Projects
From WCL
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Wearable Computers
The Wearable Computer lab specialises in both indoor and outdoor Augmented and Virtual Reality. Below are the current projects the lab is working on in the wearable computer area.
Hand of god
The Hand Of God project is based around a table top device that is capable of reconstructing 3D representations of objects placed onto the table. The current application of this system is facilitate communication between groups of people working indoors and people working outdoors with AR systems. One of the ways in which the people indoors communicate information to people outside is to use hand gestures such as pointing. To the people outside these gestures will appear as though a giant hand is coming out of the sky, hence the project name.
Tinmith
The Tinmith system is designed to support research into outdoor augmented reality. We have developed new easy to use user interface techniques to be used in 3D environments where keyboards and mice cannot be used. Using these user interfaces, we have developed complex applications which allow users to interact with their environment, and enter new information into the system about the world.
Tinmith has been developed as a core part of Wayne Piekarski's PhD thesis, supervised by Dr Bruce Thomas, at the Wearable Computer Lab.
The Tinmith system is built up using a number of software and hardware components, which when combined together can run applications that we have built to demonstrate the technology.
ARAGE
The Wearable Computer Lab has recently started up a spin-off company A_Rage Pty Ltd from the University of South Australia. The purpose of A_Rage is to commercialise outdoor augmented reality gaming technology developed at the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia.
Visit the A_Rage web site to find out more about the exciting game technology that we are developing!
Remote Video Visualization for Augmented Reality
The video visualization project is investigating techniques of rendering video on a users AR display. Video streams can be captured by a mobile robot that can be navigated to remote areas, and is transmitted back to the AR user. The ISMAR 2007 paper presents some UI techniques related to this including hand gestures and techniques for removing real objects from a scene.
Large scale Indoor Augmented Reality
A new AR Visualisation Laboratory is being set up in the Mawson Institute for Advanced Manufacturing. The facility will be housed in a space over 100 square metre with forty projector systems, two wearable computer visualisation systems, and a wide area tracking system to support multi-users. This purpose built lab will enable large artefacts, such as cars, to be easily placed in the space, and augmented reality visualisation information either projected on the surface of the artefact or visualised though the wearable computer system.
Automotive manufacturers are increasingly using virtual engineering to replace physical prototypes. Yet companies also use have an extensive platform and components re-use strategy going from program to program. Augmented Rreality (AR) is bridging the gap between reality and virtual reality. Showing virtual data in the actual physical context is a powerful paradigm that will profoundly shape automotive product development of the future. For example AR has rendered simulated test information of an impact overlayed a physical car from a crash test. This demonstrates the value of being able to visualise data in-situ with physical artefacts.
The type of design and engineering processes that utilise AR will have a unique set of characteristics that will need to be supported. Three such characteristics are as follows:
1. What is the form and method of user interaction with 3D AR data,
2. What is the proper alignment of virtual data with the physical artefacts, and
3. How does the user translate and author data to be presented in an AR format.
To achieve the long term aim to implement such systems into the various production environments in the engineering and manufacturing industry, the above research problems must be solved.
HXI
MPX
The Multi-Pointer X Server is a modified X Server that supports multiple system cursors simultaneously. Each connected device can be assigned to a distinct cursor and act independently of each other. MPX is a modification of the windowing system and thus compatible to legacy applications such as the GIMP, Firefox or others. More information about MPX can be found on the MPX homepage.
Multi-User Interactions with MPX
The aim of this project is to analyse and design multi-user interaction techniques while using Multi-Pointer X Server (MPX). A multi-user drawing editor (MUDE) was designed which allow multi-users to select drawing tools and draw and edit simple geometry shapes e.g. lines, circles etc. on a canvas simultaneously without interrupting other users. MUDE used Multi-Pointer X Server (MPX) to get multiple mouse cursors (pointers). Currently the focus is on to develop an application which allows multiple users to do some productive work either with combined interaction between multiple users or without it.
Wireless Sensor Networks
Pico-Networks - Corrosion Monitoring
This project utilises state of the art embedded system technologies to develop a suite of application prototypes for the following building blocks of maintenance management
a. Sensing the operating environment of an asset for critical variables such as temperature, pressures, humidity etc.;
b. Providing plug and play interface to analogue sensors;
c. Embedding health and maintenance history of an asset with the asset so that it carries the same throughout its life cycle;
d. sensor network to improve detection of failure and tracking of reliability and environmental risks;
e. Decision support modules for condition assessment and trend analysis, based on the data captured through ‘a’ and ‘b’ above.
f. Open systems compliant remote online condition monitoring.
g. End to end integrated supply chain visibility of spares.
The main objective of this position is the development and deployment of a network of wireless sensor processor pack (WSPP) technology. Working with other scientists specializing in sensor technologies, a network of WSPP’s will be deployed on the exteriors of buildings at an industrial site.
Remote Active Tangible Interactions
The ultimate goal of remote active tangible interactions is for users to experience remote collaboration with a TUI as if all participants were in the same place operating on the same TUI. Users should be able to ubiquitously project their actions to every other client’s environment, and be able to feel like they are present at each remote site.
Remote active tangible interactions are enabled by an active TUI, which is physically duplicated at each unique client. An active tangible user interface is one whose state can be changed automatically by a computer without the need for human intervention. This is the fundamental concept of remote active tangible interactions; a user can change the interface state of other clients by modifying their own TUI. The changes are automatically reflected at the other clients.
Older Projects
ARQuake
ARQuake is an Augmented Reality (AR) version of the popular Quake game. Augmented reality is the overlaying of computer generated information onto the real world. We use a head mounted display, mobile computer, head tracker, and GPS system to provide inputs to control the game. Using ARQuake, you can walk around in the real world and play Quake against virtual monsters.
HPWatch
HPWatch is a project which tries to replace a normal wrist watch with a multi-functional data display. Instead of using a full-blown miniature computer as most previous projects we use a client/server approach similar as the one used in X terminals.
We employ a additional physical device (the so-called PersonalServer) to offload processing from the watch. The watch can be built with cheap and simple hardware, the PersonalServer connects to the outside world and process the data. We currently use an HP iPAQ as PersonalServer device.
Applications we have built include an MP3 title application which connects to XMMS in order to display the current song on the watch's display, a calender application, a clock, a timer application and more.