I found a paper the other day, which utilizes a multitouch interface for controlling and communicating with tasking robots. The device used is a Dell tablet PC, which is mobile enough for the in-field application. The application allows the user to choose a robot and specify a task: go to X, perform reconnaissance, or cross …
Monthly Archive: April 2010
Apr
26
3D Input Interface for Mobile Devices
A recent post on Slashdot led me to this interesting video produced by the folks at Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Using their Vision Chip, a CMOS image sensor with a parallel image processor, they created an in-air, finger motion based interface for a mobile phone. While I do not believe that …
Apr
22
Green Pod:Parking for Bicycles
As we’ve entered a time where the population is extremely energy aware, we continue to look for new and better ways to conserve for the environment’s sake. I’ve come across an article on the Green Pod, which is a housing unit for bicycles. For many workers, a bicycle provides a reasonable way to get to …
Apr
15
Memory Resistor
A memory resistor or memristor, is a controllable resistor that stores information it has acquired, hence the memory part. The memristor is a combination of resistors, capacitors, and inductors. It is on the cutting edge of memory, but it has now been found that the memristor may also be able to perform logic functions. This …
Apr
05
Reading Serial Data from Virtual COM Ports
While most desktop developers do not have to deal with Serial COM ports (and I doubt many people miss it), here at Project54 we use COM ports to communicate with a variety of devices (GPS Antennas, Radars, Video Systems, etc.). For anyone that is familiar with programming COM port communication in the Win32 platform, they …
Apr
01
Bret Harsham talk at UNH
A couple of weeks ago our ECE department hosted Bret Harsham of Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL) as a part of the ECE900 graduate seminar. Bret gave a very interesting lecture about the ways of shortening voice dialogs through using a contextual push-to-talk button. The title of the lecture was “Contextual Push-to-Talk: Shortening Voice Dialogs …