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GeorgiaTech posts

Simon the robot wins award, is super cute, seems pretty boring to hang out with

by Laura June posted Aug 24th 2009 at 12:37PM

Simon -- the creation of Georgia Tech labs and Dr. Andrea Thomaz -- is a robot with an articulated torso and anthropomorphic hands -- and a head that will stop you in your tracks. This handsome little fellow was designed to help study human - robot interactions, and he will be learning different social skills over the coming weeks and months. We don't have many details as to what Simon spends his time doing, other than hanging out looking insanely cute, but check the video of him in action after the break -- and by "in action," we definitely mean putting a blue block into a little blue bucket super, super slowly.

Continue reading Simon the robot wins award, is super cute, seems pretty boring to hang out with

Tegra might power Zune HD, definitely does augmented zombie reality

by Ross Miller posted Jun 16th 2009 at 10:44PM

Ready for a double dose of Tegra newsbits? We've been wondering what's packed in the Zune HD for some time now, but apparently PC Perspective has had the answer since Computex and didn't realize the newsworthiness until now. According to the article, NVIDIA staffers told the site that its uber-powerful Tegra processor will be the heart and soul of Microsoft's revised PMP. There's been no official word from anyone, and for all we know it might've been some (possibly misinformed) employee mouthing off for kicks. If true, however, it'd be one helluva 'screw you' from Microsoft to Windows Mobile fans, who've been waiting over a year at this point to see some retail hardware running on NVIDIA's mobile platform. We've put in calls to both companies for some sort of statement, but we're not getting our hopes up.

In other news, a group of researchers from Georgia Tech and Savannah College of Art and Design are showing off some of CPU's impressive potential with an augmented reality game ARhrrrr. Using a Tegra-powered mobile dev kit, the game projects a 3D town based on a two-dimensional diagram where you tap the screen to shoot zombies, or lay Skittles in real life to serve as virtual bombs. We've seen similar implementations before, but we're admittedly quite infatuated with this one, and as a bonus, there's video of the demo after the break.

Read - Zune HD uses NVIDIA Tegra processor
Read - Augmented Environments Lab: ARhrrrr!

Continue reading Tegra might power Zune HD, definitely does augmented zombie reality

Students create CRT emulator, hope to recapture that analog gaming vibe of yesteryear

by Ross Miller posted May 4th 2009 at 6:15AM

The retro gaming insurgence seems as strong as vinyl these days, but you don't see as many people looking for a CRT monitor to complete the set. More likely, they're playing a HD remake or the original title on a digital screen in more detail than the developers ever anticipated or intended. A group of Georgia Tech students are looking to change all that by modifying open-source Atari 2600 VCS emulator Stella to give players that good ole fashion analog vibe. As highlighted by associate professor Ian Bogost, key attributes such as color bleed, "burned" afterimage, RF-engendered signal noise, and texture created by the phosphor glow have been imitated here in recreating the effect. Hit up the gallery below for pictorial examples while we wait anxiously for video and / or the mod itself to rear its blurry head.

Gallery: Students create CRT emulator, hope to recapture that analog gaming vibe of yesteryear

Video: robotic marimba player grooves autonomously with jazz pianist

by Darren Murph posted Apr 26th 2009 at 5:09PM

We've seen an orchestra's worth of robotic musicians, but we've yet to see one that integrates this perfectly into a piece without any human intervention. Shimon -- a robotic marimba player created by Georgia Tech's Guy Hoffman (formerly of MIT), Gil Weinberg (the director of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology) and Roberto Aimi of Alium Labs -- recently made its stage debut by sensing the music from a piano and reacting accordingly in order to provide complementary percussion. Unlike many alternatives, there's absolutely no delay here. Instead, it analyzes the classification of chords, estimates the human's tempo and attempts to extract features from the human's melodic phrases and styles. What you're left with a robot musician that goes beyond call-and-response and actually meshes with the Earthling's playing throughout. The full performance is posted after the break, and make sure to leave a donation as you exit through the doors on the left.

[Thanks, Guy!]

