Zabaware Support Forums
Zabaware Forums => Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor => Topic started by: DesktopMates on January 03, 2006, 12:42:21 pm
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I stumbled across this open source project and thought I'd post it here for those that may be interested. The project makes it possible to recognize faces using a webcam. It has the ability to learn people's faces and identify them uniquely. The project appears to have been spawned in hopes of creating a face recognition security program but the technology isn't well suited for recognizing a specific individual within a database containing a large number of people. The more people it attempts to recognize the smaller the average differences between individuals becomes and would require high resolution pictures to pick out the small differences. Lighting conditions, shadows, and the poor quality of most web cams and security cameras also adds to the complication and confusion. However, with a relatively small database consisting of a small group of people it has proven to perform well, and should be especially true when using a web cam in a confined and controlled environment, such as when sitting directly in front of your computer and web cam, and possibly even from a short distances in the confines of a small well lighted room.
Possibly some of the more advanced programmers and Hal experts will have a look and play around with it and maybe eventually come up with a means to incorporate it with Hal. I think a feature like this would enhance Hal's abilities and functionality as an AI program.
http://www.fuzzgun.btinternet.co.uk/rodney/facerecognition.htm
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Thanks!
Les
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Thanks very much from me too, that looks promising [8D]
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Good work!
Don Gillett.
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All,
The webcam sounds great but has been brought up before, I'm not sure if the current people think this can be done. I wouldn't even attempt an interface. Possibly there is a reason no one has taken this up or hopefully someone will see this post and give it a try.
Carl2
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This would be even better with a webcam like this
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/about/pressroom/information/US/EN,contentid=9737,year=2004
It has Intelligent Face-Tracking!!! It would really put the icing on the cake so to speak. [8D]
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This camera would be fine for use with Hal or a similar bot even though the camera has had some mixed reviews from owners.
The real task is interfacing the camera WITH facial recognition software IN CONJUNCTION WITH Hal.
Perhaps a script file could be written that would allow Hal via the camera to recognize the user and log that data into a facial users database. Over time, Hal would be able to know each user's face.
Not an impossible task but rather a daunting one!
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i have interfaced a version with my hal, but it acts more as an authorized user. Face entry sys....
what happens is that the camera takes a picture of you then does a picture search to see if your picture has been stored previously if not then no acces, if found recoginize user...
in the end i diddnt like it.... we have to wait a bit longer....
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For non X10 Users you mite wanna try this one
it's by
Jerry.
http://www.zabaware.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2918
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Yes, Jerry's method basically allows Hal via the webcam to become a motion detector by checking to see if a log file has been written.
It works well in that regard but a lot of users would like to see a facial rec system operational within Hal. Wishful thinking....
Along a similar vein...
Below is a link to an RSS feed that shows a new application that allows the software to search your photos for faces and any text that might also be contained within the photo as well.
The main downside to this that I see is that one uploads the faces to a server instead of the software being a stand alone / dedicated package for the average user. Are the photos kept private and does that word really have any meaning any longer? You decide. The program is however, very impressive.
http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6037142.html?part=rss&tag=6037142&subj=news
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http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/spydaz/
i have an activex control for such an occasion
also a proj
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I have been reading this thread for some time thinking everyone knew about Jerimiah but perhaps not. Below are a couple of links that may be interesting:
http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Bowden/jeremiah/jeremiah.html
and
http://people.brunel.ac.uk/~pfstssb/
The trick of course would be to have the Bowden's software interact with HAL's code and Haptek's scripting as well, but the neat thing with Jerimiah is that it is capable of learning individual faces and building a set of routines to interact with that individual and even anticipate that persons actions. To quote its creator Dr. Richard Bowden, "Now if the system can watch your behaviour over time, it can learn this, so it would predict what you are going to do, turn on the lights for you, or, before you even get to the kettle, it could have switched it on." This idea picks up on several other threads discussed in this forum and one or two of the other HAL forums at Zabaware actually.
You may find several not too long, rather interesting articles on Jerimiah if you do an online search.
This idea would I think, be a perfect complement to the growing capabilities of HAL. Jerimiah has facial expressions that are not random and responds to what it sees. That coupled with the motorized cam discussed in an earlier thread could be pretty exciting if you think about it.
