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GUIs for Robots
kabir writes "OpenGL.org has a link to a fun article over at the Stanford Aerospace Robotics Laboratory. It seems an OpenGL-based GUI has been developed to enable the operation of multiple complex field robots by a single operator. The interaction mechanism was inspired by interface techniques refined in the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre of video games. Fifty years from now I expect all wars to be fought by giant robots controlled by teenagers."
GUI Development
A Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been developed to enable the operation of multiple complex field robots. The interaction mechanism was inspired by interface techniques refined in the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre of video games that includes the popular titles Starcraft, Command & Conquer, and Strifeshadow. This mechanism follows three basic steps:
The operator selects which robots to use
The operator selects which objects to be acted on
The operator selects a task to perform
However, the nature of field robotics requires some significant differences in the implementation of the RTS interface method. For instance, there is no single source of accurate global information -- each robot can only provide relative data that has to be fused together. In addition, the tasks that each robot can perform change dynamically and this information must be reflected in the choices presented by the GUI to the operator.
The GUI utilizes OpenGL to display the robot world in three dimensions. Development was significantly aided by Glt (by Nigel Stewart) and GLUI (by Paul Rademacher). Using Glt, which includes GLUI, is highly recommended, especially for C++ programmers new to OpenGL. The OpenGL picking mechanism was used in conjunction with GLUI dialog boxes to provide a direct manipulation interface for robot operation. Additional screenshots and system architecture diagrams are also available.
In the background, real-time data is being handled by NDDS from RTI. The determination of robot capabilities, which change from moment to moment depending on robot capabilities and object characteristics, is performed by the Java Theorem Prover (JTP) developed at Stanford by Gleb Frank. Communication between the GUI and JTP is carried out by the Open Agent Architecture (OAA) from SRI.
SWAT Observations
To gain insight into how humans already manage distributed teams, this research observed field exercises of a police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. The Palo Alto / Mountain View (California) Regional SWAT team provided access to its training exercises. The researchers were given free movement throughout the exercise area so that the activities of the commanders, the field units, the snipers, and the hostages and suspects could all be monitored. The tactical commander and field units play roles analgous to the robot operator and the field robots, respectively. The key observations made were:
-The role of the leader (commander or operator) has two primary components
*Cultivating common ground
*Coordinating action
-A natural and efficient interaction can be based on physical objects in the remote agents' (field units or robots) environment, just as with the RTS games
"Moderate drinking can help prevent amputated limbs" -- Abigail Zuger, NYTimes, 12/31/02
The interaction mechanism was inspired by interface techniques refined in the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre of video games.
This is interesting. Often it seems the games are ahead of the "serious apps".
One of my friends in high school put together a level in Duke Nukem 3D that was based on our high school. It was pretty accurate. This was pre-columbine, so nobody was thrown in jail for it.
If these game companies just put a little extra effort into retrofitting their game engines for serious purposes, they might sell the same thing for hundreds of dollars a copy. Imagine something like a first person shooter combined with The Sims. You could design your whole house, to scale, and then walk through it.
Click a menu option and output a postscript file to send to the structural engineer and architect for tweaks and approval.
Whoever does this will probably make lots of money.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
That's what Japanese science fiction aniume has been predicting for at least 23 years. Macross, Gundam, etc...
My other first post is car post.
1) Don't take your eyes off the screen. You might get fragged.
2) Don't take your hand off the mouse. You might get fragged.
3) You only have one life. Use it wisely. And don't get fragged.
Hlynna
The one in the corner looking clueless at most everything, but enjoying it, nonetheless.
"interaction mechanism was inspired by interface techniques refined in the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre of video games."
I was joking around one day PHB style bosses will want to use an RTS interface in Office to control their employees. That way, they can avoid having to actually talk to them. I stopped laughing when I realized that the technology to do that is almost in place. All we need is wirelessly connected PDA's....
"Derp de derp."
Visit IBM's Robocode and program your own deathbot! If you are old school Mac, you might remember RoboWar. A favorite of mine when I had a PowerBook 140.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Here's another way to control a robot with a GUI: RobotFlow
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
Yeah...but will they "shout because their weapons are voice activated"?
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
Article said:
:-)
---"However, the nature of field robotics requires some significant differences in the implementation of the RTS interface method. For instance, there is no single source of accurate global information -- each robot can only provide relative data that has to be fused together. In addition, the tasks that each robot can perform change dynamically and this information must be reflected in the choices presented by the GUI to the operator"
Well, umm. Yes there is a single source of global information. It's called GPS. I believe, using the correct civillian gear, you can get centimeter-accurate location points. Also, political/geographic maps are available from many locations from different governments.