Gallery: Video: robotic marimba player grooves autonomously with jazz pianist

Continue reading Video: robotic marimba player grooves autonomously with jazz pianist

Jaime Oliver's Silent Drum rocks the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition

by Tim Stevens posted Mar 11th 2009 at 8:24AM

When we were kids, many of us wanted to play the drums but were discouraged by parents more concerned with angry neighbors and damaged hearing than musically fulfilled children. We certainly got our payback when we forsook all those years of expensive private school to become bloggers, but can't help but wonder how different things would have been if we'd had Jaime Oliver's Silent Drum Controller at our disposal. It's a transparent shell covered with an elastic head that the player can stretch with their fingers. A camera positioned to the side detects the shape of the deformation and translates that into sound, chillingly demonstrated below. Yes, it is multi-touch, and was clever enough to win the recent Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech. The competition was partly sponsored by Harmonix, so could we see a Silent Drum in Rock Band 3? For the sake of future generations, we certainly hope so.

[Via Crave]

Continue reading Jaime Oliver's Silent Drum rocks the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition

Jacketed hamsters demonstrate movement-powered nanogenerators

by Darren Murph posted Feb 27th 2009 at 12:33AM

Imagine this -- one day, with enough steroids, your pet hamster actually could power your home by just running on its wheel. Georgia Tech researchers have discovered ways to "convert even irregular biomechanical energy into electricity," and it's demonstrating the finding by showing off jacket-wearing rodents that are game to run. According to the institution's Zhong Lin Wang, the minuscule nanogenerators "can convert any mechanical disturbance into electrical energy," which theoretically means that power can be driven by simple, irregular mechanical motion such as the vibration of vocal cords, flapping of a flag or the tapping of fingers. As with most of these university discoveries, there's no telling how soon this stuff will be pushed out to the commercial realm, but at least they've found something to keep the rats busy during the off hours.

[Via news:lite, thanks Charles]

Continue reading Jacketed hamsters demonstrate movement-powered nanogenerators

Researchers tout new 60GHz RF chip for high-speed wireless transfers

by Donald Melanson posted Jan 23rd 2009 at 12:52PM

It's not the only group toying around in the 60GHz frequency range, but a team of researchers from Georgia Tech's Georgia Electronic Design Center seem to be a bit further along than most, and they say that their new 60GHz RF chip could pave the way into a whole host of new, speedier wireless devices. Apparently, the chip is the first 60GHz embedded chip designed for multi-gigabit wireless use, and the researchers have already pushed it to some pretty impressive lengths, reaching speeds of 15Gbps at a distance of 1 meter, 10Gbps at 2 meters, and 5Gbps at 5 meters, while also maintaining the lowest "energy per bit" to date. What's more, while it's been flying a bit under the radar, the industry group Ecma International has already announced a new standard for chips capable of sending RF signals in the 60GHz range, which is apparently expected to be published as an ISO standard later this year.

[Via Electronista]

Digitally Assisted Billiards makes everyone a pool shark

by Darren Murph posted Dec 11th 2008 at 9:12AM

There's cheating, and then there's out-thinking the room. Georgia Tech's own Justin Needham and Matthew Straub are clearly headed for great things, as their Digitally Assisted Billiards is reason enough to give these guys a degree in our eyes. Using an array of low-end kit -- just an eBox 2300 embedded computer, Logitech webcam, 4- x 3-foot mirror, a VGA projector, pool table and a few extenders -- the two were able to concoct a system for visually displaying the expected trajectory of all possible shots based on the location of the balls still on the slate. For a much better idea of what we're hinting at, check the demonstration video after the break.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Continue reading Digitally Assisted Billiards makes everyone a pool shark

Researchers create wirelessly-powered robot swarm

by Donald Melanson posted Oct 17th 2008 at 12:50PM

Wireless power has come a long way from Nikola Tesla's early ruminations on the matter, and it looks like some researchers from Duke and Georgia Tech are now taking the idea to its logical, robot-powering conclusion. While their setup (thankfully) isn't yet able to power robots beyond the confines of the Q L-C resonator-equipped table, it does appear to work remarkably well in that limited proof-of-concept, with five bots each equipped with a non-resonant pickup coil able to follow a path around the table, or simply sit still to recharge their batteries. They were even able to power an LED light with the system for good measure. Natually, they eventually hope to expand the system to power larger swarms of robots and do away with the need for batteries altogether. Yeah, that's a good idea. Head on past the break for a video.

