Actually, instead of doing what you want me to do, I think I will stick with being a consumer--a "thoughtful consumer."
Just a friendly reminder: Not all consumers are "blind unthinking robots/lemmings/slaves controlled by 'The Man' or mega-corps." I'm not waiting to be "saved."
The "Forward E-mail" button. Whenever my "friends" decide to forward the newest chain e-mail to me, they can simply hit the "Forward E-mail" button, which will generate a small electric current (think small perm magnet moving wrt conductor), which can then be harvested/stored for future use.
I if they feel they have to e-mail me junk, they could at least power my house.
So how about it? They have a kinetically powered watch (shake your arm->charge your watch), so when can I have a "kinetically powered" PDA? Oh wait, I spend most of my day not moving...
They knew and said there was nothing they could do about it while the shuttle was in space.
If another shuttle gets a plate damaged, and NASA can clearly see it while the shuttle is in space, what will they be able to do? They shuttle doesn't carry enough supplies to keep the people out there until a spare part can be brought out, and even if it did, there virtually no way to fully secure it and make it work.
They couldn't do anything about the heat plate. BUT, couldn't they have sent an unmanned (or manned) rocket(s) to intercept the shuttle with supplies for X days? Or even to serve as temporary shelter? Then, they'd at least have time to figure out how to get the crew back. So yes, I agree that there was nothing they could do for the shuttle. But had they known in advance that there was a good chance it was going to burn up I think there were several BETTER options than trying re-entry. And while I don't have any suggestions other than what I mentioned above, I bet the engineers involved with the mission could have thought up a few.
Note the key phrase above--"had they known." They had no clue as to the severity of the damage. Now they will.
Bottom line: If the shuttle is broken, then scrap it, and save the crew. Now (hopefully) they'll know if the shuttle is broken.
What will be really ironic is if he gets hacked to pieces in prison for protecting his own back-door. Once the guys in prison looking for "root access" portscan him, I bet they'll waste no time compromising his socket.
Yep. I'm sick. And bored.
It's a good thing to have confidence in math. I hope you are planning for college.
If I had to condense all of my high school/college advice into one point for future engineering/math/science students, it would be this:
Focus on the derivation of the proposed solution.
Memorizing a bunch of formulae is a total waste of time and energy. Instead of spending hours memorizing, go through the process of deriving the problem mathematically, and then go through the complete derivation of the possible solutions. When grappling with some scientific/mathematic question, knowing the "why" behind a presented solution is just as important as knowing the "how."
The value of slogging through the derivations once or twice (like on homework) is that you will become familiar with the "tips and tricks" that WILL be used in your professional career--essentially, the philosophy and methodology of coming up with mathematical models and solutions. There is unmeasurable value in being able to recognize what approximations or assumptions can be be imposed on a mathematical model, and how they will affect the model (including its solution).
A comment on grade/high school being too easy: It is. I would love to see a much more rigorous college prep program. However, I know people who didn't even try college because they had trouble in high school. While I think increasing the intensity of education (esp. math/science) would benefit the "good students," keeping the intensity level within the ability of the maximun number of students increases the odds of even mediocre students at least attempting to try college. In the big picture, THAT is what's important.
Consider this: if you are going to college-particularly to study math/engineering- the second you matriculate, all of your previous educational records are essentially worthless. The college prep focus of getting you INTERESTED in engineering/math/whatever by letting you build balsa wood bridges, mousetrap cars, et cetera-- worked. In college, you will learn how to analyze mousetrap cars: energy analysis, kinematics, material selections, optimization for speed or distance or weight. You'll learn it all! And the bulk of what is important (the philosophy) it will be based on mathematics beyond even the most advanced high school math.
Bottom line is, if can get into college, you can make it as challenging and rewarding as you want it to be.
The PHB could really care less if the app is written in VB, C, Java, as long as the application works to within their parameters. It is those parameters that are specified by the people paying for the software that will direct the language/technology you ultimately use.
In the area I work (I'm actually a MechEng), the language is often dictated by the customer as one of the design requirements. There is usually a dialog with the customers about "what language will be used where," but ultimately it is the customer who has to specify which language will be used. This does help to lock in some of the performance parameters that might be language dependent. So, yes, in many cases, the PHB doesn't have to care what language the app(s) are written in.
