CyberGuide
- Characterize and set up motion
capture system for use as a positioning system
- Estimated time: One Quarter
- Contact: Anind
Dey or Jeff
Dempsey
- This project involves determining the characteristics of the
IMTC motion capture system that we have, and building a S/W
library and tools that will support using the system to perform
tracking. The system uses stationary cameras to gather data about
infrared sources in the environment. For more information on the
system, see Jeff's
work on the project, see the
positioning system "manual",
or see any of the other related mini-projects:
reading position data or
mounting cameras.
- Writing Java code to read
position data off a network socket
- Estimated time: One Hackfest
- Contact: Anind
Dey
- This involves looking at the data format of the position
information being written to a socket and writing code that
connects to the socket, reads the data and makes it available to
other applications.
- Mount positioning system cameras
in room 102
- Estimated time: One Hackfest
- Contact: Anind
Dey or Joe Bayes
- 4 cameras have to be mounted in room 102. The positions and
orientations should optimize the area covered by the cameras,
keeping in mind that 2 cameras are required for triangulation.
- Collect and display Stinger bus
locations via the Web.
- Estimated time: One quarter
- Contact: Anind
Dey
- Mount GPS receivers on Stinger buses and send data to a
central location. Then write a web application that can access the
data and display the information textually and graphically.
CyberDesk
- Add context types to CyberDesk.
- Estimated time: Two Hackfests
- Contact: Anind
Dey
- Using existing code as an example, add interesting information
types to CyberDesk. Existing types include Food, String, Name,
URL, Email Addresses, Phone Numbers.
LlamaShare
- Flesh out the Notes/Names
viewers for CyberDesk
- Estimated time: Two Hackfests
- Contact: Mike
Pinkerton
- The two Java applications/applets for viewing Names/Notes from
the Newton w/in CyberDesk need to be fleshed out so that they look
nice and operate like the Newton version (such as being able to
expand and collapse topics in an outline note).
- Create new information
(notes, names, etc) in CyberDesk and save it to the Newton
- Estimated time: Two Hackfests
- Contact: Mike
Pinkerton
- Once the Notes/Names viewers are fleshed out, it would be nice
to be able to create or modify content on the desktop and have the
information updated on the Newton. The infrastructure to do this
is already in place, we just need the UI to actually do it.
- Write a Calendar applet for
Dates information for CyberDesk
- Estimated time: Two Hackfests
- Contact: Mike
Pinkerton
- Write a calendar applet/application in Java to be able to view
or edit calendar information taken from the Newton. Integration
with the existing CyberDesk calendar would be preferred.
- Add support for all
CyberDesk types (existing and proposed)
- Estimated time: Two Hackfests
- Contact: Mike
Pinkerton
- Currently, the LlamaShare CyberDesk services only support
names and plain text. We would like to add support for dates
(calendar), phone numbers, and any new types added by the project
above.
Domisilica (formerly CyberFridge)
- Installing the large pen-based
display in the refridgerator door
- Estimated time: Three Hackfests
- Contact: Jen
Mankoff
- This involves cutting open the door and embedding the display
in it. We have a door (seperate from a refridgerator) to
experiment on.
- Better Semi-Natural Language
Interface to Domisilica
- Estimated time: Three Hackfests to 1 quarter (up to
the person working)
- Contact: Jen
Mankoff
- Muds present a semi-natural language interface to users. For
example, users can type commands like "get ball" or "pick up ball"
to get a ball, and "throw ball" or "drop ball" to drop a ball.
Although this mechanism can take a noun like "ball" and find the
object in the mud that most closely matches it, or take a verb
like "get" or "throw" and find the function that most closely
matches it, the interpreter has no sense of history. For example,
if you said "throw ball" and then "get it", the system would not
know what "it" referred to. This project involves adding a history
mechanism to the mud, so that it can match up pronouns to the most
recent noun. There are other interesting extensions which could be
added as well.
- Visualizing the presence of
people in Domisilica based on Location
- Estimated time: In-Class project
- Contact: Jen
Mankoff or Joe Bayes
- Joe Bayes is currently working on adding position information
to the mud so that people virtually connected to the mud are in
the same room they are physically located in. Currently, the mud
has a special "map" room which is displayed in the graphical user
interface as a map. Add a visualization of the location of people
in the mud to the map. This project needs to address security
concerns as to whether people want anyone to be able to see where
they are. A simple visualization might involve simply displaying
dots where people are, without identifying them, and printing
their name if they allow it, when the mouse is over a dot.
- Automatically log people into
the right location in the mud based on their machine name
- Estimated time: 2 HackFests
- Contact: Joe
Bayes
- Joe Bayes is currently working on digging a map corresponding
to the CoC in the mud. Once this exists, when people log in, there
should be a function which, based on the machine from which people
are connecting to the mud, places them in the corresponding room
in the mud.
Savoir
- Reading DTMF off a serial port
- Estimated time: three hackfests.
- Contact: Jen
Mankoff,Anind Dey or
Rob Orr
- Write a program to read DTMF codes produced by hardware and
being fed into a serial port of a computer. If possible, write one
that works on Unix and under Windows95.
- Turning DTMF signals into XWindows
KeySim events
- Estimated time: three hackfests.
- Contact: Jen
Mankoff,Anind Dey or
Rob Orr
- Write a program to read DTMF codes produced by the DTMF
serial-port reader, and to read in a table of corresponding
DTMF->key information, and generate X Keysim events. Ideally,
new key layouts should be able to be swapped in on the fly, and
the format should be sophisticated enough to allow prefix key type
stuff. For an example of how to generate X Keysim events, see the
source code for xdvorak (/usr/local/public/src/xdvorak.c.gz)
- Use a known dictionary to
guess what someone's typing on a dtmf keyborad
- Estimated time: COMPLETED
- Contact: Anind
Dey
- Completion Details:There is C code available to do
this written for a Unix workstation, written by Eric Burhke of
Motorola. It's located at ~anind/Savoir/DTMF/train.c. I've ported
the code to Java, and the files are located in ~anind/Savoir/DTMF.
-
- This is a slightly different version of the previous program:
given the key layout on a standard phone, when someone presses a
key, it could be any of three different letters. If you have a
known dictionary, after two keypresses, there are only collisions
(situations when more than one letter could be right) 3.8% of the
time. It goes down to less than 1% after three keypresses, and
webster's 9th collegiate dictionary had only one collision for
words of 6 letters in length. Write an interpreter that will take
DTMF signals and a dictionary and present it's best guess as to
which word the user intended after each keypress. Jen Mankoff has
a paper about this technique (invented by Chris Schmandt and
others at MIT) which interested parties can read.
- Access Atlanta highway traffic
information
- Estimated time: 3 HackFests
- Contact: Anind
Dey
- Place a modem at the Traffic Headquarters that runs the
Georgia DOT Traveller
Info web site. Then write an application that connects to that
modem and accesses the traffic information, so the information can
be used in other applications.
- Send GPS data using DTMF on a cell
phone
- Estimated time: Quarter long project
- Contact: Anind
Dey or Rob Orr
- Using one of the GPS receivers we have, take the output, feed
it into a cell phone data port, and automatically transmit the
data using DTMF.
CyberJeeves
CyberShadow
CyberNet
CyberMake
CyberNag
Other Projects
- Getting Face-Recognition
Working
- Estimated time: Three Hackfests
- Contact: Irfan
Essa
- This involves getting Irfan's work from MIT up and running
here. The next step is to integrate it with one or more of the FCE
projects (eg, anything using a positioning system).
Comments or suggestions? Email them to fce-webmaster
Last updated: 1/13/97
