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User: Xerotope

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  1. Gazebo, ROS, OpenCV, Point Cloud Library on Ask Slashdot: Learning Robotics Without Hardware? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, you can learn a lot of robotics without actual hardware. I develop software for self-driving vehicles, and spend 95% of my time away from the hardware!

    ROS + Gazebo will let you assemble a robotics software stack and explore different planning and control algorithms in simulation: http://gazebosim.org/ and http://www.ros.org/

    If you want to explore perception and computer vision, take a look at OpenCV ( http://opencv.org/ ) and the tutorials there. The great thing about computer vision is you can run your software against the standard research sets or images you pull off Flickr.

    Point Cloud Library is a nice package for looking at 3D laser data (but has some numerical quirks): http://pointclouds.org/

    I would definitely take a look at some MOOCs, Andrew Ng's Machine Learning at Coursea (https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning) or the MIT Courseware ( http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ele... )

  2. Re:Anki is clever but simpler than it looks on Anki Is Not a Toy Company; Has iRobot, Others In Its Sights · · Score: 2

    I think you're missing the brilliance of the phone doing the gameplay part. They're building an AI stack for one of the most ubiquitous portable computing devices of our time. One that can be had for $200.

    Anki Drive performs real-time planning and control of multiple vehicles. It contends with dynamic obstacles (human drivers don't "stay in their lane") and relatively high speeds. These are non-trivial problems to solve, especially for objects with inertia and latency, and it's a first-step for more sophisticated platforms.

    Once you have planning and control, you can start thinking about adding sensors for obstacle detection. And since the customer supplies the computing, it's a relatively cheap upgrade.

    So I'm interested in seeing what they do next, and whether they can move beyond toys and entertainment.

  3. First! on Capcom Announces Unreplayable Game · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everybody else must continue this comment.

  4. Been the case at UofM for a while on University Proposes Tuition Based On Major · · Score: 1

    This was the case when I was an Engineering student at the University of Michigan in '03 and continues to be the case now.

    http://ro.umich.edu/tuition/full.php#Lower_Eng

    Your first two years as Engineering student will cost you about $100/$400 (out-of-state/in-state) more per semester versus general undergraduate. Those numbers shoot up to $1000/$1500 more your second two years (when courses are typically more lab intensive).

  5. Re:This is why I have given up on Adobe on Inducement To Piracy, Adobe Style · · Score: 1
  6. Re:Laser scanners covertly map? on Surveillance Robot That is Programmed To Hide · · Score: 1

    LIDARs (laser scanners) are pulsed, both for eye-safety and to measure the time of flight. These pulses are on the order of a few microseconds in duration. So it's not as simple as putting on some IR glasses or using a cheap web-cam. You need to time your shutter precisely. Long-exposures won't work because you'll accumulate too much ambient.

  7. This project already exists! on Crowdfund a Moon Monolith Mission? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Some people loosely connected to the Lunar X Prize want to place a Christian cross on the moon.

    http://crossonthemoon.com/

    Religious Zeal-sourcing?

  8. I already missed it... on Microsoft Exec Says, "You'll Miss Vista" · · Score: 1

    I don't have it on any of my machines and haven't really had to use it.

  9. Re:When? on Wine Project Frustration and Forking · · Score: 2, Informative

    I guess you haven't seen XMMS2, it's a fucking trainwreck...

  10. Youtube of this vs. the Prior Art on Stanford's New Website Converts Your Photos to 3D · · Score: 1

    A quick search on youtube revealed this video which seems to be of the software in question.

    The summary mentions prior work by Hoiem at CMU (slashdotted here), a video of which can be also seen on Youtube.

    I'm not sure I'm very impressed by the Stanford videos. In the few examples of non-vertical surfaces, you can see quite a few artifacts.

  11. Re:what idiot wrote this? on 38% of Downloaders Paid For Radiohead Album · · Score: 1

    Actually, they're binning a continuous distribution in order to form a histogram of prices.

    It's quite useful for getting a handle on the distribution of prices people paid.

