104 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(05/01/09 3:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Robots have always been seen as objects of science fiction or as distant-future technology. Even now, few robots exist, but the chance to see one comes Friday.The Cognitive Science Robotics groups are hosting an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday in the west wing of Eigenmann Hall on the eighth floor. Robots will attend and people can go from room to room to observe demonstrations and interact with them.Randall Beer, one of the coordinators for the event, said he wants people to come and see what robotics is all about.“We want to let people know we’re on campus,” he said. A couple hundred people attended the open house last year, Beer said. “It doesn’t take much to get people to come,” he said. Children in particular are interested in the various robots the department has, Beer said.One group uses robots to test embodied cognitive science and how environment plays a role in perception. The robots are actually research projects on cognitive science created by graduate students. The other group, lead by Matthias Scheutz, concentrates its studies on “the different aspects of human/robot interaction,” said Paul Schermerhorn, who works with Scheutz. The robots Scheutz’s group will present have facial expressions and gesture recognition. Cameras are embedded in their eyes so they can see and respond to people around them.“They’re simulations of processes that are in some way lifelike,” Schermerhorn said. Zach Haga will present CRAMER, which he said is the result of “trying to obtain more life-like gestures” for robots. Haga said CRAMER has several expressions, such as moving his eyeballs and smiling. “We use him as a means of seeing how people interact with robots,” Haga said. “We want to elicit emotion via expression.” CRAMER won’t be the only robot there. One robot with a mechanical voice tract, vocal cords and jaws will make sounds, Beer said. This is to demonstrate “speech perception and production.” Another robot, which is the result of experiments about hand-eye coordination, will have arms and eyes that can move. The robots also have the ability to walk.“It’s very interesting stuff,” Schermerhorn said. “Many people don’t know this kind of thing is happening here.”
(03/13/09 4:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jenna Liechty has always been involved in community service, and now she’s being rewarded for her efforts by being chosen as one of 33 Indy 500 Festival princesses.“I’m so excited,” said Liechty, a first-year student at the School of Optometry.She found out about the Festival program through one of her sorority sisters, and she said she could see herself doing it.“I want to get involved in the community and meet new people,” Leichty said. The princesses are ambassadors to the Indianapolis community and help the festival’s outreach program by speaking at schools.The princesses attend programs and events throughout the semester, many in May. In the time leading up to the race, the young women do meet-and-greets at schools while being positive role models, said Co Bartel, princess coordinator. There are several requirements women must meet to be a 500 Festival princess, Bartel said. “They have to be Indiana residents, go to an Indiana college, have a GPA of 2.8 or above and have community service,” she said.This year 35 of the 245 applicants were IU students. The 33 girls who get through the selection process must take classes where they learn media relations, etiquette, racing and the 500 Festival, Bartel said. Bartel said Liechty has a great personality and thinks she will do a good job. Liechty’s father agreed. “It builds character and poise. It’s an opportunity to get involved in the community, and she’ll remember it for the rest of her life,” Jason Liechty said. He said the honor has a special meaning for Jenna Liechty, who is doing it in part for her mother, who passed away in August after a 20-year battle with multiple sclerosis.“Her mom was supportive of this,” Jason Liechty said.Because of her mother, the majority of Jenna Liechty’s community service involvement is with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She tries to spread the word about the disease. “It’s what’s close to my heart,” she said.
(03/02/09 4:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Some students take swim lessons and summers by the pool for granted. However, there are plenty of children who never learn to swim. The Student Recreational Sports Center is trying to change that. “Everyone should learn how to swim,” said Kellen Edelbrock, the interim assistant director for Aquatics. “There might be a situation where they need to use safety techniques and lifesaving and rescue.” The SRSC is offering swimming lessons not only for children, but for IU students and faculty who do not know how to swim or cannot swim well. Edelbrock, who has served in his position for two years, said most students who take adult swimming classes at the SRSC are foreign students. “I want to improve my strokes and increase endurance,” said Pei-Chun Hsieh, a third-year doctoral student. Though Edelbrock wants people to take the lessons in case of emergency situations, many of the students take them because they want to improve their technique. Bridget Edwards, a member of the IU staff, said she’s taking the lessons because she wants to learn to swim. Edwards swam when she was younger, even without formal lessons. She said she had signed up to take lessons, but that martial law had been imposed because of riots, and the lessons had been canceled. “That didn’t stop me from being in the water,” she said.Giovanni Zanovello, a visiting faculty member from Italy, said he is taking lessons because he wants to become a better swimmer. “They motivate me to come exercise,” he said. “I’m very happy with them.” Despite that he swam when he was younger, Zanovello has come to every session all year. “I want to improve my style and improve my workouts,” he said. Like Zanovello, graduate student Thilina Gunarathne had the opportunity to learn to swim when he was growing up in India. Unlike Zanovello, however, he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Like many others, he comes to the lessons to improve his style. “We’re trying to teach technique development,” Frank White, a junior who teaches the B-level students, said.
(02/19/09 5:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The alternate reality game “Skeleton Chase 2: The Psychic” is designed to do two things: to get students engaging in physical activity and let them have fun.“We want to get to the population,” said Jeanne Johnston, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology.She said 65 percent of college students play games, and most do it because they are fun. Her goal is to combine the fun of games with physical activity that is meant to improve the health of students on campus. Studies show physical activity decreases during students’ freshman year at college while their weight increases, Johnston said. The program was given a $185,000 grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is focused on health games research. Lee Sheldon, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Telecommunications, developed the game with Johnston and Anne Massey, professor of information systems in the Kelley School of Business. It is designed to send students all over campus and Bloomington searching for clues in the game.“We want them to do more physical activity and learn about teamwork,” Massey said.The game makes students complete puzzles and tasks that will save Bloomington from a hypothetical threat. The players receive communications from the characters via Web sites, e-mails, texts and Twitter.com to help them in their tasks.The teams of three players also have fitness goals. Each player will try to walk 50,000 steps every week of the seven-week game, and teams attempt to get all their players to meet that goal. The teams and players who meet their goals are entered into a drawing for cash prizes. Additionally, the team that completes its task first each week will be awarded various cash prizes. The total value of the prizes is about $4,000.Senior Matt Lawrence is writing a paper on the TV show “Lost,” which has alternate reality games between seasons in addition to Web content.“I want to see how they’re constructed and what types of people play,” he said.This is the second “Skeleton Chase” IU has developed. The first ran during fall 2008.“Last semester there was an increase in steps during the game,” Johnston said. “It was a positive influence and an introduction into modes of transportation that aren’t motorized.”So far, more than 16 teams of three have signed up for the second “Skeleton Chase.”The game will start Monday and end the week before Little 500. The game is supposed to take about three to four hours each week to play.“We hope that players will make new friends,” Massey said, “and learn about teamwork.”