I used to get messages with single tone beeps. About 1/2 second long, and for as long as a message could be on my answering machine. Eventually the call would end. A few minutes later, another "beep call." Of course, this would repeat numerous times (like 5-10).
It happened one day that I was home when "they" called. I answered the first time, and recognized the beeps, but no-one was there. Out of curiousity, I turned on my computer and set it up to receive faxes.
A few minutes later, as expected, the phone rang. My computer picked up. It was indeed a fax--some lady's blood test results meant for a doctor who had distributed the wrong fax number.
I called the medical center/office and informed them of the mistake, and the beep messages stopped.
Unintentional human error, but the fax machine didn't know that, and kept trying to send the fax every few minutes.
Anyway, I heard that cell phones are not tele-spammed. You think that if I threaten the phone company with cancelling my service and using only my cellphone, they would agree to give me caller ID or whatever telemarketing blocking services for a discounted price?
The SUV is simply the icon of the overconsumerist society that we've become.
Consume, consume, consume and fuck the rest of the world. That seems to be the American way these days.
Damn sheeple...
Wow. That's deep. What incredible insight. It's ironic you use the word "sheeple" and then proceed to proclaim the same crap I've heard from the nearly every-joe/jane SUV protester/Iraq war protestor in the past N weeks.
My Gosh. I hear comments similar to this post at least 3 times a day. Here's a thought: Instead of spewing out the same claims over and over and over again like a freaking cultist, why not actually try to approach the problem in a way that does not alienate SUV drivers and damage your credibility as a person willing to reason.
I bet that as much as it comforts you to distance yourself from the average American hyper-consumer sheep with your pointy commentary, you still sit awake at night thinking about how Americans "fuck the rest of the world," don't you? Feel guilty when you see all the garbage sitting out by the curb on trash day? Feel ashamed to be an American when you experience first-hand the national obesity problem or hear commercials with idiots in the background yelling "more, more!" in unison? Lack of wisdom and compassion in the world make you ashamed to be human?
I bet these feelings are pretty common. (If not, I probably need therapy.) If you have the wisdom and compassion to be able to recognize the "problems of today" that make you feel the way you do, then you have the shared responsibility of finding a solution to these problems.
With such a sizable burden, ranting about how others are "fucking up your world" is a waste of time. It's not that the mega-consumer-society doesn't hear you. It simply shuts its ears to insults and cheap shots. Your "sheeple" remark is a cheap-shot, aimed at averyone who is not like you- everyone who thinks or prioritizes differently than you do.
I suspect that it is the "fuck you, I'm better" attitude similar to that embedded in your remark that is the root problem with American society. Honor, humility, and respect are alarmingly absent.
I apologize if I've been overly aggressive. But I honestly have a problem with people (like you) who claim people are like sheep, or drones, (or lemmings?) and them "damn them" for all the problems they cause-(or kinda' sit back and let them destroy themselves). You show no compassion towards the people, who you already know have problems. You seem fixated only on how they have ruined YOUR vision of the world and jepardized YOUR interests.
Doing this wouldn't split the asteroid into pieces
Maybe I misinterpreted your statement; wouldn't breaking the asteroid into pieces be better? I figure more surface area for the atmosphere to "cling to," and smaller chunks to vaporize when they enter the atmosphere. Of course, it might happen that a VERY big rock is broken into other VERY big rocks where self destruction/vaporization is not really going to happen/help.
Think of it this way: have a friend drop a 500lb bag of sand on you from up on the roof. If the whole back is dropped: dead. If the bag is opened and the contents dropped: possibly injured and pissed, but alive. The intermediate possibility is that the 500lbs of sand was really 500lbs of gravel or roofing slate. Again: dead.
One thing that I have not seen mentioned yet is the use of existing auto technology- like turn signals. No, they're not particularly high-tech, but they go a long way in making driving a safer activity.
While several posters have admitted to driving fast/slow/aggressivly/whatever, none have mentioned being predictable drivers. Personally, I don't care how fast/aggressively people drive (within safe but flexible bounds), as long as their trajectories are predictable. Gonna' change lanes or turn, then signal-- and not just during or after the lane change/turn. Feel like cutting me off to get that exit, despite the fact that I'm driving much faster than you? Fine. Telegraph your intentions, and I'll even slow down to make room for you.
