Tag Archives: Innovation

Digital Tools- Voice Activated Assistants

20 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by in Digital, Innovation, Productivity, Tools

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blogger-336371_640Does the Voice Activated Assistant have a place in the business?   Yes it does. There are lots of voice activated assistants available to help us with our daily tasks. Some are built into mobile devices and some are purchased as specific items. The key is that they all respond to commands and can interact with other devices in our lives.

These devices are already within most business today, but may not being used to their full potential.

“<Insert Name of Assistant> turn on the lights” – providing that the assistant has been linked to the lighting system it will turn on the lights as requested.

Voice programs and activation have been around for along time, but have only recently become more mainstream with the advancements in the speech algorithms and technology to recognise the various dimensions and variants of the human voice. Also the ability to respond in a human voice. Brings back memories of playing around with Dr Spaitso (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Sbaitso) or watching the film War Games and wanting a talking computer “Would you like to play a game….”.

The biggest market at the moment is the consumer market with devices such as the Amazon Echo being used to connect a myriad of devices and services to build a connected home. There are a number of other assistants out there on devices that can do the same, such as Siri, Cortana, AVIC, and Google Now on the market. There are lots of others available as well.

There are also lots of projects and wishes to have an AI Assistant similar to J.A.R.V.I.S from Marvel’s Iron Man. Such a project is being carried out by Mark Zuckerberg. https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-jarvis/10154361492931634/

For some having devices around that are constantly listening can be a security issue, however in the main having a voice activated assistants are becoming more common place in every day lives.

“Google says 20 percent of mobile queries are voice searches” http://searchengineland.com/google-reveals-20-percent-queries-voice-queries-249917. This figure will be higher including all the assistants.

This trend is already seeing businesses building web based services to be voice friendly and allow access to data by looking at the type of natural questions someone may ask. Typically a voice search will take longer than a typed search as there is an additional processing step around the voice translation to search, however this is speeding up with the advancements in the programming and algorithms used.

Another example of a business application for voice assistants is where an operator is working with their hands and needs to get a part delivered or get answers to a question about the task they are doing.

In an office the assistant could be used to raise a ticket on the help desk AI, which in turn will try to solve the issue before raising a ticket for a human operator to assist.

Voice has been around for a long time and the future will see it mature to be a more personalised assistant with the ability to interact by recognising the user and have the ability to be called different names, removing the current standard activation names. Linking voice, business systems, data science, AI and machine learning will see a future of being able to ask natural language voice questions to the device about the business/data and obtain a natural language response from the system.

 

 

 

Build 2016 Resources

07 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by in Development, IoT, Programming, Raspberry Pi, Security, Tools, Windows

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Following the latest Build 2016 conference Microsoft have new released a number of resources and videos on Channel 9, providing 49 pages of videos and presentations.

Lots of learning available.Code

Self Driving Office Furniture

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Innovation, IoT, Robotics

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ChairsWatching the news this evening an interesting article was shown.

Long ago when I was at school at the end of the day we had to tidy the classroom and put the chairs onto our desks. What if the chairs could do this themselves? well put themselves under the desk in a tidy fashion at least.

Nissan have the answer to the under the desk part at least. They have recently created the Intelligent Parking Chair which puts it self back in place after using it.

You Tube Video of Chairs in action

This is based on technology from their driver-less cars, using sensors and cameras to move the chairs back to their position. The video shows people in different rooms clap their hands and the chairs move back. This illustrates applications that car manufacturers are starting to apply from their R&D into the driver-less car innovations. Maybe a different command is needed rather than clapping hands as it conjurers an interesting scenario following an announcement at the board table and everyone applauding.

Other innovations are already starting to be available for home and office, such as the Tesla Battery.

Linked to the IoT and secured properly, these R&D Innovations could bring some interesting revolutions to the home and office spaces.

Digital Scouting

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by in Development, Innovation, Programming, Tools

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digitalThere have been a series of new badges introduced by the Scouting movement. Two of these replace the traditional IT Staged Badge with a Digital Citizen and Digital Maker staged badge. These are aimed at giving young people skills in the digital age and help with STEM education.

These badges also teach young people to follow the Scouts digital manifesto:

The Scouts’ Digital Manifesto

  1. Use digital to learn and embrace new skills
  2. Share your adventures digitally and inspire others
  3. Know when to switch off, balancing screen time with outdoor activities
  4. Use digital skills to support your family and community
  5. Use digital to be creative
  6. Stay safe online and know the risks

Each of the badges provides 4/5 stages and builds on each stage. The badges can be earn’t from Beavers, through Cubs, Scouts and Explorers (ages 6 up to 18) so start with the basics, then build into writing apps.

These are a set of badges that I am looking forward to helping the local Scout Group out with. All I need to find for my local Scout Group is some spare Laptops or some Raspberry Pi’s…….Any offers welcome.

Perhaps there is a Scout group near you where you can help volunteer your skills with these badges.

Badge requirements

(Source: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4282/digital-citizen-staged-activity-badge)

Digital Citizen – stage 1

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 1, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Show that you can:
    • turn on and log into a computer
    • use a piece of software, for example email or a game
    • name the main parts of a computer system
    • connect a peripheral (for example a scanner or printer) to your computer and use it.
  2. Create a piece of digital media. It could be artwork, a photograph, music or animation.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on an area of interest
    • find three websites with content that matches your area of interest
    • collect relevant information by printing or saving as files.

Digital Citizen – stage 2

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 2, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Plan and then create a piece of digital media. It could be artwork
    or a photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or a 3D sculpture.
  2. Show that you can:
    • send or reply to someone with a short email and include an attachment
    • download photos or other media from a camera or smart card
    • open and save a document then share it using a cloud service (like Google Docs or Microsoft Sharepoint) or a USB stick
    • create a document that includes media that you’ve downloaded or copied from another source.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on an area of interest
    • use two different search engines to find three websites you think are reliable
    • collect information by printing the pages or saving  as PDF documents
    • select relevant information by copying text or an image and pasting into a document
    • display your findings as a poster or a short report.

