| Sponsor |
Gregory Abowd abowd@cc.gatech.edu 380 CRB and 240 CCB |
| Area | HCI, Software Engineering and Future Computing Environments |
Problem
A large part of the Domisilica project is being able to get a virtual world
to work in harmony to augment a physical world. In this mini project,
you are asked to explore this physical/virtual link further.
How would you create physical devices that speak to virtual
counterparts in Domisilica? For example, turning on a light in
the physical world, through some X10 control and a network
interface to Domisilica, can update the state of the light bulb
in the virtual world. In fact, we already have a student who
does this in Domisilica. How can you get the act of placing a
carton of milk into the refrigerator to update the contents of
the virtual refrigerator, Cyberfridge? We have done this as
well.
Your objective in this project is either to duplicate this light-bulb or refrigerator project or come up with a similar project to demonstrate how actions in the physical world can update the virtual world.
As an alternative, you can think about the reverse problem. How do you get activity in the virtual world to update the physical world. How could you ask in Domisilica for the light bulb in your bedroom to be turned on when you are at the office? Or how could you be informed through physical means of how many Domisilica travellers are assembled in your virtual living room by doing something to the actual living room (increase temperature, raise ambient noise in the room, etc.)?
Finally, you can think about two-way scenarios. Sitting in your
office, how could you hear someone knocking at the front door of
your home (physical to virtual), see who that person is and
unlock the door to let them in (virtual to physical)?
Background