RobotC 2.0 Programming Language

Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Academy recently released ROBOTC 2.0, a programming language for robots and a suite of training tools designed for use by both elementary school students and college-level engineering courses. Based on the C programming language, ROBOTC is designed to evolve as students move from elementary school through college-level robot programming. Version 2.0 feature a new graphical user interface and an interactive real-time debugger that operates with either a wired or wireless connection to a PC. "We introduced ROBOTC four years ago because students working with robots should spend their time learning scientific, mathematical, and engineering principles, not learning a different programming language for each robot platform," says Robotics Academy director Robin Shoop. ROBOTC 2.0 is an integrated development environment that consists of a compiler, text and project editor, and a run-time environment. The debugger supports both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi links and provides users with complete access from a PC.

Microsoft Manual Deskterity

Microsoft researchers have developed Manual Deskterity, a computer interface that combines touch input with the precision of a pen. The prototype drafting application, designed for the Microsoft Surface tabletop touchscreen, enables users to perform touch actions such as zooming in and out and manipulating images, but they also can use a pen to draw or annotate those images. Manual Deskterity also allows users to touch an image onscreen with one hand while using the pen in the other hand to take notes or perform other actions that pertain to that object. Users need to learn more tricks to use Manual Deskterity, but the natural user interface should ease the learning curve by engaging muscle memory. "This idea that people just walk up with an expectation of how a [natural user interface] should work is a myth," says Microsoft research scientist Ken Hinckley. The researchers also plan to adapt the interface for use with mobile devices. Incorporating only touch input into devices is a mistake, according to Hinckley, who believes that pen and touch interactions can complement each other.

Using Twitter to Predict Event Success

HP Labs researchers have developed a way to use Twitter to gauge real-time interest in movies and accurately predict how they will perform at the box office on opening weekend. HP Labs' Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman developed computational formulas that analyze Twitter feeds and use the rate at which movies are mentioned in Twitter updates to predict the first-weekend returns. The research also showed Twitter could be used to predict other events, such as how major products will be received and the outcomes of elections, according to Huberman. HP Labs studied nearly 3 million Twitter updates that mentioned 24 major movie releases over the course of three months. The researchers factored in the release date and the number of theaters the movie would be shown in, to predict the opening weekend box office performance with 97.3 percent accuracy. They also developed a system that evaluates the sentiments of Twitter updates as positive, negative, or neutral, to predict the following weekend's returns with 94 percent accuracy.