Digital Citizen – stage 3

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 3, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Plan, make, edit and share a piece of digital media. It could be
    artwork or a photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or a 3D sculpture.
  2. Explore social networking sites that are appropriate for your age, then create an example of a good social network profile. Show that you know how to:
    • use anti-virus software
    • set up or adjust settings for accessibility
    • recover from a frozen programme or screen.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on a specific area of interest
    • use at least two different search engines, using operators like AND, NOT and OR in the search box
    • collect information by using bookmarks or favourites. Save URLs or use a social bookmarking tool like Diigo, Reddit, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us or digg.
    • select specific, reliable information relevant to your area of research
    • create a structured display of the information you have gathered. You could do this in a document, on a website or using a social tool such as Pinterest.
    • share your research with other people, for example by email, on the web, by MMS or social media.

Digital Citizen – stage 4

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 4, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Create a portfolio of digital media. It might include artwork or a
    photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or 3D sculpture.
  2. Create a film, video, stop-motion animation or podcast and share it using a suitable media sharing tool.
  3. Create a social network profile for your section, a band, local interest group or something similar. Alternatively you could make a small
    website that can host content, like the film you made in step 2, photos, poetry or information about your local area.
  4. Use the internet for research:
    • Choose a local, national, community or Scouting issue, or something from the news or current affairs.
    • Collect information from different sources, such as spreadsheets, databases, online news services and ‘open access’ data sources.
    • Put your information together in a structured way, for example grouping similar information. Make sure you know where each
      piece of information comes from.
    • Select the information you think is most appropriate and reliable.
    • Create a multi-page website with your information and make it public. Present your information in a variety of ways – you could
      use infographics, images or graphs.
    • Share your website with a wide audience.
    • Explain your sources of information and why you picked out what you did.
    • Get some feedback on what you have done and make changes to
      improve your website based on that feedback.

(Source: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4283/digital-maker-staged-activity-badge)

Digital Maker – stage 1

How to earn your badge

  1. Connect computer peripherals or accessories, such as a screen and
    keyboard, and explain what job they do.
  2. Design a game:
    • Use role play to act out how your digital game would work. Play the game with a group of friends and change the rules.
    • Using paper, prototype a game and explain to someone how it works. You could video your explanation.
    • Evaluate and share your idea.
  3. Edit an existing website. You could change the design using a paper printout or software.
  4. Play a game with a friend where one of you acts the part of a robot and the other sends the robot commands. Record on paper what sort of commands worked best and which were hard for the ‘robot’ to follow.

Digital Maker – stage 2

How to earn your badge

  1. Connect two devices and exchange data between them using WiFi,
    Bluetooth or a cable.
  2. Show that you can use two different platforms or operating systems. They could be systems that run different devices such as computers,  tablets, phones or games consoles.
  3. Design a game:
    • Make a cartoon, animation or video of a game using a video camera or other equipment.
    • Create some pseudo code to explain how some parts of your game will work. Pseudo code is an instruction for the computer to follow, but is not written in a specific language.
    • Design a sequence of a game, like a whole level or an in-game puzzle.
  4. Design a single page website. You can use a design tool but writing HTML code would be fine too.
  5. Create a set of instructions for a programmable Robot, turtle or toy to
    follow. Games like Minecraft can help you do this.

Digital Maker – stage 3

How to earn your badge

  1. Show how to troubleshoot problems with computing equipment, such as hardware  devices and software updates.
  2. Make a prototype of a game using a suitable tool. It must include:
    • event conditions (when your game reacts to something that happens)
    • user movement controls
    • iteration (when your code or instructions are repeated)
    • variables (for scoring, health or counting things within the game).
  3. Build, design and publish a multipage website with working hyperlinks for navigation between the pages.
  4. Make a robot using prebuilt components.

Digital Maker – stage 4

How to earn your badge

  1. Set up a home network and connect it to the internet.
  2. Install or run an alternative operating system on a computer. Alternatively,  use a ‘Live DVD’ or USB stick.
  3. Design a game:
    • Build a game that includes progression and is fun and interesting to play.
    • Get someone else to play and evaluate it.
  4. Create a fully functioning website including linking to a database.
  5. Make a robot using a kit with components that respond to sensor input (for example, a robot that backs away from an object in its path).

Digital Maker – stage 5

How to earn your badge

  1. Install the software to run a web server and host a webpage on a  computer or other device. Tools like LAMP, WAMP or Google’s Webserver project for the Raspberry  Pi could help you. You can find these for free online.
  2. Make a game or app that serves a purpose. It should:
    • have a clear objective
    • be challenging for the user
    • have a clear sense of progression
    • keep a score
    • offer a reward to the user for playing (for example the score could unlock levels or icons).
  3. Make a website that serves a purpose, provides a good experience for the user and meets any legal requirements.
  4. Use off-the-shelf components to make your own robot that responds to the environment (for example a robot that reacts to light, its proximity to other objects or sound).

 

 

An A-Z Guide to being an Architect

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Architecture, Big Data, Cloud, Development, DevOps/OpsDev, Enterprise Architecture, Governance, Innovation, IoT, Open Source, Productivity, Programming, Security, Social Media, Tools

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Back in 2008 Microsoft published An A-Z Guide to ABCBeing an Architect in their Architecture Journals.

Here is my take on an updated A to Z Guide to being an Architect. A couple of these may be similar.

A – Architect

Having the right level of skills as an Architect or engaging an Architect with the right level of skills will depend on the work needing to be undertaken. There are several types of Architect with some specialising in certain areas and others being multi domain skilled. The list below covers some of the different types of Architect- this is not an exhaustive list:

B – Blueprints

Following Blueprints and Patterns either published by vendors (such as the Microsoft Blueprints) or developed internally around your products and services will ensure repeat-ability and cost control around the design process.

Some examples showing different pattern types can be found at Architecture Patterns

C – Contextual Web Era

The up and coming 4th Platform area is the Contextual Web Era

  • 1st Platform – Mainframe Era
  • 2nd Platform – Client Server Era
  • 3rd Platform – Cloud Era
  • 4th Platform – Contextual Web Era

This is an up and coming era with lots of new innovation and developments. Keeping up with developments is key going forward for any architect to understand designs/solutions, art of the possible now and future, innovation and for developing roadmaps for solutions.

