A Whole Slew of Geekiness

So I went to the career fair a few weeks ago not so much to find a job but mostly to stock up on pens and to see exactly how much free schwag I could walk out of there with. Incidentally I picked up some foam balls with which I could play catch with Peter. It turns out that Peter is still months away from a successful volley of catch, (though he does play a pretty good game of "Get Hit in the Face with a Ball and Cry Like a Howler Monkey"). Then I thought to myself (partly out of curiosity, partly for a grade), 'Why not build a robot to play catch with?", this way Peter has some friendly competition to help push along his motor skills. Here's what resulted...


Not quite there...



Almost...



Wohoo!

I'll spare you the details but it basically uses two cameras to find out where the ball is in a few frames and then calculates where it will be in the future (assuming Newton was correct).


More geekiness...

We just presented our final projects on my Robotic Vision class and I thought that they were noteworthy enough to put here for your viewing pleasure.


1. Limb Tracking Software- This program is handy for when your dance moves become so good that you feel they should be digitized for future generations to experience.

2. Hit and Run Robo-Style- This program is good for maiming people that are wearing red... or possibly blue. The military applications would be endless if we could only convince enemy troops to wear red uniforms and not hide. Where are the redcoats when you need them? This also makes a nice pet for kids whose parents won't let them have a dog. It also makes a good pet for children of engineers, or even better for engineers. Nerds best friend.

3. Helicopter Pose Estimation- This is my favorite, mostly because it was my project. Basically it finds points in space and calculates it's own roll, pitch, yaw, and x, y, z, coordinates based on those points. This would be great to put on an airplane or helicopter if only there were green triangles and orange balls installed every 10 feet or so. I don't think that's too much to ask.



4. Real-Time Light Saber Effects- The usefulness of this program of course needs no explanation. Basically this program is used to pick up chicks with your mad bowstaff skills and to show those kids from High School who called you a geek whats up.