Last Friday I had the honor of attending the FIRST Robotics Competition and was graciously granted access to the behind-the-scenes activities. It is an amazing program celebrating its 20th anniversary and has touched a great number of brilliant minds. I’m excited to share what I learned.
Twenty years ago Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway (and a whole lot of other really cool stuff) realized that the United States, enjoying the riches of generations of hard work, had failed to build programs that captivate and motivate our youth in ways aside from striving to become entertainment celebrities and/or sports heroes. While both are incredible occupations, neither significantly contributes to U.S. knowledge capital. You know, the brains that made us rich in the first place? As an attempt to solve this situation, he created the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Organization and launched the FIRST Robotics Competition. Inquiring minds will want to know that Dean’s father designed the original identity system and it’s still being used today.
Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
The FIRST Robotics Competition is an international high school robotics competition organized by FIRST. Each year, teams of high school students compete to build robots weighing up to 120 pounds that can complete a task, which changes every year. In 2010, the 19th year of competition, 1,808 high school teams with roughly 45,000 students from Brazil, Canada, The Netherlands, Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico were involved.[3] In 2011, there will be an estimated 2,080 teams participating.
Teams are given a standard set of parts and the game details at the beginning of January and are given six weeks to construct a competitive robot, that can operate autonomously as well as when guided by wireless controls, to accomplish the game’s tasks.[4]
As I toured the “pit” (the area where the crews prepare, maintain, and repair their robots) I had the opportunity to meet some really amazing people. I met an electrical engineer from Arkansas who is employed by Baxter Pharmaceuticals and donating his time, resources, and mentor-ship to the program and teens. This was a very consistent theme. I was overwhelmed by the amount of good will and support within this community. Competitors like to think of themselves as “frenemies.” The tech they were bringing to the competition was nothing to sniff at either. I was impressed by the level of technical sophistication and engineering applied to the competing robots (vision-based autonomous task completion anyone??).
An electrical engineer from Arkansas donating expertise and mentorship
Competition is fierce. I found the focus on a competitive edge akin to something I’d imagine at a NASCAR event (F1 for our European readers). There was a deep understanding of the rules and the opportunities afforded by them. Teams were passionate for the win and the celebrity (mostly within the community) afforded the winners.
Stewardship was also a big deal. The image below is of the team that graciously lent me one of their own (Jack) as a tour guide. In this photo they are all frantically preparing for the next round of competition. I’ll pretend the blur is caused by their pace and not my lacking photographic skills.
Go! Go! GO!
Here is a video of an early bracket (like The Final Four) competition. BombSquad (one of the Baxter funded robots) is dominating this round and wins by a very nice margin.
So what about us? Are we ready to start Olympic Robotics Competitions? We’ve seen robotic death matches on popular television for nearly a decade now and the “nerd” continues to build status (Bill Gates poster child) within our culture. Dean Kamen, during a VIP luncheon spoke about the “tipping point” of this program and it’s acceptance within our culture.
Dean Kamen = awesome!
He believes that point is very near and I couldn’t agree more. I’m inspired by Dean and his dedication to this program (20 years!!) and I am proud to say that Tanagram will be getting involved in next year’s competitions. We’ll keep you posted as that develops.
A little over a month ago we announced our work developing an Augmented Reality Platform for the U.S. Government. While we can’t talk about contract negotiations as they are lengthy, sensitive, and tricky, we CAN share that our Bloom server is currently in an Alpha state and is already doing some amazing things. We are modeling, modeling, modeling from video and still photography and the output is amazing. The video above is a model of the front of my home. The video above represents only a single (but very important) step in the Bloom “Gathering Process.”
We are also in the process of optimizing the code to further improve efficiencies. As our effort continues we will be entering the second phase of our program that will include the development of the user interface for the iARM platform. That user interface will be a multichannel input / output leveraging gesture (hands/hand symbols), speech, and context. Our first evaluation will be the gesture based system. There are a number of open-source and closed platforms (this, and all of these…) that will likely play a part in this system but we are always looking for experts.
