4,169 research outputs found
Agent Street: An Environment for Exploring Agent-Based Models in Second Life
Urban models can be seen on a continuum between iconic and symbolic. Generally speaking, iconic models are physical versions of the real world at some scaled down representation, while symbolic models represent the system in terms of the way they function replacing the physical or material system by some logical and/or mathematical formulae. Traditionally iconic and symbolic models were distinct classes of model but due to the rise of digital computing the distinction between the two is becoming blurred, with symbolic models being embedded into iconic models. However, such models tend to be single user. This paper demonstrates how 3D symbolic models in the form of agent-based simulations can be embedded into iconic models using the multi-user virtual world of Second Life. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates Second Life\'s potential for social science simulation. To demonstrate this, we first introduce Second Life and provide two exemplar models; Conway\'s Game of Life, and Schelling\'s Segregation Model which highlight how symbolic models can be viewed in an iconic environment. We then present a simple pedestrian evacuation model which merges the iconic and symbolic together and extends the model to directly incorporate avatars and agents in the same environment illustrating how \'real\' participants can influence simulation outcomes. Such examples demonstrate the potential for creating highly visual, immersive, interactive agent-based models for social scientists in multi-user real time virtual worlds. The paper concludes with some final comments on problems with representing models in current virtual worlds and future avenues of research.Agent-Based Modelling, Pedestrian Evacuation, Segregation, Virtual Worlds, Second Life
Procedural Modeling and Physically Based Rendering for Synthetic Data Generation in Automotive Applications
We present an overview and evaluation of a new, systematic approach for
generation of highly realistic, annotated synthetic data for training of deep
neural networks in computer vision tasks. The main contribution is a procedural
world modeling approach enabling high variability coupled with physically
accurate image synthesis, and is a departure from the hand-modeled virtual
worlds and approximate image synthesis methods used in real-time applications.
The benefits of our approach include flexible, physically accurate and scalable
image synthesis, implicit wide coverage of classes and features, and complete
data introspection for annotations, which all contribute to quality and cost
efficiency. To evaluate our approach and the efficacy of the resulting data, we
use semantic segmentation for autonomous vehicles and robotic navigation as the
main application, and we train multiple deep learning architectures using
synthetic data with and without fine tuning on organic (i.e. real-world) data.
The evaluation shows that our approach improves the neural network's
performance and that even modest implementation efforts produce
state-of-the-art results.Comment: The project web page at
http://vcl.itn.liu.se/publications/2017/TKWU17/ contains a version of the
paper with high-resolution images as well as additional materia
Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
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