mangolass
09-08-2005, 02:32 AM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/09/07/financial/f175638D58.DTL
Though a quarter-century old, Pacman has classic appeal that persuaded a group of researchers to reinvent it in a format where the virtual world meets the real one.
"Instead of pressing buttons on a keyboard or using a joystick to move Pacman around a flat maze on a computer screen, the player actually becomes Pacman and plays in the streets," said Adrian David Cheok, head of Nanyang Technological University's Mixed Reality Lab, a Singaporean team developing "Human Pacman."
In a recent demonstration, researcher James Teh played Pacman by strapping on a backpack containing a laptop and donning a headset comprising a camera and goggles. Sensors and other gadgets were attached to the backpack with electrical tape.
As in the video game, Teh's objective was to collect as many yellow dots as he could. In the human version, the dots appeared in his goggle display as yellow orbs bobbing above a road lined with parked cars. Pedestrians looked on curiously.
When Teh turned, he could see his similarly equipped colleague, Lee Shang Ping, whose objective as Pacman's nemesis "Ghost" was to tap Teh's backpack, thereby eliminating his existence.
The goggles are key to merging the video game and the player's physical surroundings. Through them, virtual objects are superimposed on real-time video of the environment, creating "mixed reality."
The equipment can be heavy at 5.5 pounds, and a standard setup costs about $7,780, Cheok said. But the team secured a deal with a Hong Kong gaming company in mid-August to develop a minimized version in which the wearable computer and headset would be replaced by a mobile phone using third-generation, or 3G, technology.
LT
Though a quarter-century old, Pacman has classic appeal that persuaded a group of researchers to reinvent it in a format where the virtual world meets the real one.
"Instead of pressing buttons on a keyboard or using a joystick to move Pacman around a flat maze on a computer screen, the player actually becomes Pacman and plays in the streets," said Adrian David Cheok, head of Nanyang Technological University's Mixed Reality Lab, a Singaporean team developing "Human Pacman."
In a recent demonstration, researcher James Teh played Pacman by strapping on a backpack containing a laptop and donning a headset comprising a camera and goggles. Sensors and other gadgets were attached to the backpack with electrical tape.
As in the video game, Teh's objective was to collect as many yellow dots as he could. In the human version, the dots appeared in his goggle display as yellow orbs bobbing above a road lined with parked cars. Pedestrians looked on curiously.
When Teh turned, he could see his similarly equipped colleague, Lee Shang Ping, whose objective as Pacman's nemesis "Ghost" was to tap Teh's backpack, thereby eliminating his existence.
The goggles are key to merging the video game and the player's physical surroundings. Through them, virtual objects are superimposed on real-time video of the environment, creating "mixed reality."
The equipment can be heavy at 5.5 pounds, and a standard setup costs about $7,780, Cheok said. But the team secured a deal with a Hong Kong gaming company in mid-August to develop a minimized version in which the wearable computer and headset would be replaced by a mobile phone using third-generation, or 3G, technology.
LT