Monthly Archives: November 2014

project

So long and thanks for all the fish!

 

That's one sad FROG
That’s one sad FROG!

On the 20 November 2014, the FROG project held its Final Review. FROG is leaving the Royal Alcázar for now but hopes to be invited back. The robot will stay in Seville till the end of 2014.

UPO has been invited to present FROG at FITUR, the International Tourism Trade Fair, at the end of January 2015.

After that the robot will go to Lisbon to prepare for a presentation and demonstration tour during the European Zoo Educators (EZE) Conference from the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), hosted by the Lisbon Zoo in March 2015.

After finalising the reports, next week, the FROG Consortium as such will end its being. We will continue to post news, about the green FROG and the red FROG, here.

The researchers will continue their work in other projects, for instance, FROG partners are already involved in TERESA, SQUIRREL, EASEL, MOnarCH and others.

But for now: So long, everyone! And special thanks to Luis, Rafael and Paulo for introducing us to some of the best little restaurants in Seville and Lisbon – the fish was especially good!

 

So long, little dog in the square.
So long, little dog in the Patio de Banderas…

 

... and thanks for all the fish!
… and thanks for all the fish!

 

So long for now 🙂

project

FROG Final Review

20 November 2014

You prepare and refine and … before you know it it’s all over….

Waiting for the FROG to undock...
Waiting for the FROG to undock…
Following the tour
Professor Owen Holland challenging the social navigation
Owen Holland challenging the social navigation

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FROG, PO and reviewers
FROG, PO, Mariusz Baldyga,  and reviewers Sven Behnke and Owen Holland

 

Project Officer, Consortium and reviewers with FROG - 20 Nov 2014
Project Officer, Consortium and Reviewers with FROG – 20 Nov 2014

 

The end of the project – now on with the exploitation!

integration, project

Guarded tour

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At five in the afternoon the Royal Alcázar closes its gates for new visitors for the day. The shop closes and the FROG makes its last tour of the day. This is a quiet time to test the latest updates and enhancements.

The security guards make their way from the entrance through the Alcázar making sure that everyone can find the exit. And sometimes, as on this day, they stop to watch the FROG for a moment.

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One FROG, four security guards
One FROG, four security guards
project

The UT Team

Vanessa Evers

 

Vanessa Evers is coordinator of the FROG project on behalf of UvA. She is chair of the Human Media Interaction (HMI) group at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

Vanessa and Ioannis with a very young FROG - May 2013
Vanessa and Ioannis with a very young FROG – May 2013

 

Betsy van Dijk
Betsy van Dijk

Betsy van Dijk was with the project until she became ill in 2013. Betsy is recovering: the FROG team misses her.

Betsy, Vanessa and Daphne – daily supervisor, promotor and PhD candidate – in Seville, May 2012

 

Daphne Karreman - Seville, February 2014
Daphne Karreman – Seville, February 2014

Daphne Karreman is working on the development of personality and behavior of a Fun Robotic Outdoor Guide. In her free time she plays the cello and is learning to build violins.

Daphne cello 2

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Randy Klaassen - November 2014
Randy Klaassen – November 2014

Randy Klaassen is finishing his thesis on Health Behaviour Change Support Systems which he will be defending on 27 February 2015.

Jan Kolkmeier - Royal Alcázar, September 2014
Jan Kolkmeier – Royal Alcázar, September 2014

Jan Kolkmeier is doing his Master’s with HMI.

 

Randy and Jan joined the project with just five months to come up with a working solution for the FROG state machine, augmented reality and personality.

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Preparations in simulation on the red FROG in Twente – November 2014.
Testing with a simulation on the red FROG in Twente - November 2014.
Testing the projector
The real thing
The real thing
Gently! November 2014
Slowly! November 2014

 

 

The other side of the camera for once
The other side of the camera for once

Lynn Packwood – day-to-day project manager for FROG – usually only to be seen as a shadow or in a Tilley hat – and author of this blog.

 

 

project

Is FROG afraid of the dark?

UPO and UT have been working till dark this weekend, preparing for the coming EU review.

They went to collect FROG from the shop at the end of the day but FROG wouldn’t move. The lady was ready to close the shop, the lights had been turned off and Randy took an excellent photo that I have gratefully ‘borrowed’ *.

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Is FROG afraid of the dark? We shone flashlights onto the docking poster – and, sure enough, FROG started to move. Not exactly afraid of the dark … but it sounds better than ‘FROG couldn’t see his ArUco poster’.

*Thanks, Randy!

 

project

Pomegranates or ‘granadas’

Pots at the entrance
Pots at the entrance

There are pomegranates everywhere in the Royal Alcázar in Seville: in pots, in the gardens, on tiles and on tapestries.

In the Vault room the FROG robot stops for a short interactive quiz with the visitors. The answer to one of the questions should actually be ‘pomegranates’ …

Shield on tiles

Today, Javier told us that the pommegranate is the heraldic device for Granada. This device is seen in two parties of the shield on the tile above.

This close-up of the photo at the top shows a tiny pommegranate in the same stage – bursting open to reveal its seeds.

Ripe to bursting
Ripe to bursting

 

And here you can see the same thing on another tile picture.

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Here the fruits look perfect.

Border of a tapestry
Border of a tapestry with pomegranates

 

The fruit seen below is on a larger plant in the gardens.

A fruit
A fruit
The whole plant
The whole plant

This might just be one as well – it is on a tile set into a path in the gardens.

Is this a stylised pomegranate?
Is this a stylised pomegranate?

By the way, we didn’t change the answer to the quiz question – so, I’m afraid this post won’t help you get it right.

presentation, project, reviews

Final Review in Seville

The FROG consortium will be at the Royal Alcázar in Seville from 17 till 21 November 2014.

We have been busy finishing our reports and now the EU representative and two independent reviewers (both researchers with a lot of experience with robots) will come to see if we have done our work properly.

This is a very serious event – somewhere between a tough audit and an excellent masterclass for the researchers.

FROG will be put through its paces … Looking for interested visitors!

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