Simroid - robotic dental patient

Very cool.....and a little bit creepy! Be sure to watch the video.

From http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/11/simroid-dentistry-in-the-uncanny-valley-video/

Simroid, a robotic dental patient with an eerily realistic appearance, has been spotted at the 2007 International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. Designed primarily as a training tool for dentists, the fembot patient can follow spoken instructions, closely monitor a dentist’s performance during mock treatments, and react in a human-like way to mouth pain. Because Simroid’s realistic appearance and behavior motivate people to treat her like a human being, as opposed to an object, she helps dental trainees learn how to better communicate with patients.

Is this the end of cursive writing?

An article from The Christian Science Monitor - Is this the end of cursive writing?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1114/p13s01-legn.htm
What do you think?

C.L. Lindsay - Legal expert on Facebook/MySpace

Think no one sees those pictures you posted on Myspace or Facebook? Think again! Come see C.L. Lindsay - the Facebook Guy - Thursday, November 8th, 7:00 pm, 072 Science Hall, on the ESU Campus.

C.L Lindsay is a lawyer who will show you how easy it is to find the information you have been trying to hide.

More information about C.L. Lindsay at http://www.bass-schuler.com/cllindsay.php4

Sponsored by UAC Talks and Topics Committee.

Congratulations to Steve and Sandy - PacifiCorp Finalists!

I just got back from the AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) International Conference in Anaheim, CA. As finalists for the PacifiCorp Instructional Design Competition, IDT students Steve Harmon and Sandy Valenti did a masterful job of presenting their solution.

The competition involved having teams of two students design and develop a detailed written solution and presentation/report in response to a quite complex instructional design case study. The other two finalist teams were from Florida State and Virginia Tech. Here's a press release from the 2006 competition (the 2007 press release isn't out yet, and I couldn't wait to announce this). A pretty good brief explanation - The only thing that changed this year is that the conference was in Anaheim, CA this (instead of Dallas) and that it DIDN'T include a scholarship :( They did get really nice plaques, free conference registration, and recognition at the Research and Theory/Design and Development luncheon, though. http://www.rockymtnpower.net/Press_Release/Press_Release62964.html

More information from the competition website.

http://www.aect.org/pacificorp/

General guidelines.

http://www.aect.org/pacificorp/guidelines/guidelines.htm

The problem statement that they addressed is here.

http://www.aect.org/pacificorp/problemstatement.htm

This really is a tremendous accomplishment for Steve, Sandy, and all of ESU IDT!