SMARTBIRD: A ROBOT THAT FLIES LIKE A BIRD

Today I came across a video of a tech talk at TED conference where a guy, working for the German automation company Festo, presented an astonishing development: A robot that flies like a real bird

Enjoy the video.

OPENCV 2 COMPUTER VISION APPLICATION PROGRAMMING COOKBOOK

Many people contact me through this blog to ask the following question: "Hey Martin! How could I get started in the world of Computer Vision?". Well, this book is the answer.

"OpenCV 2 Computer Vision Application Programming Cookbook" is more than just a Cookbook. The author, Robert Laganiere, makes no assumptions regarding the level of knowledge of the reader, so he starts from the basics and goes into more complex subjects progressively. It doesn't matter if you are a total beginner or an experienced user of OpenCV, all the explanations are complete and easy to follow. When the author considers that the audience could be eager to get more details about any of the topics covered in the book, he provides the appropriate bibliography. 

The code examples are programmed in C++, keeping in mind the performance and always trying to get the best out of Object Oriented programming paradigm. Actually, even an experienced programmer can learn many tips regarding OO programming best practices from this book. As I said: more than just a Cookbook.

You can see it for your self by reading the sample chapter that you can find here.

Of course,  the functionality and capabilities of OpenCV exceeds by far what can be covered in only one book but thanks to this cookbook you will have no problem in mastering OpenCV and being ready to unleash all the potential of the most used Computer Vision library. 

PACKT OPEN SOURCE ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT OFFERS ON BEST SELLING BOOKS

Packt Open Source has this week announced a series of discounts on its selection of best selling Open Source books. Readers will be offered exclusive discounts off the cover price of selected print books and eBooks for a limited period only. 

So far in 2011, Packt Open Source announced in March that its donations to Open Source projects has surpassed the $300,000 mark, while in April insight into various projects was offered during the ‘Believe in Open Source’ campaign and July’s series of discounts continue this trend of Packt showing its commitment to the Open Source community.

The Packt Open Source books included in this exclusive discount offer include well known books such as JBoss AS 5 Performance Tuning, PHP jQuery Cookbook, Drupal 7 Module Development and Blender Lighting and Rendering, amongst others.

“This special discount showcases a host of Packt Open Source topics and allows readers to purchase some of our most well renowned books at an exclusive price” said Packt Open Source Marketing Executive Julian Copes. “

To ensure you do not miss this fantastic offer, visit the special discount page now, where you can view the extensive list of books included in the offer and access an array of related articles that were written by the authors.

The exclusive discounts are available from 4th July 2011. To find out more, please visit the Packt website.

KINECT SERVICES FOR MRDS AVAILABLE!

After the release of Kinect SDK, here is what many people was waiting for: Kinect Services for MRDS.

This package allows you to use your Kinect within Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio and moreover use it in a Simulated Environment! 

Good job MRDS team!