Re: Collision Detection workshop

[Don Brutzman <brutzman@nps.navy.mil>]

Maggie, please put Tim Holliday down for a 10-15 minute presentation
and demonstration.  He has implemented a Recursive Ray Acoustics (RRA)
algorithm which does ray tracing of sonar sound waves through water.  
He is combining this with an object detection model.  The point of the talk
is to show that many sensor modeling problems are actually collision
detection problems in disguise.  I think this is a small but important
class of applications to consider.

We will try to summarize the COLLISION protocol data unit (PDU) in the
DIS protocol.  This is currently implemented but untested in the
dis-java-vrml library.  Perhaps someone else in dis-java-vrml has
more experience and can effectively describe the uses/strengths/weaknesses
of the COLLISION PDU.

You may wish to attend the GeoVRML workshop, and ask someone there to
address the collision-detection problem as seen from a terrain perspective.

I recommend you solicit someone to present the status of VCollide and
related collision-detection library work.

I recommend that one goal of the workshop be consideration of what
constructs (if any) need to be added to VRML to enable general 
object-to-object collision detection.  It would be good to assess whether
or not there is sufficient maturity in this field to warrant formation
of a working group.

Thanks and good luck.

Susan Lynn Kropf wrote:
> 
> Maggie,
> 
> I'm sorry to hear about your lack of response.  I'm not sure what might be
> the cause - I've asked around, and a few people here said that they don't
> recall seeing the email on the lists.  Have you sent it again??
> 
> I'd hate to see you cancel your workshop, because I think that it's an
> interesting problem that will pull in many people.  It's also a difficult
> problem given the current structure of VRML, which is perhaps why there isn't
> a lot of response from others wanting to demo.
> 
> I think that if you demo your stuff, then that will be a great starting point
> for discussions on colllision, etc.  I think that you will be able to lead a
> discussion, get a variety of viewpoints, and make contact with a group of
> people that could be the start of a vrml working group.
> 
> I'd suggest sending another email to the mailing list/newsgroup, perhaps with
> a sarcastic "Hello, hello, anybody out there??" tone to it.  Ask if anyone at
> all is interested in this topic and see what happens.
> 
> Wish I could help you more, but I'd say hang in there.  You seem like you've
> got a lot to contribute to the community, and I'd hate to lose that.
> 
> See you in Monterey,
>  {S}
> 
> On Feb 9, 12:54pm, Maggie Templeman wrote:
> > Subject: workshop
> > Hi Susan
> >
> > Further to my email of last week about the complete lack of response to our
> > call for participation in the Collision Detection Workshop, and my query
> > about whether you could advise on this, I am now writing to let you know
> > that we have, sadly, decided to cancel this event.  From my understanding,
> > workshops need a variety of contributors - not just one company - and it
> > seems that we are unable to attract any external interest in the subject.
> >
> > I hope that this does not cause you too much inconvenience.  If you can
> > think of anything which might help to 'revive' the workshop, then I should
> > be delighted to hear about this.
> >
> > Thanks.  Maggie
> >-- End of excerpt from Maggie Templeman
> 
> --
> Susan Lynn Kropf                        Email: slk@sgi.com
> Interaction Designer                    Voice: 415-933-2934
> Cosmo Software: http://cosmo.sgi.com    Pager: 415-HAT-Y-JOG
> Silicon Graphics, Inc.                    -or- slk_p@pager.sgi.com

-- 
all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code UW/Br Root 200  work 408.656.2149
              Monterey California 93943-5000 USA              fax  408.656.3679
Virtual worlds/underwater robots/Internet http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman