Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Sentilla Smart Drink Coasters Pervasive Pub Computing
Smart drink coasters are a pervasive computing project form Sentilla. These coasters know when a drink has been placed on top of them, and whether or not that drink is empty. They can even notify the barkeep if you've run out.
(Sentilla smart drink coasters)
In the following Sentilla smart drink coaster video, look for the following behaviors:
- The coasters know when a drink is placed on top of them and when it is removed.
- The coasters notify each other when new things occur (a drink is placed on them, removed, etc)
- The coasters provide "visual feedback" using lights embedded within them.
- The coasters are wirelessly interconnected.
(Sentilla smart drink coasters)
Obviously, you wouldn't create smart drink coasters without first creating a coaster software development platform for building coaster applications.
We fired up our Java development environment and started writing a bunch of coaster libraries (ah, we now have a com.sentilla.coaster.* package to import). All in all, our libraries took a few minutes to write and quickly other Java developers in house were modifying, adding, and refining the libraries. One library, our favorite right now, is called CircleCoaster. Very simply, it sets which lights are on, which ones are off, and then the coaster goes to sleep until the next segment of the circle needs to be lit up, thereby making the LEDs light up in a continually moving circle pattern. We didn't stop with CircleCoaster; we wrote libraries to collaborate (in one case, the coasters all display a single pattern on the LEDs when the majority of coasters have drinks placed on them and a different pattern when they don't) and play games.
Although I can't name any smart drink coasters in science fiction (can you?), this application does make me think of the monoblock dating system, which is another network application running in pubs, from Larry Niven's The Best of All Possible Wars story collection.
Nobody hurries in the Monobloc. If you see someone you like -" My fingers danced over the lighted symbols on the edge of the table. "This gets you a map. Locate where she's sitting, put the cursor on it. That gets you a display...hmm."
(Read more about Niven's monoblock dating system)
If you're not dizzy from watching coaster lights (they are festive, too, this time of year), take a look at how T-Rot Thinking Robot Tends Bar, Chats and Koolio - the Autonomous Refrigerator Robot.
Read more about it at Build your own smart drink coasters at Sentilla blog.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/8/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Computer ")
Jetson Orin Nano Super 70 Just $249
'Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.' - Bruce Bethke, 1983.
Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...' - John Brunner, 1975
Neuroplatform Human Brain Organoid Bioprocessor Uses Less Electricity
'Cultured brains on a slab.'- Peter Watts, 1999
AI Worms That Spread
'...there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net now' - John Brunner, 1975.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
Some Ringworld Configurations Are Stable
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
TRANSFORM Dynamic Furniture Concept Becomes What You Need
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
Dino From Magical Toys An AI Companion To Children
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Darpa 'Defiant' Unmanned Autonomous Ship
'There was no wheel, and no steersman!'
What's The Best Way To Ship And Unpack Humanoid Robots?
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
DNA Printed Book By Isaac Asimov Now Available
'They tied the memory to the bloodline and that was their record!'
AI Computer Chip Designs Passeth Human Understanding
'It seems that at one time computers were designed directly by human beings.'
Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now
'...the spot was a lonely one in an uncharted region, far from the normal lanes of space traffic.'
Fine-Tune Your Infinite Book The Way You Want It
'I squatted down beside the roller and tried to make some sense out of the knobs. There were thirty-nine of them...'
SpiRobs Soft Spiral Robotic Arm
'Beware the long, flexible, glittering tentacles...'
Holland Factory 3D Printing 500 Tons Of Steak Per Month
'...I don’t understand technical things — tell me, does it ever feel anything?"
Stratospheric Solar Geoengineering From Harvard
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