I cannot stress how few people drive predictably (especially here in Albuquerque), and how much more pleasant driving could be (for everybody) if people would communicate their intentions prior to acting.
You could be the best driver in the world, with the reflexes of SpiderMan and a vehicle with good high frequency dynamics; but if other-(maybe slower) people don't see you coming up from behind at 90mph, or conversely you don't know that the "highway slolom course" ahead of you is about to change...CRASH!...You might or might not get hit.
On the road, you are only as safe as least-safety concious person around you.
Oh my god, I sound like a high-school safety film. Stay in school. Don't do drugs. Abstain from sex...oh wait, this is Slashdot...
Re:T3: Rise of the Machines
on
Robot Wars
·
· Score: 1
They just started playing adds in the movie theatres for T3, Rise of the Machines.
It looks like the army is continuing their new public relationship actions of making the forces look cool.
So was the army openly admitting that they turn recruits into machines, or was it an actual movie trailer?
Anyone know they going to control thousands of "Armies of One?" Will they be autonomous?
Giving a robot the means to make low-level decisions frees human operators from that drudgery. An autonomous housebot could respond to high-level commands like "get me a beer, bitch!" The low level decisions for navigation, opening the fridge door, and beer recognition could be performed by the robot itself. Doesn't sound like much intelligence (certainly not enough to take over the world), but this is realistically what they mean when they say "autonomous."
This shit's big in space exploration. Telling a Mars rover to "go 1 meter that way, at this speed, then turn...yadda yadda yadda...then close the gripper and move the arm to this position" is more costly in time and energy than just commanding (ala touchscreen) "go pick up THAT rock, bitch!"
NO. I didn't read the article. But I am a researcher in "autonomous" systems for space exploration. If you are really afraid of autonomous robot terminators, keep your eyes on non-lethal applications the technology will be perfected there first.
Wow. The nickname "Autonomous Coward" has a nice ring to it.
I agree that regulating dc to dc would work fine. However, moving from AC-DC operation to DC-DC operation in this manner would require switching from the normal AC at/atx power supply to your DC regulation circuit. This would probably happen inside the pc case, between the pwr supply and the motherboard. It's more convenient (maybe not elegant or adventurous) to create/feed AC to the pc's power supply than to splice into the cables going to the motherboard-- all the hardware hacking and stuff remains external to the PC.
Another option is to convert from AC to DC to DC. Go from 110VAC or whatever to 24VDC and use a DC to DC ATX power supply (http://www.keypower.com/DC_power/DX-250H.htm) to power your PC. In the evernt of a power outage, switch from AC-(24VDC)-DC to just (24VDC)-DC. Don't know what you'd do about the monitor; If all that has to happen is a clean shutdown, you might not need a monitor. I'll be using a dc to dc atx supply like this to power a PC on a robot (no monitor)-- rather than the usual dc-ac-dc tricks. These thing are popular for use on boats/planes.
If this is strictly a summer project (for you) and you have very little computer vision experience, I recommend spending your time learing basic computer vision algorithms/processes. They are pretty much the same from platform to platform.
Regardless of the OS, get a student copy of Matlab and the Image Processing Toolkit. It won't do real time stuff, but it makes algorithm development and experimentation REALLY easy. Once everything has been fleshed out, convert to C,C++.
It sounds like you are building a generic rig for a variety of experiments. For real time vision, a framegrabber is recommended. This combo might be a bit more expensive up front, but the framegrabber software will get you up and running more quickly than having to write your own driver. (I doubt you will learn much computer vision writing device drivers.)The Mutech MV-1000 has decent linux support, and does not cost too much. ($1500?) Look at Matrox too.
Other practical things to consider:
The "linux comfort level" of people who will be taking over your project in the fall, interchangable lenses, GOOD lighting (very often overlooked), color or grayscale, quality of images/data.
I'm working on a stereo vision system for autonomous mapping/navigation. I do much of my initial algorithm development in linux/Matlab using images from 2 defective USB webcams. Once the rest of the $$$ comes in, almost everything will be converted to C under win2k/matrox. The non real-time stuff, like camera calibration, and NN training will remain Matlab.
Summary: If you are planning on doing a lot of computer vision stuff, go ahead and spend time playing with your hardware/software options. If this is a 3-4 month fling, start writing/playing with computer vision routines as soon as possible.
