Cornell BOOM exhibits student projects

11:09 pm | Biology, Cornell, Gaming, Software | No comment

The annual Bits on Our Minds (BOOM) exhibition is showcasing technology projects varying from a small, self-guided robotic helicopter to a facial recognition program for tracking ancestry or to aid in searching for missing children.

Ethan Benanav, a computer science major of his project “Gamut”, a puzzle game where you figure out how to get past each level by changing the color of the world to make objects of that color disappear.

Michael Wilson of his project , “Project Vertex”, a game that uses the Wii remote that can track where the player’s head is in order to change the perspective of the 3-D virtual world, which allows you to use your own body as the controller. It won the Morgan Stanley Innovation Award.

Kevin Cheng, a biology major who is working on the only biological science research project at BOOM which is the “Genetically Engineering a Heavy Metal Biosensor” that has an objective to engineer an affordable biosensor to detect cadmium, a toxic heavy metal that contaminates irrigation water in developing nations.

USC’s EA Game Innovation Lab founder to speak

9:30 pm | Gaming, USC | No comment

We just got a tip today that USC’s co-founder of the  Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab, Chris Swain, will deliver a keynote address at the upcoming Independent Game Conference West in LA Nov. 5th and 6th. 

I am very impressed with the work that USC’s students are doing in their Innovation Lab. In particular, there is an iPhone App game called AquariYum! that is breaking new ground.

It is an asynchronous game that allows players to generate puzzles to share and challenge each other with. You can actually read Albert Yang’s, Thesis Paper and read more about it. I like his foundational framework description on Progressive Design.