Roger: 23rd May 2007

For the hardware, the actuators controlling the latex surface are all fixed up. They are fully functional with the initialization switch. The real terrain is ready for calibration with the virtual terrain. The circuits controlling the mechanical arm are ready and fully functional but somehow the x-y axes coupling are stuck. It could be a manufacturing problem or something. Michael is asked to come down and take a look at it.

For the software, the calibration of the virtual terrain to map the real terrain is to be done next. This is to ensure the mapping between the real and virtual terrain goes smoothly without any latency or too much inaccuracy. This will be a collaboration effort between the software and hardware team. Derek is being asked to looked more into tweaking the virtual terrain to match the real terrain while Karthik is given the task of sending the inputs from the real terrain to the virtual terrain through TCP/IP from the game server to the client holding the game engine. In addition a third character, the boss avatar (in the form of a cat) for the game design is undergoing conceptualization. Once the design is ready it will be modeled in 3D Max and converted to X format for loading into the DirectX of the game engine.

For the biological side, the whistle to be played by the game server is done by Muratti while the design of the hamster paradise is almost ready. Elvin is working on applying Cronbach’s Alpha for Flow theory to be used in user studies for user’s enjoyment of the virtual game of Metazoa Ludens. Once the format is done, the Cronbach’s Alpha statistical model may be reuse in other future works of MXR wherever survey is used (could be used in user studies for dDNA). This could be used to ensure reliability of the surveys as well as add more depth to our user studies (through use of formal statistical methods).

On the other hand, Janyn is coordinating with Derek and Roger to finalize the changes needed for the Metazoa Ludens’ submission to Leonardo Transactions.

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