Voice Controlling Hexy

(This post is a bit rough, but I figured I should get it out there, since I won't be working on Hexy for a little while.)
Before we get started:

1. The code used to make this all work is on Github. I'm new to ROS, so I don't claim that it's set up correctly.
2. To get things to ROSLaunch nicely, I had to make some pretty hacky changes to how PoMoCo deals with directories. Basically, it now has to use full paths to every directory ( these paths are created at runtime using __file__ ). I haven't seen it fail yet, and I can't think of a specific failure mode, but it makes me very uncomfortable, and I'm looking for a way to change it.
3. ROSPoMoCo isn't a full substitute for PoMoCo yet. Offsets, for instance, can't be set in ROS, though they are loaded from the .cfg file.

After a bit of hacking, I've ported most of PoMoCo over to run as a ROS Node. This node listens for new moves on the /moves topic and runs them if it is able to (If it can't find the move, it issues a Warning and ignores it).

At this point, it's time to take advantage of ROS to do neat stuff with Hexy. At first, I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do, but some Googling brought up this blog post, in which an iRobot create is controlled by voice. The package used to do this is perfect for controlling something like Hexy -- pocketsphinx will broadcast any recognized phrase on the \output topic, and the set of recognized phrases can be set with a text file.

A Native Google Talk Client for Linux(Sort of)

I've been using Google Talk more frequently as of late, but upon investigation, I was disappointed to learn that Google hasn't released a Linux client for Google Talk. I did, however, notice a reference to a "native" (whatever that's supposed to mean) ChromeOS client. Since I knew that ChromeOS is running Linux under the hood, I decided to check it out. Amazingly, despite wads of yellow tape warning me that it would wreak havoc on my computer and slay my firstborn, it seems to work seamlessly as a Linux client for Talk in Ubuntu 11.04! Video chatting between two semi-native clients doesn't always work, and using both the client and, say, gmail chat at the same time has it's rough edges, but it's fine.

3D Scanning, the Bowyer-Watson Algorithm, and Real Time (maybe) Delaunay triangulation.

 

  Wasn't that a mouthful! I'm taking another look at my 3D scanner. I really haven't talked about this scanner very much on this blog, so I've posted a video of it I made earlier this fall as part of my MIT application above. I'll move a good deal of the content from that portion of my application onto this blog over time, so long as it doesn't become too obsolete.

How to liberate your phone book from facebook

This is a quickly written, hacky script for personal use. For the time being, this script will only work on 99 friends at a time (Amusingly, facebook thinks there are 100 on the first page, but you're welcome to count. There are 99. Buggy programming FTW!). I'm playing with a workaround, but don't hold your breath. In the meantime, you can do the following to take your friend's phone numbers back into your own care:

Holophonic Sound (Head Design)

After some Searching in the SketchUp Warehouse, I found this model of a shaved head. It's exactly what I was looking for: accurate, but very low poly and not overdone. I decided to take a lateral slice every inch, and disaster struck.

The slicer plugin I use has some problems, especially when it's working with complex or imported models (I think this was originally put together in Collada), it tends to "miss" slices. It's free, and it usually works like a charm, so I can't really complain, but it still hung me up for a while.

Holophonic Sound (Overview)

Given that I'm about done with my 3D scanner (I promise I'll put an overview up soon), I've been looking around for a new project. I recently happened across this mp3 (Headphones are needed for the full effect)

It's not the first time I've heard it, but it's still impressive. On a whim, I decided I'd try my hand at my own holophonic recording setup (might make long distance Skype calls more pleasant if the audio is good enough), and I started to do some research. Cetera doesn't seem to have commercialized their technique, and I couldn't find much in the way of software to simulate the effect, so it comes down to the physical setup (which also doesn't seem to be commercialized), and homebrew code tinkering.