D – DevOps

To quote Wikipedia – “DevOps (a clipped compound of “development” and “operations”) is a culture, movement or practice that emphasizes the collaboration and communication of both software developers and other information-technology (IT) professionals while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes”. Having knowledge of DevOps, OpsDev and Agile assist with Architecting a solution for a business understanding their practices and modes of interacting with technology to meet business requirements. A Good book on the subject of DevOps is “The Phoenix Project” by Gene Kim.

E – Enterprise Architecture

EA (Enterprise Architecture) is a blueprint that defines how a business can meet its objectives and strategy. This is achieved by conducting analysis, design, planning, recommendations and implementations through an Enterprise Architecture Framework

Enterprise Architecture Wikibook

F – Four Two Zero One Zero

42010 is the ISO Standard that most frameworks adhere to. Working to a Framework brings structure to your designs and life cycles.

There are a number of frame works available such as:

  • DoDAF
  • MoDAF
  • TOGAF
  • Zachman
  • Other Frameworks are available

Enterprise Architecture Wikipedia Book

G – Governance

Governance is an important part of architecture as it

  • Ensures Conformance
  • Controls Variance
  • Maintains Vitality
  • Enables Communication
  • Sets Direction
  • Issue Resolution
  • Provides Guidance and Prioritisation
  • Promotes Best Practise
  • Minimises Risk
  • Protects IT environments from tactical IT changes, project solutions, and strategic proposals that are not in an organisations global best interest
  • Controlling Technical Diversity, Over-Engineering and Unnecessary Complexity
  • Ensures projects can proceed quickly & efficiently
  • Control over IT spend
  • Quality Standards
  • Efficient and optimal use of resources and increase the effectiveness of IT processes

H – Hands On

It is important to be current and understand the technologies you are architecting. There are lots of options available to get your hands dirty using technology from using Cloud Servers to virtual machines on your compute device. There are other computing devices such as the Raspberry PI that provide a cheap alternative to standing up small farms to learn on.

I – IoT

IoT (Internet of Things) is where physical things are connected by the internet using embedded sensors, software, networks and electronics. This allows the items to be managed, controlled and reported on. My blog posts on IoT Device Security Considerations and Security Layers goes into more detail on this subject.

J – Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is something an architect should be doing to compare things/items/artefacts etc.
noun;
1. an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
2.the state of being close together or side by side.

Source:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/juxtaposition

K – Knowledge

I would class Skills with Knowledge. It is important as an Architect to ensure that your skills/knowledge are up to date and where you are unsure of a technology, you have a plan to address and skill up. Build a good CPD (Continuing Professional Development) plan and work towards completing it.

L – Language

With the move to cloud it is important to ensure your scripting skills are up to date as most cloud platforms use scripting to assist with the deployment of environments. This is also true of other DevOps/OpsDev applications. If you are unsure on what to learn this guide may help you – Learn a Programming Language – But which one?

M -Micro Segmentation

Micro Segmentation allows a business to use Networks, Compute and Storage to automate and deliver complex solutions by carving up and using the infrastructure. This segments part of the infrastructures to specific functions/tasks. It can also be used in a security context to segment networks, firewalls, compute and storage to increase security and reduce cyber attacks.  VMware have produced a book “Micro Segmentation for Dummies” that can be downloaded from here.

N – Next Generation

Next Generation refers to the next stage or development to something such as a new release of hardware or software. Next Generation is becoming a common term now to define products and artefacts, an example being Next Generation Firewalls.

O – Open Source

Open Source has been available for a long time with software such a Linux, however there is a bigger shift towards using Open Source and acceptance by businesses. Some examples of Open Source that is now mainstream within business include;

  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • Docker
  • Puppet

P – Performance

Performance can cover people as well as solutions / systems. Performance metrics should be set out at the inception of an engagement then monitored and reported on. This will be a factor in driving Continuous Improvement going forward as well as forecasting / planning for future upgrades and expansion.

Q – Quality

Quality is a huge subject and has a lot if standards governing it and how it affects all aspects of business and architecture. Knowing which standards and how they affect a solution will assist in the whole architecture lifecycle. There are also a number of tools available to help you;

  • Architecture Frameworks
  • ITIL
  • Six Sigma

There is also a level of pride and satisfaction in producing a quality solution and system achieving the objectives and requirements set out by the business.

R- Roadmap

Any architecture/solution should have a roadmap to set out its future. Roadmaps should include items such as:

  • Current state
  • Future state
  • Innovation
  • Upgrades / Releases
  • New Features / Functions
  • End of Life / Replacement

S – SMAC

SMAC stands for Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud. SMAC is an acronym that covers the areas and concepts when these four technologies are brought together to drive innovation in business. A good description of SMAC written by a colleague can be found here Acronyms SMAC.

T – Transformation

The majority, if not all systems will undergo a form of transformation. This may be in the form of a simple upgrade or to a complex redesign and migration to something else.

U – UX

UX (User eXperience) affects how people interact with your architecture / design and how they feel about it (emotions and attitudes). With the boom in apps and the nearing Contextual Web Era, UX is one of the most important factors to getting an architecture used. If your users don’t like the system they may find something else to use that they like.

V – Vision

Understanding the vision of your customer and their business is the driving factor for any architecture.

On working with your customer you should look to become a Trusted Advisor and also with your colleagues. A great book on the subject is The Trusted Advisor by David Maister. The book covers 3 main areas which discusses perspectives on trust, the structure of trust building and putting trust to work.

W – WWW

The internet is a key delivery mechanism for systems. Knowing how this works and key components to the internet should be understood such as:

  • IPV4 – IPV6
  • DNS
  • Routing
  • Connectivity
  • Security

X – X86

X86 – is a standard that every knows as its one of the most common platform types available.

Y – Year

Year is for the longevity of the solution you are designing. How many years are your expecting it to last What are the Business Requirements, statutory obligations, depreciation etc that need to be planned in. Consider things like End of Life, Maintenance and Upgrades on hardware and software from a solution point of view.

