A s a field, computer science faces a problem. From 2000 to 2004, the percentage of first-year undergraduates planning to major in CS declined by more than 60 percent (see the "Declining Interest in Computer Science" sidebar). 1 To attract more students, the introductory CS curriculum must be motivating and relevant. CS courses that are set in a motivating context (for example, using multimedia, gaming, or robotics) can excite students and get them hooked. Other researchers have worked on introductory programming classes with robots as well as introduction to robotics classes (http://myro. roboteducation.org/robobiblio). We didn't want to create a robotics course but rather an introductory CS course based on robots. Introduced properly, robots make visible and tangible those aspects of CS that are often hidden behind computer screens and in computer memory. To further this goal, we formed the Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE), a joint effort between Georgia Tech and Bryn Mawr College and sponsored by Microsoft Research (www.roboteducation. org). This article discusses the first-year results of a three-year project.
Determining who is interacting with a multi-user interactive touch display is challenging. We describe a technique for associating multi-touch interactions to individual users and their accelerometer-equipped mobile devices. Real-time device accelerometer data and depth camera-based body tracking are compared to associate each phone with a particular user, while body tracking and touch contacts positions are compared to associate a touch contact with a specific user. It is then possible to associate touch contacts with devices, allowing for more seamless device-display multi-user interactions. We detail the technique and present a user study to validate and demonstrate a content exchange application using this approach.
A poster on my office door declares, "98% of all CPUs shipped today are destined for devices"; I declare, Embedded Systems are one of the most exciting areas in contemporary computer systems engineering. Microsoft has addressed this field, not only with research activities where I am focused, but in a wide range of products from the powerhouse Xbox 360 game console, through the increasingly ubiquitous Windows Mobile PDAs and Smartphones, to the diminutive MSN Direct watch and its cousin devices. We are also well-known for our hardware devices such as mice, keyboards and other input devices --all of which are embedded systems in their own right. For third party device manufacturers, we provide a rich range of platform technologies in the Windows Embedded family. Last but not least, in December 2006 we released the Microsoft Robotics Studio, with a view to helping the birth of a new generation of intelligent embedded machines. My talk will aim to provide a personal perspective on Microsoft's interests in this vast and exciting field, with a view to suggesting some implications on the teaching of such technologies to prepare the next generation of engineers.
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