Please take the time to share if you have ideas you think would benefit this vision.
Remember that excited feeling you had at the beginning of a project where the sky was the limit and you were chomping at the bit to get started conceiving your next, greatest masterpiece? It’s now three-months later and you’re biting your nails raw in anticipation of the 3pm presentation of your concepts to your customer. It’s been a great exploration, you’ve done your best work, researched the heck out of the topic, and yet you are still praying they will love your ideas. What’s wrong with this picture? You may not know it but this situation is exactly the situation you don’t want to be in. The problem I’m illustrating is the conceptual disconnect that is causing you to lose sleep hoping they won’t dissect your concepts or worse combine them (not to mention that you are showing more than one concept). It’s the fact that the people sitting in the boardroom don’t know what they are about to see. Put bluntly, if your client is going to be surprised by your concept presentation deep into the project, you are risking failure. Sadly traditional methodologies encourage this pattern and the potential disconnects that often arise. To us, it’s just gambling.
How do we do it differently? We put our clients to work. A good friend of mine often refers to “Consultant’s Hubris” or the feeling that as a consultant we know more than the client. While we may be an expert at what we do, we hardly know the issues and opportunities the client faces on a daily (yearly) basis. We are not experts in their business, period. Face this and become more powerful.
Our contracts require client participation, sometimes significant hours weekly. When we kick-off we ask our client to designate a “steward” who will participate in the project heavily. The steward must have deep experience within the client organization and products we are working with. They are a Subject Matter Expert (SME).
We start with a working session to clearly define goals (or at least the first draft of the goals) and plan out how we are going to attack them. Following this are short 2-3 week work cycles (sprints) that involve twice-weekly working sessions where the client-steward and team are locked in a room discussing, researching, sketching and prototyping. Because our people are very experienced, they guide the steward’s ideas to merge with relevant trends and technology and result in beautiful solutions. At the end of each sprint we evaluate our collective success, present status to the larger client organization (gather additional feedback) and plan the next sprint. At the end of the project we have developed one concept with the steward that is not only extremely relevant but also co-owned. That’s right, the steward owns the solution because they co-developed it and they actually help ‘sell’ our collective solution to their organization as we develop it. Of course this means they are circulating pencil sketches and prototypes well before the final presentation, but they are also translating the thinking into meaningful dialog with their colleagues. It’s very powerful to watch. The best part is we together are all heroes at the end and if you can make your client a hero, you’ve done your job correctly.
The first thing people ask me when I talk about this approach is how we handle the “bad” ideas stewards bring with them. The answer is communication. We’ve had stewards bring us wireframes of the application with full expectation that we would build exactly what they had specified. We embrace their concepts and talk directly about them with the steward. We explore the concepts that inspired them and the needs they are trying to solve. These concepts are immensely valuable windows into the mind our partner/client. During this conversation we share experience, industry trends, competitor approaches, and user-centric best practices. We do the drawing – together we are each the best at what we are. I’m proud to say that in every project we used this approach, the results have been stellar. The solution is something both we and the client are immensely proud of.
Because this method is designed to break down the walls between the client and our team it works very well with companies who have stakeholders with competing needs. Our process works very well in this “federated” situation because we incorporate stewards from each department in our working sessions. The debates happen in real-time and if they can’t be solved on the spot, they are resolved within the week with follow-up discussions.
There isn’t enough room on our blog to talk through every detail of this approach but if you’d like to learn more about this process we’re happy to help. Drop us a line or post-back here and we’ll be glad to share. If you like we can present our approach, train your team, and even collaborate on your next big thing!
If we caught your attention with our last post but you’re having a difficult time understanding what’s so exciting about a little research and some images narrating a potential future rest assured we have a lot to talk about.
The first thing we need to address is one of the “Hows” of the visualization technology. Even though we have several patents pending, we are still too sensitive to expose the ‘whole tomato’ to the masses, but suffice it to say we have cracked the Augmented Reality visual registration nut. The following is our first delving into the details that are under development.