Z – Zero Defects

The best solution is the one with zero defects, but reaching this goal can be a challenge and can also consume a lot of expense. The best way to ensure Zero Defects is to use:

  • Best Practice
  • Reference Architectures
  • Blueprints/Patterns
  • Checklists
  • Reuse
  • Lessons Learnt

This is my current A to Z and some of the entries may be different in your version so “What is in your A to Z of being an Architect?”

I will look to write some further blog posts on the areas listed in this A to Z

LiDAR Maps – Open Commercial Use

20 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by in Development, Open Source, Tools

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mapThe UK Environment Agency have been providing free access to their mapping tools for non-commercial means for some time now. This is their LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) data. However the non-commercial bit is about to change with the addition of commercial use also becoming free to use in the near future.

The release of data will be through the OGL (Open Government Licence) which itself will see an update in September 2015

The main driver behind this change is to assist with risk modelling and to open up innovation around the environment.

We hope that by removing any cost barriers, our data will improve the quality of flood risk modelling used by businesses and local communities and allow for the development of innovative tools and techniques to further benefit the environment.

Dr Alison Matthew,Geomatics Manager at the Environment Agency

Source: https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2015/06/16/free-mapping-data-will-elevate-flood-risk-knowledge/

Google I/O 2015 Event – Keynote Speech – Notes

28 Thursday May 2015

Posted by in Innovation, IoT, Open Source, Productivity, Programming, Security, Wearable Tech

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Here are some notes from the Google I/O 2015 – Keynote Speech

Android Overview

  • Android – Supporting over 400 OEMs and over 4000 Devices
  • Android Wear – 7 Models Supported
  • Android Auto – Supporting 35 Brands
  • Andriod TV – Sony, Sharp, Philips shipping with Android. Many more to come
  • 17m ChromeCast Devices – 1.5B Cast Button Presses

M Developer Preview

  • Back to Basics – Solved thousands of Bugs
  • Focus on Quality
  • Improving the core User Experience

App Permissions
– Simplifying App Permissions
– Apps asking permission when using that feature at first use rather than at install
– Faster to get users up and running – updates are seamless – app control process

Web Experience + App Links
– App Dev’s care about the experience that the users get
– Linking App to Web smoother
-Chrome Custom Tabs
– Apps can auto verify links at install time to verify the app owns the links it says it does

Mobile Pay
– Standardising Fingerprint Support

Power & Charging
– Doze Feature using activity to monitor when less power is needed in the device
– up to 2x longer in power length
– USB Type C charger to increase charging by 3x to 5x
– Can be charged or feature to act as a charger

Other new features
– Easier word selection
– Direct Share
– Simplified volume controls
Android Wear

  • Wearable Apps
  • Always on Apps
  • Wrist Gestures (such as scroll up/scroll down
  • Emoji Recogniser (draw emoji’s that are then recognised and correct emoji is displayed then sent)
  • Launcher (improved)

Project Brillo – Underlying IOT Operating System

  • Derived from Android
  • Minimal system requirements
  • Broad Silicon support
  • Easy to secure
  • Q3 Developer Preview

Weave – IOT Communcations layer where things can talk to each other

  • Common Language
  • Standard Schema’s
  • Developers APIs
  • Run with Brillo
  • Cross Platform
  • Q4 2015 full stack released

Now On Tap

  • Takes advantage of M Developer
  • Provides deeper interaction through access to Googles back end systems and deep machine learning networks
  • Enhanced user experience with access to information in real time

Google Photos

  • Built a new experience
  • Home for photos private and secure – available any device
  • Organise
  • Share

Chrome

  • Lite Search Results supporting more countries
  • Optimised search page results load 4 x faster, 80% less bytes and 80MB reduction in memory usage
  • Network Quality Estimator – to load pages to quality of bandwidth
  • Improved Offline Support – Saves of pages

YouTube

  • YouTube Offline – up to 48 Hours to view the video

Maps

  • Offline Maps
  • Offline Navigation – step by step

Developers

Developing Apps
Android Studio 1.3
– Improved Gradle build speed
– New memory profiler
– Support for C/C++

Polymer 1.0
– Elements to easily drop in features

iOS
– Cocoapods for SDK distribution

Testing
– Cloud Test Lab – Automate testing of mobile apps
– Runs test across top 20 devices across the world

Engage

– App Indexing (50 billion app links)
– Cloud Messaging (70 billion messages a day)
– will support iOS
– Topic subscription

Mobile Web
– Push Notfications
– Add to Homescreen

App Install Ads
– Universal App Campains – auto campain based on budget
– Measure App Install Ads

Google Play
– Conversion Funnel – Dashboard across app
– Play Store Listing Experiments
– Developer Pages – Own Google Play Home Page

Earn
– AdMob & Google Analytics
– AdMob Mediation – 40 Ad Networks

Google Cardboard – Over 1 million users

  • Improved viewer – screens up to 6 inches
  • Cardboard SDK – build for Android and iOS
  • Expeditions – Education Travel for Schools – Synchronized phones and tables

Google Balloons

  • 100+ days in the air
  • 10 Mbps connectivity
  • 500m accuracy
  • 4 x coverage area
  • Local partners

Google I/O Event

28 Thursday May 2015

Posted by in Cloud, Innovation, IoT, Programming

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Google’s I/O Event kicks off today https://events.google.com/io2015/Google10

Lots of session subjects available being streamed a few minutes behind the actual conference.