The best way I see that this can be used is that you create a neural network between the robots by way of bluetooth. The robots could share GPS location data in realtime. Make sure that they can pass on data to out-of-range units.
Once you have location links, you can piece screenshots (by using angles of the GPS coords). Personally, I'd craft chips designed specifically for piecing the screenshots to a 3d locale. No sense having a generic chip (x86 or whatnot) doing that. And NO beowulf clusters
Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
The site listed had bad links, sorry. But you can download RoboWar 4.4 from info-mac. This is the 4.4 version, I think there is a 4.5.2 version that was the last developed but I can't find it online. If you have a copy or know where I could download it, please reply. I would like to see the bots I wrote in 1995 still work. :)
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
After that, alas, the book turns into an Idiot Plot with sadistic fundamentalists trying to blow up the world, the prevention of which requires that liberals have to peform brain surgery to mentally link everyone together and make them think right.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
You misinterpreted the meaning of "global" - they did not mean co-ordinate data, rather they meant the state of "the world".
In a game, the gameserver knows where everything is. In robotics, the control program doesn't know for certain that the blue cube is at 0.1x3.5y99.1z - it has to get that information by looking at what the sensors on the robots say, and those sensors lie. So the control program has to take all the data from all the robots and try to fuse it into something meaningful, all the while keeping in mind that "things are not what they seem".
That is why controlling a real-world robot is MUCH harder than controlling a player in a video game.
www.eFax.com are spammers
GLUI, though. Yech. That's a crappy toolkit. You have to modify the guts of the thing to add new widgets, the architecture is a mess, and it has problems synchronizing the front and back buffers. GLOW is much better. I've used both. Both are menu and widget toolkits built entirely on top of OpenGL. This gives cross-platform portability. Doing 2D widgets through the 3D OpenGL engine seems inefficient, but it works well. If you have 3D hardware, you may as well use it. It's an relatively clean way to program.
While it would be nice, consider we can't even get americans to realize that they are americans, and to drop the fsking hyphens (african-americans, itallian-americans etc etc). It don't matter, your either american or you aint. And if we can't get americans to see that, how do you expect the world to peacfuly co-exist?
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
S.F. and as you pointed out, Anime, has already covered these ideas. Star Trek had a whole planet who's wars were calculated on a computer, which then selected people to die, based on their productivity or something liek that.
And a short story I read had all wars being fought with insults, and teritory was lost or gained based on the superiority of the insults, as determined by aa computer.
But war is population control as well as teritory regulator.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
And a short story I read had all wars being fought with insults, and teritory was lost or gained based on the superiority of the insults, as determined by aa computer.
Of course, no insult can ever beat "How appropriate. You fight like a cow." (Apologies to the fine folks at LucasArts Games for blatantly ripping off Monkey Island.
They that would sacrifice their
In Ender's Game, OSC wrote about children commanding fleets of starships in interstellar war, while thinking they were merely playing a game. This type of scenario is looking more and more plausible every day.
What I think is more likely is that fifty years from now we will see the US decimate more 3rd world countries using robots controlled by teenager, who only think they are playing a game and thus will never reveal what they have done to the media, and in fact no one will ever find out since the press were never informed, and those who try to find out will be detained indefintately without trial for allegedly breaking the latest anti-terrorist laws which prohibit attempting to criticise national defence actions in any circumstances.
Well come to the wonderful future Mr. Bush is building for the world.
"Me and my girl named bimbo . . . limbo . . . spam" - Captain Beefheart.
How will they deal with map hacks?
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
Fifty years from now I expect all wars to be fought by giant robots controlled by teenagers
In stark contrast to the situation today, where wars are fought by teenagers controlled by giant robots.
-- MarkusQ
Give Carnage Heart a try.
It's a similar game, that was made for the Sony Playstation.
It was surprisingly fun to program in, and believe it or not the battles were actually interesting to watch (unlike in Robocode)
Look at Paul Rajlich's VR model of his home for his CAVE here.
In fact, it's not very tough designing something like that. Anybody who's tried designing games or game levels, even simple ones would know how easy this is.
For example, look at NeHe's simple 3d engine demo - you could easily build any structure you want for one of these, with sufficient skill modeling your house wouldn't be any more difficult than mapping a few co-ordinates. It'd be cooler still if you could import some format like DXF or VRML or the like into a suitable map.
Hmmm....am I the only one that has never read Enders Game and instead took this as a reference to an episode of SeaQuest?
Damn, you're right. I only watched the first few episodes of the TV series (not the OAV) in Japanese with no subtitles. I guess I misunderstood.
My other first post is car post.
I often debate whether I should check "native american" My parents were born in the US, I was born in the US, that would make me a native to this land. Native american.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984