What is this nut? Let me explain…
If you’ve ever used the current lineup of “AR Apps” available on Android or iPhone platform you’ve seen a neat portal into the world of Augmented Reality. You typically see a camera view of the world around you presented on a hardware screen with digital information presented (most often clumsily) on top of the view. As you move the phone around you see that information move accordingly as if it’s locked to some physical location. Sometimes you see that information move or ‘drift’ for unknown reasons and that is really the problem with current tech AR.
Registration is the accuracy by which the computing platform can “lock” the digital world onto the physical world and up to today, that technology has been susceptible to all sorts of errors and interference. One of the reasons registration is still immature is because developers are relying on hardware improvements to solve their problems. We believe that while hardware, especially heavily funded hardware (thank you Apple), may eventually get accurate enough to solve the registration problem we don’t have the time or patience to wait. We instead spent our time researching and testing an elegant and simple solution that would work with today’s hardware capabilities.
If you look at the narrative slides below you can see our User Experience Model relies heavily on pixel-accurate digital registration. We can “paint” anything including highlighting objects, manually marking the environment and even embedded three-dimensional models. I can assure you these aren’t the crazy vision of a designer with no insight as to how the technology works but are based on our registration system (U.S. Patent Pending).
Our system is primarily vision-based, but leverages gross measurements (with error detection) of GPS, Cell/WIFI triangulation, and digital compass hardware. That means that it uses cameras, models, and some other fancy wizardry to rapidly identify the observed view and paint objects within that domain accordingly.
That’s all for now but we’ll be presenting some more details on the system at ARE2010 and are excited to continue this discussion.
About a year ago, Tanagram was granted its first direct (meaning we weren’t a sub-contractor) DARPA research funded program. Our goal was to improve situational awareness for soldiers deployed in contested (dangerous) cultures. During this program we proposed creating a complete server / client based architecture that responded to the program needs by providing digital augmentation of the surrounding environment. Tons of research, some prototype concepts, and a few patents later we are now cleared to share it with you.
We’ll talk more about the technology stack and client platform(s) in future posts, but for now you may read our final report.
This is a screencam of Tim playing with a Photosynth of a building (The Idaho Capital renovation). It’s a three dimensional (3D) model generated by photos of the building that were stitched together using Microsoft’s Photosynth technology. It’s spectacular stuff with huge implications. Here is a web version of the Taj Mahal. Enjoy!
If you invested 26 minutes into the video we posted here, then you already know where we are going with this post. Just as augmented reality (AR) is only one facet of an embedded interface, touch is only a portion of the entire vision for Natural User Interface (NUI). We are seeing a lot of touch and AR discussions today mostly because there have been advances in technology that are commercially (to we the consumer) available. Not to be a nag, but isn’t about time the problem drives the solution and not technology? Just as we learned during the age of artificial intelligence, technology (specifically improvements in processor speed in this case) will never solve the problem. Complexity must be replaced with simple and elegant solutions. Human’s with dreams must drive these solutions.
What is Natural User Interface (NUI)
So what is Natural User Interface? Natural user interface is the concept that you can touch (or yell at…) and manipulate digital objects much like you would objects in the real world. It’s a hard problem because we have been using mice and keyboards for so long we’ve forgotten what natural really feels like. On a recent cavort through the interwebs, I discovered the following concept and am thrilled to see discussions standardizing the way we talk about NUI.
Unfortunately, gestures like the two-finger-tap and the two finger hold are not natural interactions. We call these types of interactions “NUI Transitional.” They are interactions that are trained/learned that allow fingers to modulate information, but they are not “Present in or produced by nature.” An exaggerated example (talking to you Apple) would be if you have to use four fingers in a swiping gesture (versus 2 or 3) to interact in a specific way, you’re really not experiencing a natural interaction. More likely the software engineers ran out of natural metaphors, right?