May 28, 8 PM

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Anyone can do it! Easy ways to evaluate your App’s Accessibility
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Finding success with family-friendly apps on Play
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Help your users live better with Google Fit
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Improving urban mobility by connecting citizens
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Mobile app install attribution with Google Analytics
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Notifications, Interruptions and Volumes: Coming Attractions
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Smarter approaches to app testing
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Video chat for Web, iOS and Android

May 28, 9 PM
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Apps for kids and families: Get discovered
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Asking for permission
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Containers to back your mobile app
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Gaming on Android TV
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Promote your mobile app in minutes
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM The Gold Standard: Accessible Web Components
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM reCAPTCHA: Tough on bots, Easy on Humans, Great on Mobile
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Google Cloud Messaging 3.0
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Material Design Reviews
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM What’s new in Android
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Achieving Maps zen on Android
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Battery Performance & Tooling
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Building a successful subscription business on Google Play
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Getting your app on the road with Android Auto
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Grow your (app) user base with Search
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Make Believe
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Mobile app quality leaps to the cloud
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM gRPC: Efficient and idiomatic communication libraries for cloud and mobile

May 28, 10 PM
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Apps installing channels on TVs
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Building location aware apps using the Android Location and Places APIs
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Creating calendar events: Quick, easy, and good for your users
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Designing for Driving
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Designing for Google Cast
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Get your app into the Google index
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Leanback support library
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Smarter and personalized device authentication with Smart Lock
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM What’s new in the Google Play Developer Console
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Material Design Reviews
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Smarter monetization with AdMob and Analytics
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM What’s New in Android Development Tools
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM App discovery on Google Play
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Building voice actions for your Android app
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Data driven Android UI development
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Optimizing your game’s first impression on Play
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Project Volta: Android battery life
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Simplifying app development using the wearable support library
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM The Earth in real time

May 28, 11 PM
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Building a real-time app in 5 minutes with Firebase
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Building fitness apps on wearable devices
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Finding your way with the Google Maps SDK for iOS
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Making great products for education
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Material Design Reviews
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Performance on RAILs
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Rendering Performance & Tooling
11:00 PM – 12:00 AM Self-paced Code Labs
11:00 PM – 12:00 AM The next generation mobile web
11:00 PM – 12:00 AM What’s new in Google Play services
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Chrome DevTools and RAIL
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Espresso: UI-testing for Android
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Expressing brand in Material
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM How to create apps that families love
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Memory Performance & Tooling
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Mobilizing the Maps Data APIs
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Working with Nest to build a thoughtful home together

May 29, 12 AM
12:00 AM – 12:30 AM Data driven online learning with Course Builder
12:00 AM – 12:30 AM Kickstart your web app with Web Starter Kit
12:00 AM – 1:00 AM Growing games with Google
12:00 AM – 1:00 AM Making apps context aware: Opportunities, tools, lessons and the future
12:00 AM – 1:00 AM Material Now
12:00 AM – 1:00 AM Self-paced Code Labs
12:30 AM – 1:00 AM AdMob Cross-platform Showdown
12:30 AM – 1:00 AM Network Performance & Tooling

May 29, 2 AM
2:30 AM – 6:00 AM After Hours May 29, 5 PM
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Adaptive UI with Material Design
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Android application architecture
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Designing games for Google Cast
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Real-time analytics for mobile and IoT
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Security Key: Make your login unphishable
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Unit testing on Android
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Video actions and movie reviews
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Polymer and modern web APIs: In production at Google scale
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Smarter user acquisition with App Indexing, AdWords and Google Analytics
5:00 PM – 6:15 PM A little badass. Beautiful. Tech and human. Work and love. ATAP.
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Bringing Material Design to life on Android
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Building a successful subscription business on Google Play
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Creating games with the Google Cast SDK
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Get users into your app with Google’s newest identity tools
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Grow your app via new word-of-mouth tools from Google
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Integrating with Global Search on Android TV
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Material Design year one
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Push notifications on the Web: Re-engaging your users

May 29, 6 PM
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Android Developer Tools: Deep dive into Performance & Build Tools
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Android Testing Support Library: The next generation of Android Testing APIs
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Anyone can do it! Easy ways to evaluate your App’s Accessibility
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Finding success with family-friendly apps on Play
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Get your app into the Google index
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Introduction to light-weight Material design
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Mobile app install attribution with Google Analytics
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Mobile games to the big screen with Google Cast
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Project Tango – Mobile 3D tracking and perception
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Tech for a better world, faster: A discussion with Google.org’s social innovators
6:30 PM – 7:00 PM How to create apps that families love
6:30 PM – 7:00 PM Lovefield – Simple, offline SQL-like data store for the web
6:30 PM – 7:00 PM Promote your mobile app in minutes
6:30 PM – 7:00 PM Reach more gamers by going local
6:30 PM – 7:00 PM Smarter approaches to app testing

May 29, 7 PM
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM App discoveryon Google Play
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM Google Cloud Messaging new APIs deep dive
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM Grow your (app) user base with Search
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM Improving urban mobility by connecting citizens
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM Offline apps with Polymer and Service Worker
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM Recommendations with Android TV
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM Unleashing the power of Android Backup
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Designing for virtual reality
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Firebase: An overview
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Helping Moonshots Survive Contact with the Real World
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Material Design Reviews
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Building location aware apps using the Android Location and Places APIs
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Building voice actions for your Android app
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Containers to back your mobile app
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Gaming on Android TV
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Grow your app via new word-of-mouth tools from Google
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Leanback support library
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Project Volta: Android battery life
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM Smarter and personalized device authentication with Smart Lock

May 29, 8 PM
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM Achieving Maps zen on Android
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM Building fitness apps on wearable devices
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM Make Believe
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM Rendering Performance & Tooling
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM Simplifying app development using the wearable support library
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM The Earth in real time
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM Video chat for Web, iOS and Android
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM What’s new in the Google Play Developer Console
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM Ignite
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Android Developer Tools: Deep dive into Performance & Build Tools
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Designing for Driving
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Expressing brand in Material
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Finding your way with the Google Maps SDK for iOS
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Memory Performance & Tooling
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Optimizing your game’s first impression on Play
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM The Gold Standard: Accessible Web Components

May 29, 9 PM
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Android Testing Support Library: The next generation of Android Testing APIs
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Apps installing channels on TVs
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Asking for permission
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Battery Performance & Tooling
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Google Cloud Messaging new APIs deep dive
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Google Developer Expert on hidden treasures within Google Play services
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Mobilizing the Maps Data APIs
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Push notifications on the Web: Re-engaging your users
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Developers connecting the world through Google Play
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Developing for the living room with Google
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Improve your Android app’s accessibility
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Material Design Reviews
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM AdMob Cross-platform Showdown
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Adaptive UI with Material Design
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Google Developer Expert on growth hacking on a shoestring
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Integrating with Global Search on Android TV
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Introduction to light-weight Material design
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Network Performance & Tooling
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM Security Key: Make your login unphishable

