Takeo Kanade : Robotics Technologies and Business Applications

okie so the topic sounds boring. but it was a really kool presentation!

there was a car which could navigate itself on the road, even drove across the US and back with no driver!
a helicopter that could fly completely autonomously. hard to do since there are so many things to control on a helicopter just to stay up in the air. the helicopter could search and find a missing person in a field or in the ocean....even survey an area using lazers. kool huh?

Takeo also showcased his work with robotic cameras which allowed matrix like effects during the superbowl. basically a camera would follow a selected player around, as the player ran on the field, some cameras would zoom in and others would zoom out and take shots during the same period of time. so essentially you could freeze frame during the game and view all angles of the play.

amazing technology comes out of CMU.

the kool thing was that Takeo was cracking jokes the whole time. such a funny little man. hahaha...seemed like a big kid who just had fun making neat toys. :)