A more natural approach
A hold-and-act-upon gesture is a good example of a truer NUI interaction for a touch surface. Specifically imagine you have a piece of paper on your desk and you want to slide it somewhere else. You touch the paper and, while holding your finger down, drag it to another location. Simple right? If you want to draw on that paper you wouldn’t use the same gesture. You also wouldn’t look around for a state-indicating button or icon to make sure you were in draw mode and not move mode, right? Instead you would put one hand (or finger) on the paper to hold it still and the second hand (perhaps with a writing implement) would move the drawing element over the surface of the paper.
This illustration uses Ron’s iconography to illustrate a stateless natural interaction. Specifically, we have one touch point from the left hand thumb holding the page still (a state in itself), while the right hand pinches (not the gesture) three fingers together much like holding a pen and drags across the surface. The result is a hard-to-explain but intuitive feeling writing gesture. I’ll disclaim that last statement in that we have no data to prove how “intuitive” that gesture is, but when we do it ourselves (give it a try) it feels pretty good. Mileage may vary… What do you think?
If you have ever watched a NFL broadcast you’ve seen Riddell’s logo on the grill of just about every pro-player’s helmet that screams across the screen. Riddell, a Chicago institution and Easton Bell Sports subsidiary, makes the best helmets in the industry. Their lifesaving concussion-reduction technology is available as an option on helmets for youth players all the way up to their professional models. If you haven’t seen the Revolution Speed Helmet, you should check it out, it’s amazing. My kids will definitely wear Revo Speeds if they choose to play football. They are statistically proven.
Tanagram has been working with Riddell for several years helping them evolve their marketing and sales presence on the web and this launch marks a key point in their evolution roadmap. E-commerce has been implemented using SAP’s shopping cart and while we’re not huge fans of the SAP product, it works pretty darned well. The short story is you can now buy Riddell products online and have them shipped to your home. WOOT!! As the site continues to mature, advanced metrics are being measured and SEO is being implemented. In the near future we will be expanding Riddell’s online community to do some really amazing things that will be meaningful to those who adore football.
We had a blast putting this site together using some cutting edge technologies including Adobe AS3, Papervision, and the not-so-cutting edge WordPress CMS engine.
Tanagram would like to thank the brilliant folks at Riddell for being such great partners. This site reflects the hard work invested by the entire team. You guys rock!
Tanagram is proud to announce the launch of Touch.Codeplex.com. Our exploration into the state of the Natural User Interface (NUI) connected us with folks at Microsoft and together we identified an adoption issue. While the technology to build Touch applications exists, it is currently cumbersome to implement. Marc Schweigert and James Chittenden had an idea to use Expression Behaviors (literally drag-and-drop onto any object) to act as a bridge. Together we launch this humble beginning with a bold vision. We hope you join us as we expand this library in the months to come.
Writeboard Panorama of calculation debugging.
Project Overview
The APIs in WPF4 plus the Surface Toolkit for Windows Touch make building common touch scenarios easy. However, implementing many of the same touch scenarios using WPF3.5SP1 or Silverlight 3/4 involves writing a fair bit more code. Furthermore, the touch APIs across WPF4, WPF3.5SP1, and Silverlight are different.
Project Goals
The goal of this project is to simplify building common touch scenarios when using WPF 3.5 SP1 or Silverlight 3/4 by using Expression Blend Behaviors to provide a consistent way to implement these scenarios across WPF & Silverlight. Expression Blend Behaviors can be used within Visual Studio without a dependency on Expression Blend by downloading the Expression Blend 3 SDK. You can also find more Expression Blend Behaviors at http://expressionblend.codeplex.com/ and http://tinyurl.com/ExpressionGalleryBehaviors.
