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Open Allure DS

Logo Open Allure DS
An open source project that I have started with John Graves a PHD student in Auckland for a smart computer interface for tutoring. Haven't really had an opportunity to start hacking away yet - but I am really hoping to find some time to chuck something together. It will possibly use my pycam module and speech recognition - ideally it will be cross platform and open source.

To start with we are planning to create a learning game involving recognizing numbers and colors for the initial prototype. Interaction is based on a novel vision and speech based system instead of the mouse and keyboard. The learning game(s), initially aimed at preschool age children, teaching anything from recognizing numbers and colours to basic math. Interaction is based on a novel vision and speech based system instead of the mouse and keyboard.

A very early vision of what it might look like...



Each column is a different color or contains a different letter (or different number or animal...) and you have to move your body left or right into the column the program specifies (vocally) in order to advance to the next problem. All other control is done with voice, eg giving up, asking for a hint, changing between the modes... quiting etc Some of the problems could be posed graphically but need a speech answer.
Written in the Python programming language using pygame and dragonfly.


Possible activities for the prototype include:
  • Choosing a color - the colors name could be spoken and/or displayed on screen, or it could be phrased more like a question eg "What colour is grass?" (This would be an appropriate problem for under 5 year olds or 5 to 6 year old children with learning difficulties)
  • Counting up to 10 - Could display 5 random digits and pose a question like what comes after 4... Or could say outloud the name of a digit eg "one" and the player has to select the correct character "1". This is aimed at a similar age as choosing a color - mostly preschool.
  • Selecting phonoms - for example the program could make the sounds "ka", "ta", "fa" etc and there would be different options presented to the player and they would have to select the appropriate one. 

Project Homepage: http://open-allure-ds.googlecode.com
Code is housed using Mecurial: http://code.google.com/p/open-allure-ds/source/checkout
We also have a Wave - it will be made public at some stage - just needs cleaning up!

A slightly more realistic view:


If you are interested - pop over to open-allure-ds.googlecode.com or leave a comment here.
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