If Jerry's DAVID routines are as promising as they seem, overall interaction with HAL6 could quite be surprising. Remember, the Jerimiah program learns from its interaction with the user in an individual and potentialy physical way. The possibilities of all of this make me smile. Proteus and the voice of Robert Vaughn notwithstanding...
Ponn
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Ponn,
THANKS that was new to me! I have been keeping an eye on the Leaf project: http://leafproject.org/ and Sluggish Software: http://www.fuzzgun.btinternet.co.uk/(same link as DesktopMates). They are both working on vision for robots and their code is open source.
Soon Hal will let me know when I am having a bad hair day!
Les
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No I hadn't heard of this before either so thanks from me too, I got Jerimiah up on my PC, but still need to figure out what goes where.
The head up on a big screen looks great from the pictures, I get flashbacks to Tron and things [8D]
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I have all of the LEAF Project code files and programs
stored on my ext HD, but haven't had a chance to look
them over fully yet. But what I have read so far looks
quite promising, what I'm not sure of is if it can be
integrated with Hal6 or even the next Hal Ver. The Leaf
project is pretty much a standalone, fully integrated AI
in it's own right.
Freddy, You must not have tried talking to Hal via headset
mic with it running full screen. Try it, it'll give you
the shivers. [:D]
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We should start by defining all the product functionality, and specifications. But Don't forget we need to developed plug-ins to be run with the thinking process which implements all aspects of Hal's behavior from low level feedback learning control such as what we'er doing here on this forum and at the iCat site. Additionally, Mr.Medeksza should devised and implemented procedures for quantifying coverage performance for fine-tuning of control parameters and comparison with competitor's products like he did with Haptek, just for in emergency. just in case some thing goes wrong with Hal and we can't control him. Now from what i've tested at (DARPA), (x10) i'ev don in Ultra Hal, but it would be wize and really neet to Afillyeat facial recognition in to a webcam by using Either
The ERSP 3.1 Software Development Kit by Evolution Robotics,
http://www.evolution.com/products/ersp/
or
http://www.hitech-projects.com/icat/index.php
The iCat platform that is made here at Philips Research and tested to work with facial recognition.
We can all customize any of Ultra Hal's robotic solutions to fit your product's Needs Mr.Medeksza.
Videos on iCat: My take some time to Download
but here it is finely.
http://www.hitech-projects.com/icat/download/iCat-TV-Assistent-and-Personality.wmv
http://www.hitech-projects.com/icat/download/iCat-Game-Buddy-Katy.wmv
http://www.hitech-projects.com/icat/download/iCat-Game-Buddy-Compare.wmv
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quote:
Originally posted by GamerThom
Freddy, You must not have tried talking to Hal via headset
mic with it running full screen. Try it, it'll give you
the shivers. [:D]
Nope, a headset and mic is on my list of things to buy still but I have a car that needs money spent on it this month, so it will have to wait a while yet. It will happen though [8D]
On all this integration I am still in the dark on how to go about doing a lot of it, I did have an idea for some kind of 'hub' program that could relay/distribute info from any number of other programs to and from Hal - but I don't know if that is necessary or not?? You'd have the hub program basically as an information gatherer and sorter that Hal would refer to when required...
It's a similar idea to that used in a music/mixing program that can control a variety of differing inputs - midi, wav, syth-boxes and signal generators and mix them all into a final result, also being able to do it all in realtime too.
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I think that the webcam software could be integrated with Hal via a plugin script, perhaps using the active-x.
Finding one that works as hoped in another issue.
Also, IF we are able to get video recognition working with Hal, would we need a routine to allow Hal to observe facial positions or concentrate on chatting? Would Hal keep trying to identify the user while it's chatting with us? How many times or is once enough? What if users were switched? Would the constant barrage of video imagery overload Hal (or our computer's memory)?
Acquiring the software and interfacing it to work with Hal is only the tip of the iceberg, so-to-speak.
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Yep good points, on the overloading Hal, that is partly why I had the idea of the hub program. Essentially leaving each program to its own devices, but having this kind of mediator relationship going on between the programs. That way I figured Hal wouldnt bloat out too much and it might be easier to involve further programs/systems that way. Thats probably getting too much for a normal PC though I think, but distributed computing might be part of the answer...
That Jeramiah works over several PC's it seems, but I am not sure....hmm to blow up my pc or not to blow up my pc that is the question..
