Robot Swarm Control On Microsoft's Surface 106
zerOnIne writes "Dr. Mark Micire of UMass Lowell has built an intriguing new user interface on the Microsoft Surface, a multitouch-capable table computer. The interface is being used to control swarms of robots for disaster response, search, and rescue. One of the most interesting things about it is the intuitive tabletop joystick widget. Using a very fast hand-detection-and-identification algorithm, they can paint a touch joystick (dubbed the DREAM controller) directly underneath the hand. This joystick conforms to the size of the user's hand and tracks with hand movements, making sure that the control is always directly under the hand where the user expects it, even without haptic feedback. I've had a chance to go hands-on with this system, and I think it's truly remarkable."
Unbelievable (Score:3, Interesting)
This is amongst the coolest things that I have seen in a long time. Unbelievably cool and useful. Microsoft, I bow to you - the table seems to be the future of computing - if not amongst the masses - atleast amongst planners and decision makers.
Although it makes me sad about my existence as a person though - doing a 9x5 job which is neither cool, nor very useful for humanity as a whole.
NOG (Score:3, Interesting)
Finally. A decent interface for C&C.
Is it just me? (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't the "swarm of robots" aspect slightly more interesting than the "touchscreen interface" aspect?
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Mod This Shit Down (Score:2, Interesting)