Lab where Mark works does some great stuff, I'm just not that interested in the robotics part.

BTW, the robots here simulate range sensors and video cameras and do not use an environment description to move around. There's a physics engine driving all the movement, too.

Submission + - Robot Swarm Control on the MS Surface (makezine.com)

zerOnIne writes: Dr. Mark Micire of UMass Lowell has built an intriguing new user interface on the Microsoft Surface, a multitouch-capable table computer. The interface is being used to control swarms of robots for disaster response, search, and rescue. One of the most interesting things about it is the intuitive tabletop joystick widget. Using a very fast hand-detection-and-identification algorithm, they can paint a touch joystick (dubbed the DREAM controller) directly underneath the hand. This joystick conforms to the size of the user's hand and tracks with hand movements, making sure that the control is always directly under the hand where the user expects it, even without haptic feedback. I've had a chance to go hands-on with this system, and I think it's truly remarkable.
Music

Alpine Legend Revolutionizes Music Game Genre 45

Microsoft has announced the upcoming release of Alpine Legend for the Xbox 360. Building upon the established titles of the music game genre, Alpine Legend takes you to the Swiss mountaintops, where you and your friends play up to three Alpenhorns at a time while a fourth yodels along. When you're done playing, you can disassemble the 8-foot horns for easy storage. "Jam with alpine legends like Franz 'The Manz' Lang and Johann Hornbostel. Shake the mountain tops with 100 classic Alphorn tracks including, 'Whose spit is in my horn?' and 'More goat bell (It needs).'"
Graphics

Submission + - 3-D virtual maps for the blind

Roland Piquepaille writes: "According to 'Scientific American' in 'Virtual Maps for the Blind,' Greek researchers have developed a system to convert videos into touchable maps for the blind. These 3-D haptic maps 'use force fields to represent walls and roads so the visually impaired can better understand the layout of buildings and cities.' The researchers also built a system which converts 2-D paper maps into 3-D street maps. The systems have already been tested on a small number of users. Now, the two systems need to be integrated into a portable device before being widely distributed. Read more for additional details and a picture of the hardware prototype behind this new mapping system."
Businesses

Tech Companies Draw on 'Wisdom of the Crowds' 131

An anonymous reader writes "News.com is carrying an article on a 'mini-conference' held at Yahoo's HQ this past Wednesday. The get-together put representatives from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and HP together to talk about their experiments with predictive networks. The 'wisdom of the crowds' allows these companies to make use of the collective knowledge their employees hold to answer important questions for the company." From the article: "David Pennock, a principal research scientist at Yahoo Research, said the company has created a currency called a Yootle. It's described as a 'scorekeeping system for favors owed.' Pennock offered as an example a programmer offering to write a piece of code for a few Yootles. Or, when organizing a dinner outing, one employee could use an internal SMS tool to bid 2 Yootles for Italian and 4 Yootles for Mexican. 'If you don't get to go to the restaurant you want to, you get compensation' in Yootles, he said. Related to Yootles is Yahoo Research's experiment with a fantasy prediction market for technology called the Tech Buzz Game. It's a modified version of software licensed from NewsFutures in conjunction with O'Reilly Media and features topics like Atlantic hurricanes and portable media devices. Winners are those who predict how popular a topic will be on Yahoo Search. "

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