May 29, 10 PM
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Building a real-time app in 5 minutes with Firebase
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Chrome DevTools and RAIL
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Espresso: UI-testing for Android
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Get users into your app with Google’s newest identity tools
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Help your users live better with Google Fit
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Lovefield – Simple, offline SQL-like data store for the web
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Making great products for education
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM Scale globally: Developer guidelines for Emerging Markets
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Android Wear: Your app and the always-on screen
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Android best practices for data transparency
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Material Design Reviews
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Self-paced Code Labs
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Apps for kids and families: Get discovered
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Data driven Android UI development
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Designing for Google Cast
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Getting your app on the road with Android Auto
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Kickstart your web app with Web Starter Kit
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Performance on RAILs
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Real-time analytics for mobile and IoT
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM Unit testing on Android
10:30 PM – 11:00 PM reCAPTCHA: Tough on bots, Easy on Humans, Great on Mobile

May 29, 11 PM
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Android application architecture
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Bringing Material Design to life on Android
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Designing games for Google Cast
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Material Design Reviews
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Notifications, Interruptions and Volumes: Coming Attractions
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Offline apps with Polymer and Service Worker
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Scale globally: Developer guidelines for Emerging Markets
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Unleashing the power of Android Backup
11:00 PM – 11:30 PM Video actions and movie reviews
11:00 PM – 12:00 AM Democratizing Education
11:00 PM – 12:00 AM Developing with Google on iOS
11:00 PM – 12:00 AM Engineering for the Stratosphere – Presented by Women Techmakers
11:00 PM – 12:00 AM Self-paced Code Labs
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Creating calendar events: Quick, easy, and good for your users
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Data driven online learning with Course Builder
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Material Design year one
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Mobile app quality leaps to the cloud
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Mobile games to the big screen with Google Cast
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Reach more gamers by going local
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM Recommendations with Android TV
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM gRPC: Efficient and idiomatic communication libraries for cloud and mobile

May 30, 12 AM
12:00 AM – 12:30 AM Creating games with the Google Cast SDK
12:00 AM – 12:30 AM Working with Nest to build a thoughtful home together
12:00 AM – 1:00 AM Self-paced Code Labs
12:00 AM – 1:00 AM Speechless at I/O

Raspberry PI Development Projects – Are these the next big thing?

07 Thursday May 2015

Posted by in Development, IoT, Programming, Raspberry Pi

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PIElement 14 has been running a competition recently called “Sci Fi Your PI” which looked to make science out of science fiction using Raspberry PI’s.

25 challengers have now been selected to continue forward. The ideas that have been selected are both creative and interesting.

Below is the list of the 25 chosen with their synopsis.

Brenda Armour from Canada –  Project: Rover Pi Protector

Synopsis: I am proposing a mobile motion detection device that can capture photos and videos of wildlife and be tracked using GPS and a small inertial navigation system. The Rover Pi Protector will use motion sensors (accelerometer and magnetometer) to calculate position, orientation and velocity. Audio processing will send a warning of noise that is not found in their environment. This may include helicopters and chain saws. These are instruments used by poachers to kill elephants and rhinos for their ivory.

Inspiration: My inspiration for this project is the first Alien movie where they detect a life form on a remote planet.

Neil Bizzell from United Kingdom – Project: Steampunk Navigation Aid

Synopsis: My plan to ‘Sci-Fi My Pi’ is to create a device inspired by the works of Jules Verne, HG Wells and the Steampunk sub genre or Sci Fi. The device is a navigational aid developed to make charting the progress of adventurers such as Prince Dakkar’s alter ego Captain Nemo around their world. The device will allow the discerning adventurer to see how to get to the destination required for his quest. It holds a list of preset destinations and start points which can be selected using a wheel. Once the destination is selected the directional indicator will show in which way the traveler should proceed. The chart position indicator shows the current position on the world map.

Joe Carender from United States – Project: Intelligent Body Armor

Synopsis: Intelligent body Armor with sensors for body temp, heart rate, hit sensors and wireless helmet mounted display that has readout for GPS location, body temperature, heart rate, humidity, wind speed and direction and Armor damage percentage and wireless weapon mounted camera and tracking system using voice commands with wireless wrist mounted keyboard control and all components would be networked together for use in airsoft war games and maybe for real life combat implementation, like the armor suit in the video game Crysis.

Vivien Chin from Singapore – Project: Advanced Dog Trainer

Synopsis: Our device consists of a food dispenser and a sound detector that picks up any sound that might trigger the dog to bark. It pre-empts the activity of barking and replaces it with the activity of eating the food. This method works well when the person training the dog is consistent and prompt with the food delivery.
A motion sensor can be placed at the entrance of a passage way and the dispenser will dispense a treat every time a person walks through. This device rewards the dog whenever it sees a stranger. The system consists of a food dispenser and a set of sensor devices. For example, the sensor in this application would be an motion detector that will detect whether a person or animal has crossed the threshold. When that happens, the dispenser will dispense food to the dog.

Inspiration: The inspiration comes from the hi-tech home of The Jetsons. For example, Astro, the dog has a treadmill to solve his problem of getting enough exercise. IOT is the future of homes and care for our pets will also follow that direction.

Trevor Clarke from United Kingdom – Project: I Ching Hexagrams

Synopsis: The design will cast I Ching Hexagrams and provide a visual depiction of the Hexagram it has cast via the PiFace Control & Display, plus deliver an audio description of the Hexagram and an interpretation of its meaning using the Wolfson Audio card.
A possible enhancement if time allows is voice activated casting of the Hexagram. Another possible enhancement is the ability to keep the hexagram history if storage capacity allows.

Inspiration: This idea is inspired by the computer on Hagbard Celine’s submarine from the Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.