    All of the intervals, save the last, span $4. So it's hardly an unfair comparison.

  12. Re:Wowza.. on Man Arrested for Refusing to Show Drivers License · · Score: 1

    That is because he identified himself, at least twice.

  13. Re:Ok, but... on Microsoft's OOXML Formulas Could Be Dangerous · · Score: 1

    Except for cosd, sind and tand And I was always told that engineers came up with gradians, but I have never seen them being used in any of my engineering classes.

  14. Re:Broken on Mozilla Releases Thunderbird 2.0.0 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, I had a Quickcam.

    Once I closed Skype (which is the only app I had running which uses the cam), it installed fine.

    So, anyone know why Logitech is using the Mozilla API library?

  15. Broken on Mozilla Releases Thunderbird 2.0.0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is what happens when I try and upgrade from 1.5:

    "Error opening file for writing: \r\n\r\nmozMapi32.dll\r\n\r\nClick Retry to try again, or \r\nCancel to stop the instalation"

    Thanks guys...awesome new release.

  16. Re:I know Americans hate to be reminded of this on Many Dead In Virginia Tech Shooting · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Except you're wrong.

    Here's a list of school shootings from the past ten years, Europe and the States included :http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1953425.s tm

    In most states you do need a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

  17. Solarism on Finding a Display You Can Read in the Sun? · · Score: 2, Informative

    We work outdoors a lot with our robots, and we found the best solution to be monitors made by Solarism. They're kinda pricey, but they put out nearly four times the brightness of a standard LCD.

  18. You only need Two Things... on Linked List Patented in 2006 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You need A) some kind of college degree and B) a pulse.

    I know some people who applied to the patent office very recently. They were hired after only a phone interview, and given a very short time table to make a decision (something like a week). They also try and rope you in for three years with a signing bonus. So it looks like they're desperate for warm bodies.

    Once you start though, the first 6+ weeks are training. But given the joys of government bureaucracy, who knows how much of that is actual training in patent law versus pro-life indoctrination.

  19. Re:Based on A*? on New Software Stops Mars Rover Confusion · · Score: 1

    I have to give credit to Tony Stentz, who invented D*. Me made that joke at a recent seminar.

  20. Re:Waste of cash? on New Software Stops Mars Rover Confusion · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When the problems on this planet make it uninhabitable, it'll be nice to know what Mars is like before we try to move there.

    And in comparison to the federal budget for social security and the military (combined something like 85% of the total budget), a few million for a Mars rover is a drop of the bucket.

    It's really a question of values, and what you consider to be "problems" that are more important. That's a subjective judgment, and you can't really say it's "wrong" to spend money exploring Mars.

  21. Re:Based on A*? on New Software Stops Mars Rover Confusion · · Score: 4, Funny

    P.S. The asterisk is because the algorithm is on steroids.

  22. Re:Based on A*? on New Software Stops Mars Rover Confusion · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is based on A*, in fact it stands for "Dynamic A*".

    It's designed for efficient re-planning as costs change due to information collected as the robot moves. It leverages the fact that cost updates occur close to the vehicle, so it's really only necessary to replan "locally" back to the A* path.

    That's a pretty dumbed down explanation. The original paper describing D* is here.

    The actual variant being used by NASA is called "Field D*", and is able to interpolate costs and cross graph states in an arbitrary fasion (not just 8-connected).

  23. Predestination! on Scientology Critic Arrested After 6 Years · · Score: 1

    Actually, you don't have to do anything. Either God has predestined you to go to heaven or you're SOL.

  24. Re:Sounds familiar... on Apple Inc. Inks Apple Corps Deal · · Score: 1

    You mean "Czechvar", as it's sold under in the U.S.

  25. CMU Robotics Academy Curriculum on What Micro-Controller Would You Use to Teach With? · · Score: 1

    If you're interested in a whole curriculum out of the box, then CMU's Robotics Academy might be something worth checking out.

    The lesson plans involve either the LEGO NXT robotics kits, or the VEX robotics kits, and have been under development and used by school for several years now.