Continue reading Researchers create wirelessly-powered robot swarm

Researchers rework tongue-based communication

by Steven Kim posted Aug 26th 2008 at 3:22AM

It turns out that the tongue isn't tied to the spinal cord (had we paid better attention in Bio101, we'd have known that), which goes a long way towards keeping it unimpared in the event of spinal cord injury. A team at Georgia Tech is developing a tongue-based apparatus for disabled people that, which not as elegantly packaged as the GRAViTONUS device we've seen earlier, fashions a pointing device from a small tongue-mounted magnet and sensors near the cheeks. The team has promised interactivity way beyond what can be done with "sip and puff" input methods; think "mouth replaces mouse" and you've got the idea. Hopefully Mavis Beacon tongue-typing and the incorporation of haptic feedback won't be far behind.

SnoMote robots could autonomously explore Antarctic

by Nilay Patel posted May 29th 2008 at 11:44PM

We've seen a couple robotic efforts to explore the Arctic and the Antarctic, but they've all been remotely-operated -- unlike the SnoMote, a new bot being developed at the Georgia Tech that can navigate itself around ice and snow. Packs of the mini-snowmobile-based SnoMotes can negotiate with each other and "bid" on locations to investigate, and navigate by classifying microscopic fissures in the icy terrain. The bots haven't made it to the Antarctic yet, but they're apparently handling simulations quite well, and the plan is for teams of 40 to 50 of the $10,000 machines to wander the ice collecting data points for climate change models. Sure sure -- and the next thing you know, the Antarctic is the flashpoint of the revolution. Good plan, guys.

Georgia Tech researchers developing tricorder-like medical scanner

by Donald Melanson posted May 22nd 2008 at 5:36PM

We've already seen some attempts to create a tricorder-like device, but this latest crack it at by some researchers at Georgia Tech looks like it could well be the closest to the real thing to date -- if it ever turns into an actual device, that is. The big advance with this one, it seems, is the use of a new mosaic narrowband filter, which includes photosensitive pixel sensors that can observe different wavelengths and allow for multispectral imaging. According to the researchers, the filter could also be laminated with standard imaging sensors used in digital cameras, making an all-in-one handheld device possible. That would apparently let individuals use the device to detect everything from the severity of bruises to contamination in food, or even perform remote sensing in mining, to name but a few applications. The researchers still have quite a bit more work to do on it before any of that's possible, however, and they're now seeking collaborative or financial support to further develop the device.

[Via Daily Tech]

Laser-guided EL-E robot offers point-and-grab operation, the future

by Paul Miller posted Mar 12th 2008 at 6:39PM

While we're usually content to watch the slow, inevitable progress towards humanoid robots, the researchers behind this EL-E bot might very well be on to something. Instead of making a robot that acts like humans, they've built a robot that chases around the dot made by your laser pointer, and picks up whatever you point at with his crane. Not exactly on the path to replicants, but perhaps that's a good thing -- a bot that can pick up stuff you aim at and bring it to you is much more useful in the here and now. Plus EL-E yells out stuff like "Bob's your uncle" when he completes tasks, and if that isn't progress we don't know what is.

Pocketable gas sensor aims to better understand asthma

by Darren Murph posted Jan 28th 2008 at 8:26AM

Sure, we've got fairly sophisticated methods of curbing asthma attacks, but a new pocketable device could hold the key to unlocking more about the relationship between "asthma symptoms and the air a sufferer breathes." Reportedly, this device could allow researchers to look back after an attack has occurred and see exactly what was happening environmentally beforehand. Gurus at the Georgia Tech Research Institute have already been able to help one individual out, as they discovered a "pollutant pathway" from the volunteer's basement into the living room that was allowing vehicle exhaust and gasoline fumes to infiltrate the house. From here, the creators are hoping to downsize the device even further and make it more sensitive, but we've no idea if the current iteration will ever be used commercially.

[Via NewScientist]

Researchers craft new testing device to detect early Alzheimer's

by Darren Murph posted Jan 19th 2008 at 8:34PM

We've heard that the "gold standard" pen and paper test seems to work fairly well at detecting the earliest stage of Alzheimer's disease, but gurus from Georgia Tech and Emory University have teamed up to develop a much quicker method for accomplishing the same. The ten-minute DETECT test utilizes a head-worn visor with a built-in LCD, headphones and a handheld controller, which the patient interacts with as he / she is put through a series of visual and auditory tests that "assess cognitive abilities relative to age," gauge reaction time and measure memory capabilities. Initial tests have purportedly shown it to have "similar accuracy" to the aforementioned pen and paper test (which takes around 90-minutes to administer), and while we've no idea when the device will be available for public use, its creators have already formed a firm (Zenda Technologies) to commercialize it. Finally, a legitimate use for head-mounted displays -- thought we'd never see the day.

[Via Wired]