Eric Ellwanger from  United States – Project: Escape From the Past

Synopsis: I feel like the Raspberry Pi with its multiple serial ports (GPIO RS232 and USB ports) would be an excellent platform to be a “serial master” that can open up the number of communication channels for a PLC. In addition, the Ethernet port can act as a high speed communication method to send data to a centralized database for analysis not only for OEE and TPM programs, but for other engineering needs as well.
Inspiration: This project reminds me of the old 80’s film ‘Back to the Future’, where I (much like Marty McFly) find myself trapped in the past. This past is where the technology lacks the communication capabilities of modern day devices.

Ambrogio Galbusera from Italy – Project: Training Hover Sphere

Synopsis: In “Star Wars”, a young Luke Skywalker is trained to use the force and sense your enemy. In the training sessions, the enemy is an hovering sphere that randomly fires laser shots. The apprentice Jedi has to intercept the non-lethal laser beams with his light saber. For this challenge, I’d like to build a similar gadget.

Sebastian Groza from Romania – Project: Cybernetic Computer Interface

Synopsis: Star Wars was THE Sci Fi movie of my childhood and still one of my favorites. The Star Wars universe represents a great source of inspiration from starships to robots, weapons, armors, clothes and various gadgets.

Inspiration: The source of inspiration for my project is “Borg Construct Aj^6” device, used by Lobot in Cloud City, Star Wars – Episode 5 – Empire Strikes Back. I believe this device is a good model of a Sci Fi device which can be turned into a real world tool.
Read Sebastian’s project blogs (tag cybernetic_interface)

Michael Hahn from United States – Project: Handheld Sensor Device

Synopsis: As an electronic technician, TV repairman, hobbyist, and ISP provider the thought of bringing another Star Trek concept to application is very intriguing. Specifically, a scientific and/or medical tricorder as seen in the ST: TOS. A device similar to one that the actors DeForest Kelly and Leonard Nimoy used on the show to evaluate the environment, atmospheric conditions, temperature, humidity, etc.
As part of this challenge I will attempt to incorporate various sensors into a compact handheld device with the RPi.

Augusto Lisbôa from Brazil – Project: Diplomatic Robot Head

Synopsis: My project consists from a C3PO-like head unit (from STAR WARS) that recognizes speech and text language (using Google or MS Bing translator API’s.), that can become even a “diplomatic” robot, using search API’s (Google or Bing), to search the requested laws that can be spoken, or captured by RPi cam.

Mark Loomis from United States – Project: Glove Computer & Control

Synopsis: On my left arm, I would like a Nintendo glove / gauntlet type computer and control system for control of the vehicle, cameras, sensors, interface to a quadcopter for extended range, etc. I will use a combination of crafted leather and 3D printed parts to make the electronics fasten to the gauntlet.

Inspiration: The source of my inspiration is Star Wars; the tricorder from Star Trek is also an inspiration.
Eric Lovejoy from United States – Project: The Empathy Box

Synopsis: In Philip K. Dick’s book, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”, Wilbur Mercer describes the Empathy Box as: “(it) is a networked appliance that connects many anonymous people through shared warmth.” “An empathy box,” he said, stammering in his excitement, “is the most personal possession you have. It’s an extension of your body; it’s the way you touch other humans, it’s the way you stop being alone.” My version of the Empathy Box will not be a phone, although ideally it would be portable like one. Controls (potentiometers or rotary (encoders so I don’t need to use an ADC) (3)) will control the level of “Pain” (annoying audio feedback).

Enrico Miglino from Balearic Islands, Spain – Project: Meditech

Synopsis: This project covers a Polyfunctional Multimeter equipped with built-in features for continuous and spot measurement applications by means of specific probes connected to the equipment.

Inspiration: the Meditech application is inspired by the medical tool used by Star Trek crew when they are on an hostile planet.

Wilson Oberholzer from United States – Project: KITT Car

Synopsis: I plan to turn my car into an emulation of the KITT 2000 from the original “Knight Rider” TV-series starring David Hasselhoff. The main parts of the project will be the “light scanner” on the front of the car, the display screen/”AI”, and the various control panels in the car. The function of the panels will be mostly cosmetic (“Turbo Boost” won’t actually make the car faster but may prompt responses from the system). I will need to construct a console to hold everything in place on the car as well as mounts for the special effect items. I’ll start by listing the features I plan to make a reality, draw some rough layouts of things, get basic systems working outside of the car, then design and fabricate the system, and finally debug it all.

Margot Paez from United States – Project: Pizza Pi

Synopsis:Currently a pizza box is nothing more than a cardboard container. It keeps the pizza from losing heat too quickly and from losing its shape during transportation. Some might say this is more than enough, but if the Internet of Things is truly meant to bring the future to us, then even pizza boxes need to be revamped.
Inspiration: This pizza box is inspired by the one featured in Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel, Snow Crash.

Cecil Perks from United States – Project: Visus Sancto

Synopsis: Visus Sancto which is Latin for “Ghost Sight”, is a project I have been thinking about doing for some time. It is based on the theory that IR cameras can detect the presence of ghosts or other paranormal entities. The setup uses a Raspberry Pi as the main unit to control an IR camera mounted on a headset with a small screen to give a real-time heads-up display. The IR camera will be mounted in front of the human eye with a pan and tilt mount.

Inspiration: My inspiration is “The Schufftein Glasses” from “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army”.

Arsenijs Picugins from Latvia – Project: PipBoy Personal Helper

Synopsis: There are a lot of different smartphones now, but none have all the things that I need. The personal helper I’d like to have resembles the PipBoy. A wrist-wearable computer that has all kinds of features incorporated into it. In Fallout, it’s a resource, health, travel and task management device. That’s what a Lone Wanderer needs. We, being trapped in urbanized environments, need that and even more than that. We also need communication and entertainment. That’s where my idea steps in.