Slashdot Mirror
Stop being a consumer and think
Actually, instead of doing what you want me to do, I think I will stick with being a consumer--a "thoughtful consumer."
Just a friendly reminder: Not all consumers are "blind unthinking robots/lemmings/slaves controlled by 'The Man' or mega-corps." I'm not waiting to be "saved."
I suggest a new button on all keyboards:
The "Forward E-mail" button. Whenever my "friends" decide to forward the newest chain e-mail to me, they can simply hit the "Forward E-mail" button, which will generate a small electric current (think small perm magnet moving wrt conductor), which can then be harvested/stored for future use.
I if they feel they have to e-mail me junk, they could at least power my house.
So how about it? They have a kinetically powered watch (shake your arm->charge your watch), so when can I have a "kinetically powered" PDA? Oh wait, I spend most of my day not moving...
They knew and said there was nothing they could do about it while the shuttle was in space.
If another shuttle gets a plate damaged, and NASA can clearly see it while the shuttle is in space, what will they be able to do? They shuttle doesn't carry enough supplies to keep the people out there until a spare part can be brought out, and even if it did, there virtually no way to fully secure it and make it work.
They couldn't do anything about the heat plate. BUT, couldn't they have sent an unmanned (or manned) rocket(s) to intercept the shuttle with supplies for X days? Or even to serve as temporary shelter? Then, they'd at least have time to figure out how to get the crew back. So yes, I agree that there was nothing they could do for the shuttle. But had they known in advance that there was a good chance it was going to burn up I think there were several BETTER options than trying re-entry. And while I don't have any suggestions other than what I mentioned above, I bet the engineers involved with the mission could have thought up a few.
Note the key phrase above--"had they known." They had no clue as to the severity of the damage. Now they will.
Bottom line: If the shuttle is broken, then scrap it, and save the crew. Now (hopefully) they'll know if the shuttle is broken.
What will be really ironic is if he gets hacked to pieces in prison for protecting his own back-door. Once the guys in prison looking for "root access" portscan him, I bet they'll waste no time compromising his socket. Yep. I'm sick. And bored.
Uhh...then stop watching Star Trek!
OOO! BURN!!! ;-)
It's a good thing to have confidence in math. I hope you are planning for college.
If I had to condense all of my high school/college advice into one point for future engineering/math/science students, it would be this: Focus on the derivation of the proposed solution.
Memorizing a bunch of formulae is a total waste of time and energy. Instead of spending hours memorizing, go through the process of deriving the problem mathematically, and then go through the complete derivation of the possible solutions. When grappling with some scientific/mathematic question, knowing the "why" behind a presented solution is just as important as knowing the "how."
The value of slogging through the derivations once or twice (like on homework) is that you will become familiar with the "tips and tricks" that WILL be used in your professional career--essentially, the philosophy and methodology of coming up with mathematical models and solutions. There is unmeasurable value in being able to recognize what approximations or assumptions can be be imposed on a mathematical model, and how they will affect the model (including its solution).
A comment on grade/high school being too easy: It is. I would love to see a much more rigorous college prep program. However, I know people who didn't even try college because they had trouble in high school. While I think increasing the intensity of education (esp. math/science) would benefit the "good students," keeping the intensity level within the ability of the maximun number of students increases the odds of even mediocre students at least attempting to try college. In the big picture, THAT is what's important.
Consider this: if you are going to college-particularly to study math/engineering- the second you matriculate, all of your previous educational records are essentially worthless. The college prep focus of getting you INTERESTED in engineering/math/whatever by letting you build balsa wood bridges, mousetrap cars, et cetera-- worked. In college, you will learn how to analyze mousetrap cars: energy analysis, kinematics, material selections, optimization for speed or distance or weight. You'll learn it all! And the bulk of what is important (the philosophy) it will be based on mathematics beyond even the most advanced high school math.
Bottom line is, if can get into college, you can make it as challenging and rewarding as you want it to be.
The PHB could really care less if the app is written in VB, C, Java, as long as the application works to within their parameters. It is those parameters that are specified by the people paying for the software that will direct the language/technology you ultimately use.
In the area I work (I'm actually a MechEng), the language is often dictated by the customer as one of the design requirements. There is usually a dialog with the customers about "what language will be used where," but ultimately it is the customer who has to specify which language will be used. This does help to lock in some of the performance parameters that might be language dependent. So, yes, in many cases, the PHB doesn't have to care what language the app(s) are written in.The app you write in a couple days the VB programmer can toss out after lunch.
