Dorkbot March 12, 2007

The 20 minute presentation will be followed by Q&A. At the end of the night we will go to a pub close by for beers.
Here is a little background about the speakers and their presentations:

Mini-sumo Robots

Dave Hylands
Occupation: Principal Software Developer
Passion: Robotics
Experience and Previous Work: Have about 20 years of experience working in software development, typically at the systems level.
www.davehylands.com

Bob Cook
Occupation: Development Manager, Web Security Appliance, Sophos Inc.
Passion: Robotics
Experience and Previous Work: Sixteen years in product development, about ten as a software developer.
www.bobandeileen.com

The Presentation:
We will be discussing the game, the problems to solve, the electronics, the mechanics, the software, the results.
www.vancouverroboticsclub.org

Hacking the human: using AI to model creativity, living portraits and emotional new media systems.

Steve DiPaola
Occupation/Passion: Assoc Professor, SFU ( Interactive Arts and Tech)
New Media Artist
Experience and Previous work: An artist, scientist and SFU professor, DiPaola directs iVizLab which strives to make interactive systems bend more to the human experience by incorporating bio & cognitive models. He came to SFU from Stanford and NYIT CGL and has held leadership positions at Electronic Arts, Saatchi Innovation and Silicon Valley start-ups. His art has been exhibited international including the AIR and Tibor de Nagy galleries in NYC, the Whitney and Smithsonian museums. He collaborated with Nam June Paik and Kraftwerk and is known for making new media tools used equally by artists and scientists. See dipaola.org.

The presentation:
Can we create new expression systems by modeling living/cognitive systems with Artificial Intelligence? Steve will demonstrate his work in portraiture, the Vancouver Aquarium Whale Interactive, and experimental systems that explore expression and creativity.

Low-cost Multitouch Screen

Jon Nakane
Occupation/Passion: Lab Manager, UBC Engineering Physics Project Lab
http://www.engphys.ubc.ca/projectlab/
Experience and previews work: Several years as an instructor for Physics 253, an autonomous robot-construction class for 2nd year Engineering Physics students.
http://www.engphys.ubc.ca/phys253/
The Presentation: The 26”x20” portable touchscreen prototype is based on a touch-screen system developed by Jeff Han from NYU, which has garnered interest with many research groups (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhMVNdplJc). Three undergraduate students designed and constructed the hardware and software for the system as a demonstration/teaching tool for the Engineering Physics Project Lab, various undergraduate courses, and as a mechanism for physics/engineering outreach to the community.
Photos and videos of the touchscreen can be seen at:
http://my.7x24.com/multitouch/

Official Website: http://www.dorkbot.org/dorkbotvan/