Project Roadmap
Beta Release of core Scroll and TranslateRotateScale behaviors to developer community. <– You are here
Revised Scroll and TranslateRotateScale behaviors
Gesture Behavior (repurpose awesome code from here)
Erase (Back and Forth Gesture)
Create (Single Finger Draw ‘+’)
Delete (Single Finger ‘X’ Drawn Over Target)
Select Lasso (Single Finger Draw Lasso)
Split (Single Finger Diagonal Line)
Hold Menu (Single Finger Touch & Hold Context Menu)
Draw (Three Finger Pen Grasp)
Clone (Two Finger Double Tap)
Open / Edit (Single Finger Double Tap)
Select (Single Finger Tap)
Global Rotate (Five Finger Grab and Rotate of Application)
Global Perspective Rotate (Five Finger Pressure to Rotate Application Perspective)
We seem to talk a lot about Nike and Nike+. Maybe it’s the tanagramster team’s passion for running or Nike’s well rounded approach to digital ecology. It doesn’t really matter because we, the consumer, want more. The following list is a summary of features we’d like to see on the iPhone 3GS version.
1) Emergency response – As an urban runner, on of my biggest fears is an attack or accident that renders me unable to seek help. I would feel better if I had an option to alert loved ones or authorities with a simple button press or even better, after an accelerometer detected shock followed by no movement (accelerometer or sensor). Perhaps we could use MobileMe Find-my-phone or the GPS to send coordinates to those who need to know? Even a quick access link to a speakerphone dialed 911 call would be appreciated. Obviously there are risks with auto dialing emergency services, but I think safety catches could be engineered into the solution. I wonder if Nike could partner with these guys?
2) Notes Transcription – This one is a little quirky, but I do some of my best thinking during a run and would greatly appreciate a capture device more secure than my memory. Mic-in-headphones technology would likely be required for this, but we’ve got that. Speech-to-text tech would make this better, but I’m not holding on to his idea because I’m pretty sure the noise of the run would confuse the system pretty quickly.
3) Telemetrics – I have no doubt the folks at Motorola want or have something like this, but us pro-sumers would love live run streams for loved ones and trainers as we slog through our local runs. Consider the opportunity for coaches to monitor multiple runners’ performance against individual profiles. It’s an easy connection to make for team efforts, but what about sports consultants coaching paying individuals through a Marathon.
4) VOIP Push-To-Talk (PTT) – Technology similar to Skype (not the PTT part) would allow a coach or teammate to provide real-time insights / conversation regardless of distance.
5) 3rd Party Integration – In a world where services are currency, Nike has still not embraced allowing third-party developers (hardware or software) to add their personal twists to the plus ecology. If they offered a SDK, the market could take their hardware and grow it into all sorts of interesting spaces. Perhaps their lacking revenue model is to blame?
5) Playlist Sync OR Local Area Music Broadcast – It’s nice to run with friends, it’s extra nice to run to the same music (same tempo). The ability to sync music or share music via bluetooth or wifi would be awesome. I could use the same tech on the ski slope. Extra credit for developing a networking architecture that expands distance as the number of paired machines increases.
6) GPS Integration – This one is a no brainer. The Nike+ system needs to be manually calibrated (i.e. you type in a distance after a run). Instead we think it would be great to intermittently start the GPS chip (every 1 min to save battery) to determine actual progress. Not only would this data be useful for calibration but it would also be nice to automagically draw routes. Clever web services monkeys might even be able to create a function that alerts you if you are approaching another Nike+ user and allow you to contact them, race them, etc.
7) Digital (virtual) Running Mates – Illness kept me from running the last Human Race, but there is another opportunity for Nike+ to network their communities. Imagine as you are beginning your run, your Nike+ app speaks into your ears that there are X number of runners of similar skill starting at the same time. After being presented the option, you opt to join the group and during your run you can chat with them via VOIP technology. Imagine those runners are scattered across the world. WOW! “Hi, what’s your name?” “I’m Roy from Manchester, and you?” You get it…
I hope the fine folks at Nike don’t consider these ideas as criticisms. More than half of our office is wired into their service and we adore their smart combination of style and tech. As fans for life we just want to help. See you all at the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle!
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