To get an idea of just how poorly I code, you should replace "toss" with "crap." In fact, feces could probably generate more reusable code than I do.
I used to get messages with single tone beeps. About 1/2 second long, and for as long as a message could be on my answering machine. Eventually the call would end. A few minutes later, another "beep call." Of course, this would repeat numerous times (like 5-10).
It happened one day that I was home when "they" called. I answered the first time, and recognized the beeps, but no-one was there. Out of curiousity, I turned on my computer and set it up to receive faxes.
A few minutes later, as expected, the phone rang. My computer picked up. It was indeed a fax--some lady's blood test results meant for a doctor who had distributed the wrong fax number.
I called the medical center/office and informed them of the mistake, and the beep messages stopped.
Unintentional human error, but the fax machine didn't know that, and kept trying to send the fax every few minutes.
Anyway, I heard that cell phones are not tele-spammed. You think that if I threaten the phone company with cancelling my service and using only my cellphone, they would agree to give me caller ID or whatever telemarketing blocking services for a discounted price?
The SUV is simply the icon of the overconsumerist society that we've become.
Consume, consume, consume and fuck the rest of the world. That seems to be the American way these days.
Damn sheeple...
Wow. That's deep. What incredible insight. It's ironic you use the word "sheeple" and then proceed to proclaim the same crap I've heard from the nearly every-joe/jane SUV protester/Iraq war protestor in the past N weeks.
My Gosh. I hear comments similar to this post at least 3 times a day. Here's a thought: Instead of spewing out the same claims over and over and over again like a freaking cultist, why not actually try to approach the problem in a way that does not alienate SUV drivers and damage your credibility as a person willing to reason.
I bet that as much as it comforts you to distance yourself from the average American hyper-consumer sheep with your pointy commentary, you still sit awake at night thinking about how Americans "fuck the rest of the world," don't you? Feel guilty when you see all the garbage sitting out by the curb on trash day? Feel ashamed to be an American when you experience first-hand the national obesity problem or hear commercials with idiots in the background yelling "more, more!" in unison? Lack of wisdom and compassion in the world make you ashamed to be human?
I bet these feelings are pretty common. (If not, I probably need therapy.) If you have the wisdom and compassion to be able to recognize the "problems of today" that make you feel the way you do, then you have the shared responsibility of finding a solution to these problems.
With such a sizable burden, ranting about how others are "fucking up your world" is a waste of time. It's not that the mega-consumer-society doesn't hear you. It simply shuts its ears to insults and cheap shots. Your "sheeple" remark is a cheap-shot, aimed at averyone who is not like you- everyone who thinks or prioritizes differently than you do.
I suspect that it is the "fuck you, I'm better" attitude similar to that embedded in your remark that is the root problem with American society. Honor, humility, and respect are alarmingly absent.
I apologize if I've been overly aggressive. But I honestly have a problem with people (like you) who claim people are like sheep, or drones, (or lemmings?) and them "damn them" for all the problems they cause-(or kinda' sit back and let them destroy themselves). You show no compassion towards the people, who you already know have problems. You seem fixated only on how they have ruined YOUR vision of the world and jepardized YOUR interests.
Doing this wouldn't split the asteroid into pieces
Maybe I misinterpreted your statement; wouldn't breaking the asteroid into pieces be better? I figure more surface area for the atmosphere to "cling to," and smaller chunks to vaporize when they enter the atmosphere. Of course, it might happen that a VERY big rock is broken into other VERY big rocks where self destruction/vaporization is not really going to happen/help.
Think of it this way: have a friend drop a 500lb bag of sand on you from up on the roof. If the whole back is dropped: dead. If the bag is opened and the contents dropped: possibly injured and pissed, but alive. The intermediate possibility is that the 500lbs of sand was really 500lbs of gravel or roofing slate. Again: dead.
One thing that I have not seen mentioned yet is the use of existing auto technology- like turn signals. No, they're not particularly high-tech, but they go a long way in making driving a safer activity.
While several posters have admitted to driving fast/slow/aggressivly/whatever, none have mentioned being predictable drivers. Personally, I don't care how fast/aggressively people drive (within safe but flexible bounds), as long as their trajectories are predictable. Gonna' change lanes or turn, then signal-- and not just during or after the lane change/turn. Feel like cutting me off to get that exit, despite the fact that I'm driving much faster than you? Fine. Telegraph your intentions, and I'll even slow down to make room for you.