K.C. Rajesh from Canada – Project: PiBo

Synopsis: The inspiration for my design is “Weebo” from the 1997 movie “Flubber” produced by Disney. Weebo is a robot that is able to float around and help the scientist Philip the main protagonist in the movie. Flubber is able to communicate with people using voice and video. In 1997 this was a treat to watch as part of the movie. Weebo was able to portray human emotion using lights and a video screen. Although this was way before the time, we continue to see toys like Zoomer, able to move and respond to human commands. It will be useful to have a helper that can move and provide information using multi media. In todays connected world, if the robot can connect to applications and websites over the network.
Inspired by Weebo, I plan to build PiBo who may have comparable functions to the original but will move using wheels and be a terrestrial robot rather than an air-borne one.

Kenny Rasschaert from Belgium – Project: Real-Life Holographic Projector

Synopsis:Holograms have appeared in many works of science fiction, most notably in the Star Wars trilogies. Through these projections, pre-recorded messages could be displayed in the air and Jedi Masters are able to attend council meetings even when they are away from Coruscant. Tupac Shakur’s appearance on Coachella in 2012 was a sudden reminder to the world that we have had this technology for a while. Through a technique called Pepper’s Ghost, an image can be projected onto a transparent surface and appear as if it’s really there. In essence, a hologram. For this design challenge, I would leverage Pepper’s Ghost to give an R2D2 model a real-life holographic projector to be used for telepresence video conferencing.
Shrenik Shikhare from India – Project: Sci Fi Advanced Controls

Synopsis: My first idea is the one where Tony Stark interacts with his computers with hand gestures. Picks up file from One computer monitor and Puts in other Computer and starts interacting with. In my project I would love to do similar thing with Images/ Pictures first. If possible same thing I would love to do with Videos and supported file. I feel it’s a very cool project.

My second idea is a Surface Table: we can find this in many movies from Mission Impossible to Amazing Spiderman to Iron Man once again. Those are mostly touch based, but I am looking to use the Microchip’s MGC 3130 GestIC kit that I have from element14 to interact with displays. Here As I don’t have such big monitor, I would use my laptop display as surface display.

My third idea is a Wrist Computer: if time permits I would love to implement a wrist computer, just like personal assistance we would have seen in movies. A Raspberry Pi + PiFace (though it’s bulkier) would do this job. Also if possible a GPS integration with this computer enable a Door unlock mechanism based on my location. And Door lock unlock can be handled by Gertboard.

Harsahib Singh from India – Project: Verbal & Physical Morality Monitor

Synopsis: This project is inspired by the movie Demolition Man and the future society it envisions. The movie is set in the 2030’s when crime has been completely eradicated inside a tightly controlled society. Swearing is a violation of the ‘verbal morality statues’ and its enforcement is done through monitoring devices mounted in each room. These verbal morality statute monitors are a running joke in the movie as characters use profanity and trigger violations. This project is an attempt to recreate the verbal morality statute monitor from Demolition Man as well as a practice to enhance the same concept for physical morality which is very common in workplaces and houses.
The project will work on the speech recognition program which is to be loaded for the first time, the device will continuously take the voice signals as input through the microphone module and will be checking the words against the programmed code for any verbal morality and in case it finds out any abusive speech the camera module will be switched on to record the current situation.

Inderpreet Singh from India – Project: VIRUS (Voice & Gesture Instructed Robots & Control of Universal Systems)

Synopsis: My proposal is conceptualized atop the fusion of JARVIS from Iron Man which is a voice Home Automation System and the Minority Reports gesture Control System, merged with robots such as R2D2, C3PO (StarWars), Rosie (Jetsons), Wall-E and possibly leverage the power of IoT by offloading Computational components to the cloud like SkyNet (Terminator). The idea is to create a reconfigurable robot that can be “Transformed” and can link up to a central computer.

Joey Thompson from United States – Project: QuadCop

Synopsis: The QuadCOP will be a low cost and custom built quadcopter.
Inspiration: In many sci-fi movies there are flying vehicles that perform some sort of security or searching. These vehicles are typically autonomous and feature dramatic reactions when something is detected. Lights, voices, or even gun fire are common.
My favorite examples are from the Terminator Franchise which are called “Hunter Killers”. Hunter Killers (HK) are used in the movie to search for humans. In the movie they roam around slowly and methodically using huge search lights that sweep the ground below.
A couple of other great examples are the areal drones in the latest Robocop and in the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. In that game several quadcopter drones are used to perform security and fly set paths scanning for intruders. The quads are constantly interlinked so damaging one quad will alert all the others. The quads are also used remotely to search areas via a live stream and the quad has a certain level autonomous movement assisting the user.

Frederick Vandenbosch from Belgium – Project: Touch / Motion Controls

Synopsis: When thinking about science-fiction, things that come to mind are touch / motion controls, things that slide in and out of place and bright lights. This is why I would like to propose to build the desk of the future, inspired by some visual effects of the Tron Legacy movie.

Jeremy Walker from United States – Project: Robotic Assistant for Everyday Delegations

Synopsis: Smart-phones enable us to communicate in more fantastic ways than some sci-fi predictions, and offer incredible computing power. The rise of 3D printing is the precursor to more fantastic replication machines – yet we still don’t have a general purpose household robot. Roombas are a great start, but where is our version of the Jetsons’ Rosie? Our C3-P0? Our CL4P-TP? The duties commonly attributed to this role are within our reach, and with your help, I intend to achieve them through RAED (Robotic Assistant for Everyday Delegation).

The ideas that have not been chosen also have some excellent innovative ideas. There are projects here that may end up being the next big thing if they are successful with their solutions.

I will certainly be following these with interest.

The source for this blog post, links to the individual blogs and full list is available at: http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-76303/l/sci-fi-your-pi-challengers

Faster Smaller Raspberry Pi Cluster

18 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by in Innovation, IoT, Programming, Raspberry Pi

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Following on from my blog “Race to the largest Raspberry Pi Cluster“, James J. Guthrie has built a 3 node cluster out of Raspberry Pi 2’s using 3 nodes, out performing the 64 node cluster.

The Iridis Pi has a peak CPU performance benchmark was around 1 GIGAFLOPS (floating point operations per second)

The cluster presented here is made of 3 second generation Pi’s (nodes) and has a peak performance of over 3 GIGAFLOPS.

A short paper on the cluster can be found at the link below.

http://personal.strath.ac.uk/james.guthrie/jabopi/

PI