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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."
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.
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That's what Japanese science fiction aniume has been predicting for at least 23 years. Macross, Gundam, etc...
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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.
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
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.
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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.
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