I cannot stress how few people drive predictably (especially here in Albuquerque), and how much more pleasant driving could be (for everybody) if people would communicate their intentions prior to acting.
You could be the best driver in the world, with the reflexes of SpiderMan and a vehicle with good high frequency dynamics; but if other-(maybe slower) people don't see you coming up from behind at 90mph, or conversely you don't know that the "highway slolom course" ahead of you is about to change...CRASH!...You might or might not get hit.
On the road, you are only as safe as least-safety concious person around you.
Oh my god, I sound like a high-school safety film. Stay in school. Don't do drugs. Abstain from sex...oh wait, this is Slashdot...
So was the army openly admitting that they turn recruits into machines, or was it an actual movie trailer?
Anyone know they going to control thousands of "Armies of One?" Will they be autonomous?
Autonomous isn't too scary.
Giving a robot the means to make low-level decisions frees human operators from that drudgery. An autonomous housebot could respond to high-level commands like "get me a beer, bitch!" The low level decisions for navigation, opening the fridge door, and beer recognition could be performed by the robot itself. Doesn't sound like much intelligence (certainly not enough to take over the world), but this is realistically what they mean when they say "autonomous."
This shit's big in space exploration. Telling a Mars rover to "go 1 meter that way, at this speed, then turn...yadda yadda yadda...then close the gripper and move the arm to this position" is more costly in time and energy than just commanding (ala touchscreen) "go pick up THAT rock, bitch!"
NO. I didn't read the article. But I am a researcher in "autonomous" systems for space exploration. If you are really afraid of autonomous robot terminators, keep your eyes on non-lethal applications the technology will be perfected there first.
Wow. The nickname "Autonomous Coward" has a nice ring to it.
I agree that regulating dc to dc would work fine. However, moving from AC-DC operation to DC-DC operation in this manner would require switching from the normal AC at/atx power supply to your DC regulation circuit. This would probably happen inside the pc case, between the pwr supply and the motherboard. It's more convenient (maybe not elegant or adventurous) to create/feed AC to the pc's power supply than to splice into the cables going to the motherboard-- all the hardware hacking and stuff remains external to the PC.
Another option is to convert from AC to DC to DC. Go from 110VAC or whatever to 24VDC and use a DC to DC ATX power supply (http://www.keypower.com/DC_power/DX-250H.htm) to power your PC. In the evernt of a power outage, switch from AC-(24VDC)-DC to just (24VDC)-DC. Don't know what you'd do about the monitor; If all that has to happen is a clean shutdown, you might not need a monitor. I'll be using a dc to dc atx supply like this to power a PC on a robot (no monitor)-- rather than the usual dc-ac-dc tricks. These thing are popular for use on boats/planes.
If this is strictly a summer project (for you) and you have very little computer vision experience, I recommend spending your time learing basic computer vision algorithms/processes. They are pretty much the same from platform to platform. Regardless of the OS, get a student copy of Matlab and the Image Processing Toolkit. It won't do real time stuff, but it makes algorithm development and experimentation REALLY easy. Once everything has been fleshed out, convert to C,C++. It sounds like you are building a generic rig for a variety of experiments. For real time vision, a framegrabber is recommended. This combo might be a bit more expensive up front, but the framegrabber software will get you up and running more quickly than having to write your own driver. (I doubt you will learn much computer vision writing device drivers.)The Mutech MV-1000 has decent linux support, and does not cost too much. ($1500?) Look at Matrox too. Other practical things to consider: The "linux comfort level" of people who will be taking over your project in the fall, interchangable lenses, GOOD lighting (very often overlooked), color or grayscale, quality of images/data. I'm working on a stereo vision system for autonomous mapping/navigation. I do much of my initial algorithm development in linux/Matlab using images from 2 defective USB webcams. Once the rest of the $$$ comes in, almost everything will be converted to C under win2k/matrox. The non real-time stuff, like camera calibration, and NN training will remain Matlab. Summary: If you are planning on doing a lot of computer vision stuff, go ahead and spend time playing with your hardware/software options. If this is a 3-4 month fling, start writing/playing with computer vision routines as soon as possible.