Robogals Blog

Don't you hate it when after a photo is taken, you discover that you've missed the perfect moment or it turns out blurry? Now there is a camera, made by the company Lytro, that let's you "shoot first, focus after".

Shutter lag is the delay between triggering the shutter and when the photograph is actually recorded. A shorter delay means you can take more pictures in a short amount of time. This is especially useful when capturing photos of objects or people in motion. According to the company's website and PC World, the Lytro camera has no shutter lag and lets you take pictures quickly.

What's more interesting about the camera is that it utilises light fields. A light field is the amount of light traveling in every direction through every point in space. The camera is able to capture and store the entire light field of a given scene due to advanced hardware sensors and software algorithms. You can read a brief explanation on how the camera works here.

And why is a light field camera cool? It allows me to stop worrying about blurred images and choose where I want to focus:

Feel free to experiment with photos in the Picture Gallery!

Sarah

Hello again,

It's the Mid-year Break and there are no university assessments (for now). Hooray!

Today, I'd like to share a music application that was shown in our Machine Learning course.

UJAM is an application that allows everyone - from novices to skilled musicians - to compose music. UJAM is able to learn and analyse a simple input melody (sung or played on an instrument) and generate options for accompaniments such as harmonies, bass line, and drum beats etc. The user is able to edit, save, and publish their newly created music. A neat explanation on how it works is given by Jon Stokes in the Wired Magazine:

"Before ujam’s AI can lay down accompaniment, it must figure out which notes the user is singing or playing. Once it recognizes them, the algorithm searches for chords to match the tune, using a mix of statistical techniques and hardwired musical rules. The stats are part of the software’s AI and can generate myriad chord progressions. The rules-based module then uses its knowledge of Western musical tropes to narrow the chord options to a single selection. ...

As ujam gathers more data on users’ preferences and musical tastes, programmers feed this info back into the system, improving its on-the-fly performance. In this respect at least, ujam is like a human: It gets better with practice."

Pretty cool, right? Go ahead and have a try.

Cheers,

Sarah

Hello!

This is my first post entry as a blogger for Robogals. Perhaps I should introduce myself. Here goes...

My name is Sarah. I've always liked maths and science in high school. That's my justification for choosing to study Engineering at university. Doing things you enjoy can't be that bad, right? Fast forward 3 years and here I am: a final year engineering student studying at the University of Queensland, Australia. No regrets!

I am majoring in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering - combining problem solving skills from electrical engineering with biomedical sciences to improve health care. Some university courses I have completed or am currently taking include:

• Human Anatomy - the study of form and structure of the human body;
• Systems Physiology - the study of major organ system functions of the human body;
• Signal and Image Processing - the analysis and application of signals and images;
• Image Formation - an introduction to medical imaging techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging;
• Photonics - the science of harnessing light to create devices that comprise both electrical and optical functions, such as LASERs;
• Machine Learning - a branch of artificial intelligence concerned with the development and application of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviours based on example data or previous experience.

So back to this blog. Hmm... What should I post? I'm still a student and hence, there are many things I don't understand. So let's start with what we learn in university, brief updates on new technology, and science-fiction / cyberpunk awesomeness to enthuse the imagination.

You'll hear from me soon :)

Sarah