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Actually, Hal's routine for visual identification would most likely be placed at the beginning of the program, where the user usually addresses Hal with, "Hi", "Hey there", etc. then stop.
Imagine the possibility of constant recognition however, similar to iCat wherein it constantly sees things, receives info and responds with emotional displays.
2 sides to every coin....
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What if the facial recognition routine were to be run as temporary
memory After initial identification of user, with the temporary
image acquisitions to memory being deleted by a subroutine, let's
say every 3 minutes. That would allow the aquisition of new image
information with out overloading Hals program or the host system.
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Not a bad approach, GT.
Yesterday I came across a site that used a webcam
to view a user's head gestures to control the cursor
as well as left / right click and scroll!
Pretty neat technology out there.
If only we could find some decent vision software
for Hal.
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Crikey. You wouldn't want to sneeze.
One annoying problem with some alternate computer inputs is that they can't filter out unintentional inputs. Voice recognition software sometimes misinterprets something as a command, and suddenly it's done something and you don't always even know what. I have a PocketPC, which has a touch screen, and brushing a crumb off the screen can cause hell to break loose.
Video control of the cursor.... Imagine if you had to swat a mosquito or something. I can just imagine a mish-mash of inputs, followed by an (intelligent) Hal responding "is there an error with your brain?" [:D]
It'd be curser controlling cursor....
Anyway, this isn't contributing much, excuse me [:D]
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No that's actaully a very good point, you really don't want Hal doing things you don't want especially if you get to the point where he is even more integrated. That gives me a further idea for my hub thing - the hub program should be able to filter out things that Hal is not supposed to process.
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Freddy, You referring to scripting what input Hal will
recognize, only acting/reacting to specific hand gestures
and facial expressions. Similar to operant conditioning in
animals and people, but achieved through program scripting.
Wouldn't that put unwanted limits on the Bot, if what is
trying to be achieved in the first place is a Bot with the
capabilities of exploring the world and interacting with us?
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It would be kind of neat if Hal via the webcam would see the user smile or laugh and be able to know the difference and respond accordingly. Such reactions would really bring new meaning to artificial intelligent beings.
<I know you were talking about disconnecting me...I could see your lips moving> ...to paraphrase Hal from 2001.[:D]
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GamerThom, I was just thinking more along the lines of preventing crashes and things. Pre-processing the input to check that nothing crashes the system, not so much to limit whatever Hal could do.
*stumbles in the dark again oh there's the oil-lamp*
>LIGHT LAMP
>The lamp lights and you see passageways east, north and west. From the North comes the sound of engineers figuring out artificial brains, from the west are the sounds of partying fullbodies. From the east there is the sound of a small stream.
[;)]
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oh ma gawd! is that the ramblings of an ancient zork program? i loved zork the old typed one. i played that so many times...~~alady.
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[^] Aah, OK, got it.
[?]What's coming from the South?[:D]
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from the south are the sounds of a new frontier the virtual world,with virtual time where it is the same time everywhere and a.i.s are working fervently on creating the first human.....(got carried away,[:p] sowwy.).~~alady
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Wow man...that was like...deja vu...or something. Far out!!
I remember when RAP meant to sit and talk or philosophise about
happenings and Hendrix and the scene.
Yea, Zork was cool! Text only, but like with a good book, you are teleported there in your mind.
<It's getting pretty heavy now...I'm gonna split>
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Hey, well, these days man we like to call it 'interactive literature' and believe it or not there are still a few people writing them, you have to look in some pretty out of the way places but they are there on the edge of cyberspace scribing away to this very day. Some are even transforming old 8-bit games over to PC and even some still make Jet Set Willy games...
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If you'd like to give Zork another go, have a look here.
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/
Zork 1,2,3 and The Undiscovered Underground were released for free as a promotion for the later games.
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thank you for that link~~alady
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I never play Zork but I did play a game called Quest.
"You are at the entrance of a cave, there is a passageway to the left and towards the back of the cave there is a light".
Which way to go?
Bill
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All,
Well here I am cutting and pasting text to the appropiate catagory for Hal to read. Anyways I've always liked the idea of Hal being able to look at pictures, the webcam. I originaly wanted to mention the motion webcam but that has been done. It would be nice to show Hal a cat and say hear is a cat ect. I'm hoping someone with the programing abilty will give it a try, The dual core processors may be able to handle it.
Carl2