Look out Wiley Coyote...

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by wet1, Aug 27, 2001.

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  1. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    Behind you!

    Fans of Tom and Jerry may soon be helping Tom catch that damned mouse.
    FANS OF TOM AND JERRY may soon be helping Tom catch that damned mouse. Researchers in Boston have developed an interactive system that lets viewers take part in cartoon action by moving a soft toy that resembles one of the characters on the screen.

    The Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has put together a cartoon called Swamped!, in which an egg-munching racoon chases a scrawny egg-laying chicken. Viewers wield a toy fowl that controls the cartoon chicken. If you think the animated chicken should fly, you flap the toy's wings. Squeeze its beak, and it will squawk. You can even direct the chicken's attention towards something by turning the toy's head round. No more shouting "It's behind you!"

    Meanwhile, the racoon does its own thing, depending on what the chicken is up to. The viewer has to act as the chicken's alter ego, helping it to keep out of trouble and to protect its eggs.

    The prototype toy uses motion sensors, gimbals and magnetometers to sense orientation, and a radio link to send all this information to a computer controller. A gesture recognition system feeds these data into a "behavioural analyser", which ensures that the selected movements fit into the current environment and state of the character.

    The stuffed chicken is more than just a jazzed-up joystick. What makes the technology so clever, says Bruce Blumberg of the Media Lab, is that you are not dealing with a predetermined plot. The characters are mostly or entirely autonomous, and since there is no script, no one can possibly know what is going to happen next. Except that Jerry will probably escape again, of course.
     
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