Using mouse, keyboard, joysticks and other input devices in your Java software is much easier using JInput. Unfortunately, the documentation on how to install and setup the software is short and difficult to follow. I was struggling for days getting it to work with Eclipse on Mac OS X 10.12.6. My first approach was to use Maven to install JInput. The excellent M2Eclipse plugin provides good support for Maven. Unfortunately, the pre-configured Maven Repository does not include JInput. I was unable to configure Maven/Eclipse to connect to The Central Repository to download JInput from there. Okay, I am not a fulltime Jave programmer and maybe it would become clear to me eventually. In the meantime I got it to work manually. I hope that this tutorial will help you in your project. I used Mac OS X and I cannot guarantee it will work on any other platform.
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Persuasive Robotics Talk At The Emotional Machines Conference
I was invited to give a talk at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Emotional Machines in Stuttgart on September 21st, 2017. My talk focused mainly on the work I did in collaboration with Jürgen Brandstetter (doi: 10.1145/2909824.3020257, doi: 10.1177/0261927X15584682,...
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Bloomberg Businessweek interviewed Omics about my nonsense paper
Esmé E Deprez and Caroline Chen from Bloomberg Businessweek visited the headquarters of Omics in India to interview its owner Srinubabu Gedela about his company. Omics is widely considered a predatory publisher that publishes papers without rigorous peer review. Confronted with...
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TicTacToe Playing LEGO Mindstorms Robot Using Computer Vision
You can play TicTacToe with this LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot. It uses three motors to drop the balls into the right field. It uses a NXTCam to view the board and then calculates the best move using a MiniMax Algorithm. All future moves are explored an rated according to their...
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"Making Human-Robot Interaction Enjoyable"
Share and enjoy!
Insta360 Plugin For Adobe Premiere and After Effects Is Not Working
I recently recorded a lecture I gave in Stuttgart using the latest Insta360 One camera. Since it is very difficult to stop an academic from talking the whole presentation took nearly one hour. The camera divided the recoding into several files, each around 4 GB. This is probably because they wanted to be compatible with the old FAT32 file system.
Their 360 Editing Software allows you to convert their proprietary INSV files into MP4 files and they even have a batch processing option. But the software cannot merge multiple videos into one, which I desperately needed.
Insta360 is also offering a plugin for Adobe Premiere and After Effects. After installing the plugin I was able to import the INSV files into Premiere, but the image of one of the cameras was upside down. I contacted their technical support and they explained to me that the plugin is currently not working.
I ended up having to convert all the INSV files to MP4 first and then editing them into one movie in Premiere. I have to admit that this workflow is rather inconvenient and I hope that Insta360 will either enable their editing software to merge movies or that they get their Adobe plugin working again. This seems another example of Banana Technology, it ripens at the user.
Read MorePersuasive Robotics Talk At The Emotional Machines Conference
I was invited to give a talk at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Emotional Machines in Stuttgart on September 21st, 2017. My talk focused mainly on the work I did in collaboration with Jürgen Brandstetter (doi: 10.1145/2909824.3020257, doi: 10.1177/0261927X15584682, doi: 10.1109/IROS.2014.6942730). My main argument was that the number of robots in our society will increase dramatically and robots will participate in the formation of our language. Through their influence on our language they will be able to nudge our valence related to certain terms. Moreover, it will only take 10% of us to own a robot for them to dominate the development of our language.
This is also the first time I used a 360 degree camera to record a talk. This technology becomes particularly useful when following the discussion between the speaker and the audience. YouTube’s 360 video feature does not work in all web browser (e.g. it does not work with Safari). Chrome and Firefox should be fine.
Read MoreAffordable Sound Both for Voice Recording
Recording a clear voice with no background noise is key for any video, audiobook or podcast. If you are limited in space and budget then you might consider building your own little sound proof voice recording box. I build this little gem from 6mm MDF and some acoustic foam taped to the box with double sided tape.
For the box you can create the drawing necessary for the laser cutter using online tools, such as Box Designer. It exports a PDF file which all the six faces clearly separated. If you are planning to make efficient use of your wood then you may prefer MakerCase. This service aligns the six sides so that they can be cut most efficiently from a piece of MDF. Here is the box drawing for laser cutter used for this design.
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- Voice Recoding Booth
We attached rubber feed to the box and placed the microphone on an old mouse pad to isolate the microphone from any vibrations of the table, such as when a laptop is placed on it. Handles on the side allow for an easy transportation.
Here is a recording without the box. The microphone was placed just directly on the table:
This recording was made with the speaker sitting in front of the box speaking into the microphone.
The last example is with the speaker leaning into the box.
You will notice how all ambient noice is gone and how intimate the voice of the speaker sounds.
Read MoreBloomberg Businessweek interviewed Omics about my nonsense paper
Esmé E Deprez and Caroline Chen from Bloomberg Businessweek visited the headquarters of Omics in India to interview its owner Srinubabu Gedela about his company. Omics is widely considered a predatory publisher that publishes papers without rigorous peer review. Confronted with the acceptance of my non-sensical paper he replied that “Bartneck’s paper slipped through because it was submitted so close to the conference’s deadline.” Yeah, right.
Read MoreHolonomic LEGO Mindstorms Robot
A holonomic robot uses omni-directional wheels to drive and turn in any direction on the spot. Agilis is an example of an early LEGO holonomic robot. My model is much simpler and robust. Essential to all holonomic robots are the use of omni-directional wheel, such as the the ones from Rotacaster. I am using a compass sensor to allow the robot to be remote controlled on an absolute grid using Connexion’s Space Navigator. This 3D input devices can be mapped to the unique movements and rotations of a holonomic robot.
Read More3D LEGO Technic Connector
Connecting LEGO Technic beams in three dimensions remains a difficult task. While it has become easy to connect beams in one and two dimensions, it remains difficult to extend this to the third dimension.
I first designed a new LEGO Technic connector that features pins. The design was compact and stable, put the pins were too fragile. It was also very difficult to get the support material out from the holes.
My second design had no pins but still the option to firmly hold a technic beam. With this new 3D printed corner part it is possible to build a perfectly stable cube with a minimum of parts. The additional holes provide options for further strengthening the cube or to connect other parts to the cube.
The CAD model is available from Autodesk and GrabCAD.
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About Me
I am an Associate Professor (Reader) at the HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury.