MERCURY OPERATOR'S LOG: September 19, 1994 - September 30, 1994
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From: Chris Trautman
Date: Fri Sep 30 21:45:25 PDT 1994

Found *** picture at 448/485 and the *** ruler at 558/322. Geez. this is just like lego - a new toy everyday.


From: Chris Trautman
Date: Fri Sep 30 21:38:54 PDT 1994

Hmmm. found something at *** 384/519. Don't have a clue what it was.


From: Scott Vock
Date: Fri Sep 30 21:17:52 PDT 1994

***FOUND SEVERAL OBJECTS in the upper right 60 degree area.


From: Unknown Token
Date: Fri Sep 30 21:16:01 PDT 1994

It was extremely interesting to operate remotely the robot arm! I discovered: *** A picture of a male head *** What seems to be a dish I'll try again, maybe I discover gold! Alberto


From: Zorro
Date: Fri Sep 30 20:17:56 PDT 1994

Very good ***I found a picture of someone, but I couldn't completely uncover it.


From: John Scarborough
Date: Fri Sep 30 20:12:18 PDT 1994

Hmm...


From: John Scarborough
Date: Fri Sep 30 20:06:13 PDT 1994

This is one amazing setup. Seem to have found some kind of transformer. Not sure what it's supposed to do. There is some other stuff next to it which i'll look at


From: John Little
Date: Fri Sep 30 19:51:25 PDT 1994

Ohmigosh!! How did you guys get the live rattlesnake in there?? =8-O


From: Tom Anderson
Date: Fri Sep 30 19:24:03 PDT 1994

Beat the Irish!


From: Joe Burby
Date: Fri Sep 30 19:20:00 PDT 1994

***Well, after a long time searching, I finally found the head. Too bad, though that I found it during my last minute with the robot. Oh well, gotta keep trying.


From: William S. Kaster
Date: Fri Sep 30 19:02:43 PDT 1994

*** Uncovered pyrite sample at 766,508. *** Found the ruler.


From: Karen A. Scott
Date: Fri Sep 30 18:47:34 PDT 1994

My second session here -- quite a few errors accepting my operators password, but I finally got in. Still think this is pretty neat, but still trying to get the hang of it


From: William S. Kaster
Date: Fri Sep 30 18:41:17 PDT 1994

Spent some time uncovering the watch. Maybe the air jet is out of alignment? Took ten blasts....


From: Chris Trautman
Date: Fri Sep 30 18:31:55 PDT 1994

*** found a page of an electronics catalog around 99/281 I think it was advertising a 500mA 12V supply for $30, just in case anyone's curious


From: William S. Kaster
Date: Fri Sep 30 18:26:51 PDT 1994

*** Saw object: (194,387) A pack of Sweet Basil seeds offered as a free gift from the Smithsonian


From: Chris Trautman
Date: Fri Sep 30 18:17:15 PDT 1994

Pretty neat. *** found a bunch of stuff around 371/421. A whistle, a pen and some mystery object.


From: William S. Kaster
Date: Fri Sep 30 18:13:04 PDT 1994

*** Object discovered: We saw a lantern lying on a sheet of paper with the words ``_SULPHUR_ was used.... medicine men... cas... spells''. *** Object discovered: in the center of the arc, a picture of a pair of eyes starting back.


From: Fred Stanek
Date: Fri Sep 30 17:11:43 PDT 1994

This is pretty neat. I'll definitely be back.


From: Brent Browning
Date: Fri Sep 30 16:52:54 PDT 1994

Pretty cool! I found it difficult to move small distances using the imagemap movement paradigm. I would typically have an object partially off the screen and just want to move a tad to see the full object.


From: Rob Wienburg
Date: Fri Sep 30 16:37:44 PDT 1994

*** What is that a plunger....? (made of chrome..? *** Nice job guys!!


From: Andrae Johnson
Date: Fri Sep 30 16:17:36 PDT 1994

*** By far the best use of the Web I've encountered. And the most fun too. I found a piece of paper saying "Free Gift From Smithsonian". Do I win something?


From: Derek Stanford
Date: Fri Sep 30 16:01:08 PDT 1994

This is great. I saw a couple of unidentifiable things; I'll have to try again and see if I can figure out what they are. Everyone here in the office was fascinated.


From: John Kelly
Date: Fri Sep 30 15:28:55 PDT 1994

How intense is the stream of air that is blown towards the sand? How far from the sand is the z = 0 position? Thanks.


From: Carlos Gonzalez
Date: Fri Sep 30 15:06:12 PDT 1994

Great!! *** Could not find anything, maybe next time


From: Rob Gorbet
Date: Fri Sep 30 13:31:37 PDT 1994

Found a (the?) ***ruler again. The 6" mark is at 564/330, and there seems to be some kind of inscription on it... "cp*93"? I'll be back! Rob.


From: Doug Kruth
Date: Fri Sep 30 12:42:16 PDT 1994

Very cool!


From: Nick Sabadosh
Date: Fri Sep 30 11:40:09 PDT 1994

Great idea - I hope to see much more of this kind of remote presence in the future. Especially intriguing to me is allowing average people to go places they would not otherwise be able to go. Maybe they could even do this from their TV sets...


From: Zorro
Date: Fri Sep 30 10:57:56 PDT 1994

Once again, great! I found something in the upper left corner, but blew it away with the pulse!!


From: David J. Easter
Date: Fri Sep 30 09:15:01 PDT 1994

Dunno if it's feasible, but it might be fun to be able to converse with operators in the queue -- discuss strategy, revel in past discoveries, form alliances toward a common goal...


From: David Denis
Date: Fri Sep 30 08:55:22 PDT 1994

Pretty cool, but still a novelty. But the applications are obvious.


From: David J. Easter
Date: Fri Sep 30 08:51:29 PDT 1994

*** There's bunches of stuff at 585/359, but I can't identify it all -- looks like something with a mini phone jack and scrollwork (?). Plus a box of matches with something non-match like in it as well...


From: kgjensen
Date: Fri Sep 30 08:46:01 PDT 1994

Really cool! ***I found a photo of a vase or something & dug it out from under the rocks. Then I saw a piece of wood that said something on it, but I ran out of 'energy' The last guy found *** a description of an inductor in the far left corner printed on paper I guess.


From: Sandy Ressler
Date: Fri Sep 30 08:33:16 PDT 1994

What a way cool waste of time...good job folks!!


From: stuart armstrong
Date: Fri Sep 30 08:23:00 PDT 1994

***coffee cup with dictionary clipping containing the word mosaic


From: Randy MacBlane
Date: Fri Sep 30 08:04:37 PDT 1994

First time in, unfortunately I didn't find anything recongnizable. I'll have to try again soon. Great tool.


From: Rob Gorbet
Date: Fri Sep 30 07:53:52 PDT 1994

Fun again... found ***ruler ***Mosaic definition (note mosaic is by no means a new word... :) ***manual pages for some kind of component "...6 pin DIN..." (ran out of time) I'll be back!


From: Stuart Warmink
Date: Fri Sep 30 07:21:53 PDT 1994

*** Turned out to be a dog leash chain connector - or whatever it is called!


From: David Brazier
Date: Fri Sep 30 07:17:52 PDT 1994

Interesting - but didn't really find anything! Try again sometime, maybe.


From: Garret Flynn
Date: Fri Sep 30 07:14:38 PDT 1994

*** I found one of those clip things at (900,400) Great fun


From: Stuart Warmink
Date: Fri Sep 30 07:07:35 PDT 1994

***some kind of ring with a stub at the end - a key ring?


From: Stuart Warmink
Date: Fri Sep 30 06:52:26 PDT 1994

***Found a dictionary definition of Mosaic in a mug. Doesn't time fly...


From: Dennis Jones
Date: Fri Sep 30 06:51:19 PDT 1994

*** Found a acuator of some sort near the right side of area and a old kerosene lantern about 1 oclock. For those of us who are on slow connections (14.4 slip) consider an option of turning off all large graphics except the observation area and the energy bar. Great system - found you from the article in Newsweek. Dennis


From: Dan Hill <DNL.IA.PH.LIV.AC.UK>
Date: Fri Sep 30 05:36:14 PDT 1994

***Resolution not too good, a little slow. On the whole an ingenious use of the net!


From: Edward Rashbrooke
Date: Fri Sep 30 05:32:21 PDT 1994

Remarkable technology nowadays! I was only reading about this in the London Times Newspaper this morning! I notice other Brits in the queue today so presumably they've been reading from the same source. I don't know if you have seen the article yet its about a 15 inch monitor's worth of text with a nice picture. Discovered: ***paintbrush ***paper with something about turquiose ***plastic bag? ***lots of stones I screen shotted the best bits!


From: Andy Haigh
Date: Fri Sep 30 05:12:48 PDT 1994

***Excellent


From: Steve Hindmarsh
Date: Fri Sep 30 05:11:21 PDT 1994

Thamks for my first opportunity to perform a remote physical action (other than to make a hard disk seek! Congratulations on your ingenuity and vision. BTW I read of your work in 'The Times' newspaper in the UK. Many thanks, Steve Hindmarsh


From: Dr. Hed Krash
Date: Fri Sep 30 04:31:02 PDT 1994

***Coleman Lantern (guess) at 761(x) 387(y) *** Sparkler & box in top/central view OK, having found battery boxes, sparklers, and Coleman lanterns on the 'sand/gravel' background I figured out that the camera is focused on the flotsam and jetsam washed ashore at Venice Beach.


From: Henri WINTZ
Date: Fri Sep 30 04:23:04 PDT 1994

GREAT STUFF !


From: Karl Larson
Date: Fri Sep 30 01:00:41 PDT 1994

***The mineral samples had me confused for a while. The picture was also an interesting discovery.


From: Bill Chan
Date: Thu Sep 29 21:56:13 PDT 1994

I had a great time reading the Operator Logs....the robot arm thingy was kinda neat too. =8^) Actually, I was having so much fun I forgot to take down the coordinates of interesting artifacts....ooops. ***Think I found a label for a battery at the extreme left of the circle. ***Apprently Elvis is alive and well at.....(just kidding)


From: Peter Staab
Date: Thu Sep 29 21:43:49 PDT 1994

Pretty cool! ***I found the watch and a bunch of cards with words on them. One said something about turquoise and another about sulphur. Great stuff.


From: Daan Coster <dc72+@andrew.cmu.edu >
Date: Thu Sep 29 21:12:15 PDT 1994

I saw a some sort of tag with a D on it after blowing away some dirt, but then when I blasted it again it was gone. Maybe it flew out of the area, but I didn't have enough time to look anywhere else.


From: Jason Herzog
Date: Thu Sep 29 20:17:00 PDT 1994

Very cool. I found an analog wrist watch. It was running, with the correct time. Well, two hours slow because of the time zones. x:582 y:502.


From: Jason Herzog
Date: Thu Sep 29 20:09:51 PDT 1994

This is a very unique project. Very good.


From: Richard Pitt
Date: Thu Sep 29 18:43:23 PDT 1994

somebody left a battery lying around and it got covered neat stuff!


From: Michael Golden
Date: Thu Sep 29 18:22:59 PDT 1994

This is very cool. This was my first time operating the arm. I wonder how long it would take to transmit this back from a robot on mars? *** all I found so far was a while looking crescent, and what appeard to be a flat beer can or something. I'll go back for a close look!


From: Jason Johnson
Date: Thu Sep 29 17:26:57 PDT 1994

It was a lot of fun! *** I think I found a lamp.


From: Alexander Wall
Date: Thu Sep 29 17:18:05 PDT 1994

I read about it in Newsweek - quite a neat thing. ***I seemed to find something that looked like a globe. It was difficult to see it, but it appeared round and had lines like lat/long and a map. Anyway. It was on the bottom half, a little right of center. Thanks!


From: Simon Michael
Date: Thu Sep 29 16:04:08 PDT 1994

NOOOOO!!!! I want to DRIVE the RoBOT!!


From: Stuart Warmink
Date: Thu Sep 29 14:25:08 PDT 1994

Very interesting, but neither the "up" or "air" commands worked...


From: Steve Williams
Date: Thu Sep 29 14:05:54 PDT 1994

** long life battery product insert ** Descriptive text: "Turquoise was used..." Fun! Now, why don't you guys quit screwing around and get a _real_ job!


From: Phoenix
Date: Thu Sep 29 13:15:46 PDT 1994

I've noticed that the system processing time was a bit longer than my last use of the robot arm. Again tks for the opportunity of using, and participating in this quest.


From: Gonzalo Urday
Date: Thu Sep 29 13:03:28 PDT 1994

Excellent!!!


From: Bill Duane
Date: Thu Sep 29 12:39:10 PDT 1994

Thanks again! *** I found what appears to be a statue (or bust) with something on it's head which looks like foil strips.


From: Dr. Hed Krash
Date: Thu Sep 29 12:38:11 PDT 1994

Thank you for providing this remarkable exercise in AI, robotics, and the WEB. Great stuff, really. My session uncovered what appeared to be the *** cardboard battery box for a 9 volt dry cell. This was located in the left area quadrant. What would have been helpful for a novice like myself would have been some sense of actual distance (i.e. length of the exploration area). What units were the X/Y/Z coordinates scaled too? Thanks again, hope to visit next week.


From: Arjen P. de Vries
Date: Thu Sep 29 11:45:22 PDT 1994

I really like this idea. The interface is quite simple and it is really exciting walking through the area! Tanx for doing this!


From: Tony Zito
Date: Thu Sep 29 11:39:13 PDT 1994

***"Survivalist's Special - Long Life Magnesium Battery"


From: Mike Lee
Date: Thu Sep 29 11:35:05 PDT 1994

How about adding a CU-SeeMe camera option, Those with video receive capability could have a realtime video stream fed back to them, a "bigger picture view" of the situation or perhaps even changeable views. Just a thought. Great Job!


From: Tony Zito
Date: Thu Sep 29 11:26:28 PDT 1994

Back again, and I think I found a ***condom on the far right.


From: Tony Zito
Date: Thu Sep 29 11:14:55 PDT 1994

This site is the most incredible use of the WWW I've seen yet. Taken purely as an art project (in the vein of natural science as art, sensibility, Museum of Jurassic Technology, for instance), w/o the robot, it is brilliant, but this , yikes! it's great. drop me a line via e-mail if you get a chance (robot@brown.edu - yes, I'm something of an afficionado of automatons myself), I'd appreciate it. (oh yeah, and I found something in there, perhaps I will investigate further...)


From: luis aguilar
Date: Thu Sep 29 10:39:19 PDT 1994

Your demo is really oustanding. Not in terms of the limited capability of the robot but conceptually in terms fo the kind of things that in principle you can make through the net. I work at an astronomical observatory and some people here have been talking about remote operation of one of our telescopes. They were delighted to see your demo. Congratulations! Luis Aguilar


From: tel monks
Date: Thu Sep 29 08:29:48 PDT 1994

I *really* enjoyed that. The air pulse seemed to blow everything out of the picture. I was all the way to three o'clock and the next image was black. Thanks.


From: Michael Yourshaw
Date: Thu Sep 29 08:05:40 PDT 1994

What a great idea. We all need T1 lines direct to the home to speed up the feedback!


From: Jim Jordan
Date: Thu Sep 29 07:36:46 PDT 1994

Lots of fun...


From: Rob Luca
Date: Thu Sep 29 07:08:29 PDT 1994

Is it possible to establish an email link with a student connected with the project? I may have several enrichment students (elementary) excited about the possibilities in November or December. Thanks


From: Henning Aurich
Date: Thu Sep 29 06:21:27 PDT 1994

Why don`t you put one or two beetles into the box? Guess that`d be great fun!!


From: Brad Greenlee
Date: Thu Sep 29 05:49:00 PDT 1994

I just realized that you can click anywhere in the drawing of the arm and box to position the arm...I thought you had to click in the image area... Brad


From: Brad Greenlee
Date: Thu Sep 29 05:41:30 PDT 1994

What a great idea! 5 minutes goes by like nothing, however. I think you should give the operator the option of positioning the arm at a random location before he/she starts; when I started, I was right above a ***watch that the previous operator had uncovered. I had to spend some of my time just moving away from the watch so I could find something else. Brad


From: john
Date: Thu Sep 29 04:49:01 PDT 1994

found ***globe and ***brass object at 738,335. found ***paper at far left corner of field. Nothing at far right.


From: Growler
Date: Thu Sep 29 03:22:27 PDT 1994

What looks like a penny a paperclip and ? is at 582,362 just below the matchbox.


From: Growler
Date: Thu Sep 29 03:11:25 PDT 1994

Found Dictionary clipping for Mo-sa-ic at 993,289 Found Black Plastic Pen between 932,275 and 849,270 Found Silver Ring centered at 831,270 Found an unknown object lying under ring at 831,270


From: Growler
Date: Thu Sep 29 02:41:45 PDT 1994

Found an unknown and small object at X1010 Y341 ..... Really nice interface , would love to be able to pick the object up or move it at least.. Well done


From: Andrew Woods
Date: Thu Sep 29 01:15:24 PDT 1994

GREAT! It would be a good idea to point out that the right diagram is a top view of the robot with the CCD camera looking down into the 'pit'. Can you also include a photo of the robot itself so that we can see what we were controlling.


From: Steve Swingler
Date: Wed Sep 28 23:45:04 PDT 1994

*** Found Watch - lots of fun!!!


From: Tim Laren
Date: Wed Sep 28 22:54:13 PDT 1994

*** looks like All Electronics has visit this site, or some left there flyer there. *** also uncovered some underground plumming or something.


From: Tim Laren
Date: Wed Sep 28 22:47:26 PDT 1994

I'll be back!!!!


From: Stephen Vanslyke
Date: Wed Sep 28 20:57:56 PDT 1994

The most fun I had at work today.


From: Travis S. Heath
Date: Wed Sep 28 20:55:13 PDT 1994

I ask only one question, is this for real? Stated another way, is there a real robor at the other end of this connection or is it just a sophisticated simulation? *** The one object that I confidently identified was a picture *** of a person's (woman?) eye. All and all, pretty cool stuff.


From: David Rochberg
Date: Wed Sep 28 20:13:52 PDT 1994

***Found a piece of sulfur mounted on an explanatory card that says "Sulphur was used [to help?] the [medic?]ine mane cast spells" at 759,411. Piece was obscured by an unkown black plastic thing.


From: Fred Bremmer
Date: Wed Sep 28 20:02:28 PDT 1994

***I used a blast of air, and suddenly found a pair of eyes staring back at me ***I went back to the newspaper and uncovered some of it. I found an ad for a magnesium battery


From: John Pilafidis
Date: Wed Sep 28 19:57:20 PDT 1994

Cool! That was definitely a first. I guess this is what they call "telepresence"? I had to keep reminding myself that a physical system was involved. It made me think of what some of the mars probe technicians must have felt like, even though my delay was orders of magnitude smaller. It would be fun to be able to rotate the camera, or even to be able to "look up" and see the folks working in the lab. Anyone who read Neal Stephenson's short story, "Hack the Spew," published in Wired last month, will enjoy the parallels! *** I found a strip of paper with an integral on it near the left edge of the bin.


From: Fred Bremmer
Date: Wed Sep 28 19:46:10 PDT 1994

***I found the head ***I found some newspaper ***I found a shiny piece of metal I can't identify


From: Tony Weasler
Date: Wed Sep 28 19:41:28 PDT 1994

This completely dwarfs the Coke machines of other universities! In the fiture, a robot that does your homework would be nice :)


From: Fred Bremmer
Date: Wed Sep 28 19:32:55 PDT 1994

It was fun controlling a robot from the other side of the world. I wonder which operator was farthest away from USC. ***I found a shiny metal ring, but I don't know what it is.


From: Kipp Jones
Date: Wed Sep 28 19:04:39 PDT 1994

Wow, what a trip! Excellent work, but I'm tired now; I ran out of energy before the robot!


From: emily h.
Date: Wed Sep 28 18:28:54 PDT 1994

***I think I discovered an ancient tin drinking vessel and spoon. spoon. Am I right?


From: tim edwards
Date: Wed Sep 28 17:17:25 PDT 1994



From: Mike LaBelle
Date: Wed Sep 28 17:15:10 PDT 1994

***Jim says, I saw a person's head, apparently a victom of some kind of sick ritual. I tried giving mouth to mouth with the air-blower but was not able to recissitate. Please contact the coroner and send him to X:825 Y:462. This may have been a body part from the US Airline crash a couple weeks ago. Woooo - Woooo Wooo p.s. Please contact me when you hook the robotic arm up to a car and put it on the interstate. I think that interactive driving on the net would be really fun. You can maybe limit the car's speed to about 100 mph. Wooo wooo wooo!


From: Mike LaBelle
Date: Wed Sep 28 17:03:58 PDT 1994

***saw some matches...fire! fire! ***saw a block of wood...burn it baby! It was the most interactive fun on the web for me today. Jim says nah.


From: barry priest
Date: Wed Sep 28 16:58:34 PDT 1994

*** newspaper clipping at 77,283 something about Laura Andrews


From: Rob Gorbet
Date: Wed Sep 28 16:40:41 PDT 1994

First time...really neat! *** started on a ruler, which someone else found *** found something which may have been the door latch *** found some text "subscription...40 percent...rates." and the number "2". I'll be back!


From: Jeff Hamar
Date: Wed Sep 28 16:22:17 PDT 1994

Thank you for the opportunity!! It is a fantastic idea and I am sure I will be back!


From: Bill Duane
Date: Wed Sep 28 16:13:24 PDT 1994

What a Blast (of air especially!). ***I uncovered an eye at X:551,Y:449 - It looked vaguely familiar..... Thanks for the tele-experience. - Bill


From: Emile N. Daniel
Date: Wed Sep 28 16:01:41 PDT 1994

It's great, finally ACTUAL REALITY....evry one should try it!!


From: Rusty Carruth
Date: Wed Sep 28 15:55:13 PDT 1994

Rats! I was just looking at the end of the ***ruler all that time. Oh, well!


From: Ethan Munson
Date: Wed Sep 28 15:33:29 PDT 1994

Interesting, but the slow response time diminishes the experience some. I'd love to use this as part of an upcoming open house for our College of Engineering.


From: rex jakobovits
Date: Wed Sep 28 15:05:48 PDT 1994

fantastic! how do we know it's really happening and not just a virtual reality?


From: Rusty Carruth
Date: Wed Sep 28 14:47:58 PDT 1994

Shucks. That air does not blow very hard... would be real nice if we had a side view, too, it would be really fun to see the buildup of debris resulting from the airblasts...


From: Rusty Carruth
Date: Wed Sep 28 14:40:53 PDT 1994

yaaa!!! lose the picture when you are out of time! It would be nice if we could see the result of our last effort before logging out...


From: Rusty Carruth
Date: Wed Sep 28 14:34:33 PDT 1994

Turns out the rat was just normal filler. Oh, well...


From: Rusty Carruth
Date: Wed Sep 28 14:25:20 PDT 1994

This is GREAT stuff. A little slow, but fun nonetheless! *** found something that *I* think looks like a dead rat, guest here thought it looked like a very small bloated whale. I'll be back!


From: High
Date: Wed Sep 28 14:20:20 PDT 1994

It was all too fast... What we saw was mostly food related, a sweet basil label. Was this a garden at some point?? Was it a garbage dump?? (no offense, I love garbage dumps!) I will be back.


From: Brian L Graham
Date: Wed Sep 28 13:25:45 PDT 1994

Great... liked the detail of the watch.


From: Dave
Date: Wed Sep 28 13:22:03 PDT 1994

A really innovative use of the Information Superhighway! This is an exciting glimpse into the future of scientific collaboration.


From: Zorro
Date: Wed Sep 28 12:28:51 PDT 1994



From: Zorro
Date: Wed Sep 28 12:22:15 PDT 1994

Once again...great time!! ***found ruler again, diamond matches, small squid-looking toy and a small metal object;couldn't tell what it was.


From: Zorro
Date: Wed Sep 28 12:12:13 PDT 1994

It was really great! At first, I was a bit unsure of the operating interface, but after I got used to it...fantastic! I found a ruler and a few otehr objects! I'll be back!!


From: Robert C. Burrows
Date: Wed Sep 28 11:13:02 PDT 1994

Very interesting, but will take some practice getting used to. Five minutes goes by very, very quickly!


From: Mike Mitchell
Date: Wed Sep 28 10:58:24 PDT 1994

Had fun rummaging around ***did not find anything new ***read part of an LA newspaper(?) ***somethind with DIAMOND on it ***metal object with two/one handles(?)


From: Michael S. Cowper
Date: Wed Sep 28 10:44:11 PDT 1994

*** foud Sweet Basil (box, jar, something) ***


From: Michael S. Cowper
Date: Wed Sep 28 10:32:54 PDT 1994

Fun, 5 minutes goes very quickly.


From: Philip de Louraille
Date: Wed Sep 28 10:03:09 PDT 1994

*** digged some more around what had been discovered by someone else. I still do not know what it is, however. *** I have a suggestion for the admins of this system, the drawing area could show areas which have been "puffed" before, hence showing which areas have not been looked at yet.


From: Jonas
Date: Wed Sep 28 09:56:42 PDT 1994

Fun, but waiting for connection is irritating!!! Bye, bye!


From: Philip de Louraille
Date: Wed Sep 28 09:41:49 PDT 1994

*** Very cool. Did not find anything though... But a very interesting experiment.


From: Laury Melton
Date: Wed Sep 28 09:34:54 PDT 1994

Well that time soon went!! Most intriguing. I found some Diamond safety matches. We'll have to direct some of our technology students at this. Laury


From: Michael O'Neal-Petterson
Date: Wed Sep 28 09:13:04 PDT 1994

***Was that a swastika in there? Fascinating.


From: Anne Kirkby
Date: Wed Sep 28 09:07:30 PDT 1994

FUN!


From: Jeff Peters
Date: Wed Sep 28 09:04:05 PDT 1994

Since this was my first attempt, I didn't find too much. I was surprised at how fast the 5 minutes went by. Pretty cool!


From: Chas Douglass
Date: Wed Sep 28 08:09:18 PDT 1994

found: **scrap of paper with words "an... sp... fires..." **(plastic?) crab **"diamond" matchbox Interesting interface. I found "fine" movement difficult. It would be helpful if the diagram of the robot arm would show the area with the picture better. The "target" didn't seem to change size whether the arm was up or down.


From: Kenneth Cope
Date: Wed Sep 28 07:47:13 PDT 1994

Really cool setup you guys have. It would be really neat if you guys could set up some "live" pictures kind of like with MIT's "Live TV" Good job though.


From: Dan Cwiertniewicz
Date: Wed Sep 28 07:41:06 PDT 1994

I think you need to change the objects on a daily basis.


From: Stephen Letschin
Date: Wed Sep 28 06:48:58 PDT 1994

This was a great preview of what I hope to see. The interface is great . ***I found a watch and a slip of paper. I'll be sure to do this again.


From: Kai-Mikael Jää-Aro
Date: Wed Sep 28 06:37:49 PDT 1994

Where is the air nozzle with respect to the camera?


From: Mark Wilson
Date: Wed Sep 28 06:02:01 PDT 1994

Lotsa fun but very hard to do much using a 14400 modem. *** Found matches, brand not identified *** Found four way dc adaptor


From: Eric Schmitt
Date: Wed Sep 28 05:33:49 PDT 1994

Way Cool! A very innovative idea. Thanks.


From: Henning Aurich
Date: Wed Sep 28 05:26:12 PDT 1994

I found an objekt hard to identify. It looks like a tobacco-box, although it is too small. Seems like I will have to look it up once more!!?


From: Thomas Berg
Date: Wed Sep 28 04:12:43 PDT 1994

Great fun! ***I found a pack of diamond matches, a watch,pictures of some eyes and a note which said something about sparks and fires.


From: Jason Heuring
Date: Wed Sep 28 03:37:23 PDT 1994

*** small piece of Turqoise on a card labelling it as such *** LA County paper (not sure if this is just the bottom of the pit) *** cylindrical object with the words "your copy..." on it Absolutely fantastic!!!!


From: Heather Wagner
Date: Tue Sep 27 23:10:02 PDT 1994

***My grandmother's walker?! How on earth did you get that? She's been hobbling around the house for weeks. Please email it to me!


From: Jonathan Flora
Date: Tue Sep 27 20:47:13 PDT 1994

Pretty cool - I read about this in Newsweek - I'll have to come an play more often. This is one of the advantages of having an ethernet conection in my apartemnt.


From: David Burns
Date: Tue Sep 27 20:31:46 PDT 1994

Why is the area outside the arm's reach all black, I wonder...


From: Angie Hinrichs
Date: Tue Sep 27 20:14:06 PDT 1994

Wow. First of all, thanks to the people who put this together!!! I want to spend more time looking at this stuff, but my initial impression is that it's post-early-60's - *** the lampstand looks not-antique and *** there's a rubber/plastic octopus! I can't imagine that those things could have been common before the early 70's. of course, I could be way off. :) *** the typed mineral descriptions are a puzzle to me - they look like they would accompany samples of the minerals in a museum, or a shop. Or a museum shop. *** I saw a carved-looking stick-like piece of something. it reminded me of a fan handle, but I only saw one end of it. The carving definitely reminds me of late 60's / early 70's stuff. (::) My speculation as to how the stuff got there: somehow a VW van full of natural history enthusiasts who didn't know how to travel light got into this restricted zone and ditched or lost the stuff. Angie


From: Clint Hastings
Date: Tue Sep 27 19:58:42 PDT 1994

*** Note: Sulphur was used by medicine men to cast spells. *** Note: Turquoise was used as the principle rock in jewelry. *** Note: Pyrite or fools gold was used for inlays in jewelry. *** Jewelry: a piece of jewelry with what looks like turquoise rocks and small round inlays plus a ring was found. Approximate location for all these was 746,498. Happy hunting... clint Note to USC personnel: it is quite hard to get anything done over a slow link (such as a 14.4k PPP link). The update time is about 45 seconds. The green/red led bar display alone takes about 6 seconds of that. Maybe you could change the energy readout to a number? Thanks.


From: Larry Schork
Date: Tue Sep 27 18:51:42 PDT 1994

**x: 790, y: 390: Looks like a latern discovered with some paper notes about sulphur, turquoise. enjoyed the game. close up pictures got somewhat fuzzy though. Would like to have a higher zoom level. great fun!


From: David Schmidt
Date: Tue Sep 27 17:37:57 PDT 1994

*** Note reads "A Free gift from Smithsonian" but is now mostly burried (due to my last burst).


From: David Schmidt
Date: Tue Sep 27 17:27:28 PDT 1994

Found a note "A Free Gift From..." at 275,377


From: Stacy Heinrich
Date: Tue Sep 27 16:57:51 PDT 1994

This is my first time using the robot; this is INCREDIBLE! Using the network to interact with the world... I'm in Minnesota, and the robot is in California and I was making it work!!?!!!! I anticipate spending more time later on. Then I'll read more about the arifacts, and the log and such.


From: Unknown Token
Date: Tue Sep 27 16:16:38 PDT 1994

It would be interesting to be able to get a mpg of your session after your time is up.


From: North Central SV
Date: Tue Sep 27 15:35:07 PDT 1994

***found latch hook


From: kevin sherwood
Date: Tue Sep 27 15:30:28 PDT 1994

I enjoyed the use of the RTE and think it is a wonderful idea. This was my first time, so I didn't know exactly what I was doing, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.


From: Bill Owens
Date: Tue Sep 27 15:25:04 PDT 1994

Two suggestions (which others have probably already made): - lights on the robot arm, to augment the area lighting in the darker areas (you could even turn them on and off remotely!) - a coordinate system on the robot position map, to make it somewhat easier to find old locations. Bill.


From: Salmon Rushdi
Date: Tue Sep 27 14:57:36 PDT 1994

Well sorry about the fake name, but anyway... The picture is a little blurry when close up, other than that, it's pretty keen


From: Unknown Token
Date: Tue Sep 27 14:34:55 PDT 1994

*** This is cool and the potential is huge. Keep up the good work!!!


From: Ted Bedwell
Date: Tue Sep 27 13:22:52 PDT 1994

***Discovered a piece of paper disscussion the principality of turquoise in the making of jewelry


From: Ted Bedwell
Date: Tue Sep 27 13:10:38 PDT 1994

My first try ***I unearthed the edge of some sort of document with the letters E/P handwritten on it


From: mandell
Date: Tue Sep 27 12:30:43 PDT 1994

This is by far the best use of the Internet I have ever seen. Check out SDSC.


From: suhonen
Date: Tue Sep 27 12:14:25 PDT 1994

This was too cool.


From: Dan Larsen
Date: Tue Sep 27 10:28:54 PDT 1994

I really enjoyed it. It was much better than CATS. ***Is that a sting-ray, bat-ray, or a skate? If you surf you ought to check out the So. Cal. Swell Prediction


From: Skip Montanaro
Date: Tue Sep 27 10:21:36 PDT 1994

Kind of neat, but there was no indication of where you could click in the right-hand-side to move the robot arm. I wasted a turn on that. Also, the camera seems to be quite out of focus in the close-in position. S


From: vaiciulis
Date: Tue Sep 27 10:05:30 PDT 1994

IT IS Twice as slow at 6 pm Hamburg Germany time than at 11am Hamburg time. Tony Vaiciulis


From: Mike Dettinger
Date: Tue Sep 27 09:45:53 PDT 1994

Cool Dude! I was impressed.


From: Brandt C. Redd
Date: Tue Sep 27 09:25:32 PDT 1994

I found some artifacts that I wanted to uncover better but the air jet didn't seem to have an effect on them. A fascinating experience to operate real systems remotely.


From: Wm. Craig Byrdwell PhD
Date: Tue Sep 27 09:21:04 PDT 1994

Very Nice Job of Interfacing.... Has many implications for future applications. ***was able to clearly read anouncements in L.A. newspaper, etc.*** ***saw several interesting objects*** Sometimes the air puff hides more than it reveals..


From: J. FRAZIER
Date: Tue Sep 27 09:10:17 PDT 1994

I'm spreading the word...have visited you and used your 'arm' three times now. I'm diggin' this guys! ***found a piece of paper WIRED, matchbook, some kind of caster(?), and the Smithsonian-something- or-other I LIKE IT!!


From: J. FRAZIER
Date: Tue Sep 27 08:34:13 PDT 1994

WOW...I'm impressed! The interaction is TOO COOL!! And to think that I used to be a Bruins fan... If only the coach of the Trogans was as inventive as you guys! ***I found a globe, bits of text and a ruler Thanks for the fun - I will definitely be back!


From: S. Keshav
Date: Tue Sep 27 08:18:26 PDT 1994

It seems to me that if you had enough bandwidth, you could do something interesting. Right now, it is pretty frustrating to have to wait to see what you did. Is this the killer app to soak up a gigabit network?


From: Harold Price
Date: Tue Sep 27 08:02:08 PDT 1994

Interesting. Stereo vid whould be nice.


From: Jairo ESPINOSA
Date: Tue Sep 27 07:46:25 PDT 1994

*** I found Two pieces of paper I think is a very nice conection between virtual world and the real one.


From: Josh Stillerman
Date: Tue Sep 27 07:20:08 PDT 1994

Missed my turn because I was doing 'real?' work while waiting ...> Could it make a loud noise when my turn comes up? ....> Poke me with a small robot arm sticking out of my keyboard.


From: tim chang
Date: Tue Sep 27 07:09:05 PDT 1994

Cool , dude! JP2 says: "... uh, like, heh heh, it rocked!" Butthed: "yeah, USC is cool!"


From: Geert Kranendonk
Date: Tue Sep 27 07:04:49 PDT 1994

wonderful application for the web guys! thanx gonna be back lots of times, i'm sure the piece of paper at 743,504 about jewelry is very interesting, unfortunately my turn was over before i could see it completely.


From: engelsma
Date: Tue Sep 27 06:33:09 PDT 1994

I like it. Interesting.


From: Paul Lundquist
Date: Tue Sep 27 06:27:13 PDT 1994

I didn't discover anything that wasn't already uncovered, but *** I was able to read some of the papers that were uncovered. I saw something that ***looked metalic and conical From a distance I saw something larger that looked like a ***six fingered hand. neat work !


From: Bob Kosman
Date: Tue Sep 27 05:44:24 PDT 1994

Very interesting. Nice Internet application. Unfortunately, the graphics (gif) on my screen (either because of me or you) wasn't very clear (must have been me). I'll have to try again on a better monitor. Thanks


From: eldred
Date: Tue Sep 27 04:35:33 PDT 1994

This 5 minutes sure goes by in a hurry!!! My compliments to the design team....


From: Owen Garrett
Date: Tue Sep 27 03:19:35 PDT 1994

*** found an octopus(!) at 718, 448. Makes me think of the great flood. And what's that large dark thing around 645, 425?


From: Patrik Kudo
Date: Tue Sep 27 03:09:20 PDT 1994

YEEAAAAAHHHH!!!! Is this cool or what! This is what I've been waiting for in the computer world... What is next? A robot on the moon? Or maybe Mars? I'm just waiting to see something like that...


From: Bertil Jonell
Date: Tue Sep 27 03:02:09 PDT 1994

Nice to see new ways of using WWW


From: Tom Hattenburg
Date: Mon Sep 26 22:02:56 PDT 1994

Was able to try again. I did find an object, but did not have enough time to completely uncover and identify. That seems to be the biggest problem with my connection. The amount of time that elapses between sending the command and getting the response back.


From: David Burns
Date: Mon Sep 26 21:57:25 PDT 1994

*** Some weird stick-thing with faces on it (This is the same object that looked like a cone--I uncovered more of it...


From: Tom Hattenburg
Date: Mon Sep 26 21:48:19 PDT 1994

I saw this mentioned in Newsweek and also a friend e-mailed me the URL. This is pretty neat, even though I did not find anything before my time ran out. I will definetly try again Tom.


From: David Burns
Date: Mon Sep 26 21:42:44 PDT 1994

***"Tuqouse ... used as ... ***principle rock in jewlery" ***"--HUR was used ... ***medicine men ... spells *** --758,423 ***cone shaped thing 731,488


From: David Burns
Date: Mon Sep 26 21:21:16 PDT 1994

This is way cool... I'd love to figure out how you did this... Thanks greatly for letting us play with your robot, and doing all the work it took to get it on the net. It's kinda fuzzy though, in the down possision, so it might be nice to have a down, fire, up button that only required one click (and only one load of the in-line image data). *** I found a lantern at around 760,400 and a picture underneath one corner at 797,383. There was some paper with writing on it at 797,383.


From: Bruce Stock
Date: Mon Sep 26 20:52:38 PDT 1994

Excellent demo! It seems the focus at the lower arm position is rather fuzzy. Any improvement possible?


From: Scott Bartels
Date: Mon Sep 26 20:29:09 PDT 1994

***X=328, Y=348: A free gift from the Smithsonian. *** This really is way cool :)


From: Mark Leija
Date: Mon Sep 26 20:24:24 PDT 1994

I decided to go to x=0,y=0,z=0. It didn't happen. Instead, I reached an artificial boarder. I got x & z to 0 but the lowest I could get y was about 270. I'll take it you have the robot's arm stretched out to start at this point. Hmmm, well it's interesting.


From: Dave Green
Date: Mon Sep 26 20:12:49 PDT 1994

Not Enough Time to get more than 3 or 4 itterations! need more time!!! *** saw subscription card fro WIRED and 800 number ......


From: doug gann
Date: Mon Sep 26 19:38:58 PDT 1994

Wow!. Just a first try, but, geeze nice work folks!


From: Peter Keegan
Date: Mon Sep 26 17:52:58 PDT 1994

Pachigaloopy!


From: adam jacobs
Date: Mon Sep 26 17:39:02 PDT 1994

a neat idea.. i found that net congestion made it impossible to try it out properly. only had time for four 'moves', each one took about a minute and a half to complete! this at 17:30 PST from an ethernet-connected host at ucb! oh well.


From: Todd Joseph Manning
Date: Mon Sep 26 17:12:38 PDT 1994

***something about Mexico but I'm not too sure


From: Michael Lin
Date: Mon Sep 26 17:07:16 PDT 1994

*** Not enough time... but it was cool! ***


From: Travis S. Crawford
Date: Mon Sep 26 16:46:20 PDT 1994

*** DISCOVERED A RULER***


From: Bill Owens
Date: Mon Sep 26 14:12:41 PDT 1994

Love it! Can't wait until the LunaCorp moon rover is online...


From: Alex McKenzie
Date: Mon Sep 26 14:11:13 PDT 1994

Interesting. My video board doesn't show images on a good resolution, but I think I recognized most of the objects that were shown. I'll try it again some other time.


From: Sujata Banerjee
Date: Mon Sep 26 13:46:27 PDT 1994

*** a round shiny metallic object next to the ruler *** my time was up before I could take a good look at it. :-)


From: Jim Brookhouser
Date: Mon Sep 26 13:23:01 PDT 1994

Nice!!! When is NASA going to put this on the moon?


From: Alpay Ozcan
Date: Mon Sep 26 13:12:39 PDT 1994

Very nice actually! Try this s well.....


From: Stephen Lasley
Date: Mon Sep 26 13:01:01 PDT 1994

***found a formula sheet (could not determine in the amount of time which formula it was). ***found a protractor.


From: Geoff Hamer
Date: Mon Sep 26 12:43:10 PDT 1994

*** I think your little info sheet on the PUlse Transformer is a little out of date for the time period that this area was suppose to have been contaminated. Guess it must have blow in on the wind eh? :-) Geoff


From: Geoff Hamer
Date: Mon Sep 26 12:10:09 PDT 1994

Very interesting site... although I don't believe that it is actually in a nuclear test site. I imagine you have a sandbox with an arm sitting over top of it. Still, its easily the best real-time application I have seen of the Web. I'm sure I will be telling my kids about how I did this when doctors of the future are able to operate in this manner. Keep up the good work. Geoff


From: Ujval Kapasi
Date: Mon Sep 26 11:45:36 PDT 1994

Do you need 256 colors to see the image clearly?


From: Travis S. Crawford
Date: Mon Sep 26 11:33:01 PDT 1994

Didn't find anything right off


From: Travis S. Crawford
Date: Mon Sep 26 11:23:04 PDT 1994

Thanks


From: Travis S. Crawford
Date: Mon Sep 26 11:16:15 PDT 1994

It seems as thought I discovered a *** coffee *** and a sheet of paper with the definition of the word ***chrysocolla ***.


From: Travis S. Crawford
Date: Mon Sep 26 10:53:50 PDT 1994

This has been a great experience and I know that I will be back soon, Thanks to everyone who created this system. You have done great.


From: Eric Lofland
Date: Mon Sep 26 10:42:10 PDT 1994

What a great idea!! I'm off to figure out how y'all did all this.


From: James Nau
Date: Mon Sep 26 10:38:42 PDT 1994

Very nice. How about adding something that says when the objects change? Assuming that eventually things get changed. Or, maybe the first of the month stir things up? This would help keep folks from looking for something that's been moved by hand (as opposed to blown around by air). Also, now that I'm at this page, there's send comments, and erase comments, and proceed to observation area. Maybe you should add a 'return to home page' or something like that. And, a new thought. Since there only appears to be two heights to view from, is it possible to add a 'ruler' grid on the images? Then, we could see some sizes. I think all you'd need is two grids, one for up close, and one for zoomed out. It'd give a rough estimate at least. james james@engrs.unl.edu


From: Todd Joseph Manning
Date: Mon Sep 26 09:39:56 PDT 1994

Are you guys going to be working on perhaps a more three dimensional version of this? Somthing like being able to operate in a mock room of some sort, looking into boxes and perhaps operationg doors and such? Just a thought.


From: John De Ryckere
Date: Mon Sep 26 09:34:49 PDT 1994

Interesting, but could focusing be improved when the unit is in the lowered position?


From: Dan Cwiertniewicz
Date: Mon Sep 26 09:03:02 PDT 1994

This was interesting...


From: Anthony Polomik
Date: Mon Sep 26 09:02:02 PDT 1994

Whoa... this is some wicked cool stuff. My hat goes off to you jerkies!


From: Anthony Polomik
Date: Mon Sep 26 08:51:27 PDT 1994

*** I'm definitely onto something... some order catalog for ic chips?


From: Todd Joseph Manning
Date: Mon Sep 26 07:06:13 PDT 1994

Hello to everyone in Southern California! Well, all I can really say is 'Wow'! I mean, this project is really cool. I know, I know. Everyone probably says that about this project. I have not heard of anything similar to this on the web, but it seems like such a natural progression of computing, robotics, video, and our desire to test and experiment with the notion of the existence of space that resides outside our immediate realm of observation. Yes, it does sound silly. I can hear you right now: 'What's he saying?' And yes, I guess it does sound silly, but I think that part of this project's appeal is it's idea of manipulating something indirectly, that is, over the WWW. I would just like to applaud you University for its wonderful and I think very beneficial project. I cannot really tell you how great I think this is. I do have one question right now: is the idea to report to you those artifacts we find? I'm not quite sure if there was any input you wanted from us about the artifacts we might find, or exactly what feedback you wanted. So, if there is time for it, would you mind posting me about this? Thanks. Well, thanks very much, and keep it up. Bye. Todd Manning Academics: Computer Science Major Texas A&M University College Station, Texas Work: Microcomputer Lab Langford Architecture Building A, Room 107 Phone 409.862.2498 Email: todd@freaks.tamu.edu tjm4248@tamsun.tamu.edu


From: Benjamin Gerber
Date: Mon Sep 26 07:04:30 PDT 1994

This is still really cool! I found what looks like a picture, but I havn't had a chance to clear it off yet!


From: Benjamin Gerber
Date: Mon Sep 26 06:43:25 PDT 1994

This is really neat! I enjoyed using your robot a lot!


From: A. O'Lenskie
Date: Mon Sep 26 05:54:09 PDT 1994

***Found some shiny stuff! Damn time ran out b4 I had a chance to examine it closer! Also found "Diamond" safety matches.


From: A. O'Lenskie
Date: Mon Sep 26 05:37:48 PDT 1994

***Looked like a metal ruler and mug, but then again I've *never* been good at those magazine teaser "guess the object" .....good fun though!


From: Björn Fagerstedt
Date: Mon Sep 26 05:25:39 PDT 1994

Haha, really great! Interferring with physical (non-virtual) things via the Web. Nice! Thanks to USC for giving us this on the Web. Greeting from Björn Fagerstedt (University of Stockholm, Sweden).


From: Ben Nabors
Date: Mon Sep 26 04:41:29 PDT 1994

That was really cool! What else can I say? It seems to work better than JASON, too!


From: Owen Garrett
Date: Mon Sep 26 03:53:45 PDT 1994

That was addictive. Thanks for putting it on the net!


From: vaiciulis
Date: Mon Sep 26 03:10:15 PDT 1994

FOUND SOME SMALL METAL OBJECT NEAR X,Y = 890,410. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS SOME KIND OF KEYRING? TONY


From: Rizzardo Marco
Date: Mon Sep 26 01:35:26 PDT 1994

This thing is amazing. It is just a shame that my internet connection is slow, so that it feels less interactive.


From: Tim EYres
Date: Mon Sep 26 01:03:16 PDT 1994

Very interesting, thank you. A bit irritating that I have to wait for the images to come through which wastes my time but otherwise... good. Tim (beyret@chbs.ciba.com)


From: Matthew Young
Date: Mon Sep 26 00:34:13 PDT 1994

*** formula on paper in lower left corner Not bad :)


From: chris zweck
Date: Mon Sep 26 00:10:46 PDT 1994

*** An octopus? Makes about as much sense as anything else there Excellent, if a bit slow. Could you set it up to send multiple commands like drop and fire to cut down on waiting time?


From: kerry
Date: Sun Sep 25 23:46:43 PDT 1994

Thanks.


From: Craig Presson
Date: Sun Sep 25 20:57:59 PDT 1994

I second the comments about 14.4 Kb/s being too slow to accomplish much in 5 minutes. I managed to uncover more of the ruler :-)


From: Heino R. Pull
Date: Sun Sep 25 20:46:37 PDT 1994

14.4 Slip is just not fast enough. Is the ruler the bottom most part of the sandbox?


From: John Adair
Date: Sun Sep 25 19:39:01 PDT 1994

*** Cleared off a scrap of paper near 815,396 that said something about obsidian


From: Rand Scullard
Date: Sun Sep 25 18:49:13 PDT 1994

Unfortunately, I am using this over a 14.4Kbps connection, which means I spend most of my time waiting for the GIF file to be transferred. Other than that, very cool!


From: Ben Sinclair
Date: Sun Sep 25 17:40:37 PDT 1994

I didn't find one thing... I found a very large item earlier in the left part of the box, but I couldn't tell what it was. I keep thinking these white rocks are artifacts... :)


From: Chuck Shotton
Date: Sun Sep 25 16:19:13 PDT 1994

Neat!!! I want one. Works pretty well, even over a SLIP connection. Unfortunately, I never got to find out what it was that costs $3.00 each.


From: Heino R. Pull
Date: Sun Sep 25 15:07:34 PDT 1994

*** Looks like I covered up a wrench with sand....


From: Bill Thibault
Date: Sun Sep 25 14:43:54 PDT 1994

highly radioactive. am all aglow.


From: Orhan Sancaktar
Date: Sun Sep 25 14:39:55 PDT 1994

This thing is great, even though it's a little slow. I'm gonna have to do it again, having a better understanding of the controls. Orhan Sancaktar


From: John Adair
Date: Sun Sep 25 14:06:43 PDT 1994

The lighting & contrast appeared a bit troublesome at times, but not too bad to use. *** Found what appears to be a book in the lower left corner. The left side is covered in sediment that might be too heavy to blow off, but that didn't stop me from trying.


From: Scott Bartels
Date: Sun Sep 25 13:47:21 PDT 1994

***Found a coffee cup at x=1046, y=296. I wondered what was inside, pulled back the camera, and voila, I saw a little scap of paper. What it said was a little unclear... all I could make out was that it was the definition of an "adj." I noticed someone said it would be easier if the camera output color... Actually, two suggestions: Mount a light on the camera so you can control its intensity and, while the clickable map is nice, it would also be convenient to have a form to enter the coordinates you want to look at. Oh well. All that looking around's got me tired.


From: Scott Bartels
Date: Sun Sep 25 13:33:46 PDT 1994

***Found a scrap of paper detailing an exhibit at J. Paul Getty Museum. All I can recall was it was at x=57 or so. The system seemed to respond quickly enough, but exploring this site reminded me too much of changing my cat's litter box. :)


From: Markus Albert
Date: Sun Sep 25 13:09:52 PDT 1994

*** discoovered the eyes of a girl - just supercool... please install a colour camera if it's not too difficult apart from that I can only say : congratulations !!!


From: Timothy Knauff <Jr.>
Date: Sun Sep 25 12:50:25 PDT 1994

Wow, great system! Truly one of the most interesting sites I've found. *** Found a piece of paper at 632,531, I think it says something about "serpentine." *** 


From: Markus Albert
Date: Sun Sep 25 12:44:40 PDT 1994

Found some pyrite and a mathematical formula... You could make the camera rotational in order to make it easier to read the newspaper & the notes ;) =)


From: Markus Albert
Date: Sun Sep 25 12:36:29 PDT 1994

I was not able to quit the session !!! It's like a drug... How often do you change the items in your sand - box ???


From: Jim Wygralak
Date: Sun Sep 25 11:34:51 PDT 1994

Neat concept. My 14.4kbaud slip connection is too slow to do much in the alloted time, however. It seems that I dont get a chance to enter commentary if I keep operating until my time runs out. I had to use the quit operating button to get here this time. It would be nice if the observation page showed the status of the operator queue.


From: Markus Albert
Date: Sun Sep 25 11:28:45 PDT 1994

Hi Chaps ! This is the most interesting place I have ever found on my web-trips around the world. A fantastic idea to install a robot which is under the control of an operator who sits perhaps on the other side of our planet and just moves his mouse and clicks on it. Be sure, I'll come back soon... bonne nuit et salut ! NB: Why don't you combine your facility with a nice quiz ?


From: Mikael Djurfeldt
Date: Sun Sep 25 09:46:33 PDT 1994

This is a very nice idea! One trouble I had when operating the robot was the slow transfer rate. Therefore, it would be nice to have a local model of the robot and the working area. One could imagine a "caching" of the surface images, so that every image transferred fills in in the larger local image like a piece in a jig-saw puzzle. When one moves the local robot model (or moves it with a control panel) this would yield an instantaneous feedback - the local robot arm would move to the target position, and the corresponding piece of the local image cache would be shown. At the same time the command would be transferred over the net, and when the reply comes back from the real robot, the local model and the image cache could be updated to reflect the real situation.


From: Tomas Gradin
Date: Sun Sep 25 09:25:51 PDT 1994

*** Found a note at 761,508 saying "PYRITE or fools gold was usd as inlays in jewelry.", with a piece of the stuff on top of it. This is great!


From: Raymond H. Kraft
Date: Sun Sep 25 06:58:31 PDT 1994

*** Found note describing something about arrows --- air burst did not seem to clear debris to make it more visible


From: Steve
Date: Sun Sep 25 06:34:47 PDT 1994

That is really fun. 5 min. goes by too fast, though! *** The bright white objects appeared to be pieces of paper?


From: Sean Carton
Date: Sun Sep 25 05:32:48 PDT 1994

Thanks for a wonderful addition to cyberspace! I hope that you can continue this experiment. Thanks! Sean


From: Hung <Sing-Lu>
Date: Sun Sep 25 05:19:01 PDT 1994

It would be interesting If you put in some XXX stuff.


From: Hung <Sing-Lu>
Date: Sun Sep 25 05:04:36 PDT 1994

fdsfds


From: Ken Taylor
Date: Sun Sep 25 05:02:10 PDT 1994

Try out the telerobot in Western Australia. It's not available when we are working on it.


From: Hung <Sing-Lu>
Date: Sun Sep 25 04:40:55 PDT 1994

fdsfdsf


From: Hung <Sing-Lu>
Date: Sun Sep 25 04:30:48 PDT 1994

*** #@%$#^%$&%^&&^ ***


From: Hung <Sing-Lu>
Date: Sun Sep 25 04:16:41 PDT 1994

Nia ma chau hai.


From: ARUN KUNCHITHAPATHAM
Date: Sun Sep 25 03:43:32 PDT 1994

a scale was discovered... near the 6 inch mark, there was a shining object.. have to find out if that is something new!


From: Vincent Wong
Date: Sun Sep 25 00:15:38 PDT 1994

This is really great! I think this is the start of a new wave of technology. Being able to control something several thousands of miles away, with the click of a button, and then, seeing the results seconds later. My only gripe is the five minute time limit!


From: Curt Meyers
Date: Sun Sep 25 00:03:27 PDT 1994

I'm back again!! Just can't get enough of this on a Saturday Night.


From: Allan R. Baker
Date: Sat Sep 24 23:40:17 PDT 1994

This is amazing. I love this kind of stuff. I read about your site in Newsweek and had to try it. I'm in graduate school studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. I love robotics and telecontrol stuff. Great work!


From: Brent Swekla
Date: Sat Sep 24 22:31:27 PDT 1994

Woo hoo! 10:27! Now, I can sleep tonight...


From: Brent Swekla
Date: Sat Sep 24 22:19:35 PDT 1994

I've gotta find out what time it is!!


From: Brent Swekla
Date: Sat Sep 24 22:04:13 PDT 1994

Cool! Air blasts didn't seem to do much for me, though...


From: Brian Daniels
Date: Sat Sep 24 21:40:42 PDT 1994

Impressive! There's really something amazing about operating a robot on the other side of the U.S. Well done. Now if only I can get a faster link...


From: Sean Carney
Date: Sat Sep 24 21:00:35 PDT 1994

Bummer man I was just about to unearth the treasure Or was it the garbage? and then I ranm out of time. Ruined my whole day :-)


From: Sean Carney
Date: Sat Sep 24 20:50:42 PDT 1994

Pretty cool stuff I will go try again.


From: Jim Glidewell
Date: Sat Sep 24 20:33:14 PDT 1994

Thanks for providing this neato service. I'd sure like to try it on a direct internet connection, rather than through SLIP. Even with move-wait-move-wait-..., it's still a lot of fun.


From: Jim Burke
Date: Sat Sep 24 20:01:32 PDT 1994

*** *** Ok, I think I understand this dig site. It is the contants of a Human's backpack who must have stumbled into this waste land in his travles. I belive that he was either an explorer, reporter, of fisherman. A fisherman 'cause I found a fishing lure. I belive that the person was intrested in computers and geology. He might have been on a search mission by the goverment to look around the waste-land and record what he saw there. When his remains were noticed, I belive the goverment was intrested in retreving what was found there. This would explain the classification of some images and the operation of a second robot. However, I am not able to understand why somethings are normal sized (the coffee mug with the mosaic definition in it) and some things smaller than they should be (the latern). More research should help *** end notes..


From: Jim Burke
Date: Sat Sep 24 19:31:02 PDT 1994

Well, I'm addicted.


From: Jim Burke
Date: Sat Sep 24 19:25:24 PDT 1994

'Twas great, yet again. *** Found the ruler, and a belt that reflected some light off into the camara, the belt looked to be of western/indian nature.***


From: Andrew Marshall
Date: Sat Sep 24 19:20:04 PDT 1994

Cool, how do you get the ps`osition sensitive bitmap on the Operator page?? It's hard to tell the orientation of the camera. Does it automatically orient itself, or does it rotate with the arm?? Cool.


From: Karen A. Scott
Date: Sat Sep 24 18:53:43 PDT 1994

Hey, way cool...I'm getting the hang of it now.


From: Karen A. Scott
Date: Sat Sep 24 18:43:28 PDT 1994

Not enough time to get oriented, but it sure seems like a neat idea...Time for me to get back in the queue!


From: ali sant
Date: Sat Sep 24 18:08:10 PDT 1994

***obdisian is used for knife blades ***a little tiny oil lamp? pls keep the suprises coming


From: Taylor Armstrong
Date: Sat Sep 24 17:37:40 PDT 1994

I want more time!!!!!!!!! t1 network instaled next week, let's see how much that will help!!


From: David Luchin
Date: Sat Sep 24 17:33:54 PDT 1994

***Uncovered part of a piece of paper at 465, 530 with "wire" written on it; I think Taylor is going to continue the process. The air puff is a little wimpy, though.


From: David Luchin
Date: Sat Sep 24 17:25:32 PDT 1994

Very interesting. It's hard to find your way around and still actually DO anything, but hopefully when we get our t1 that will be alleviated somewhat. I will definitely be back. ***looked at the ruler for a moment, and realized how little I was actually moving per screen. When will a color camera be installed????


From: Taylor Armstrong
Date: Sat Sep 24 17:00:25 PDT 1994

Image is fuzzy at close range - otherwise, it sure beats browsing thru hyperlinks.


From: Jody McIntyre
Date: Sat Sep 24 15:58:10 PDT 1994

Well.. Finally it let me make a comment, in stead of "YOU ARE NOT RECOGNIZED AS THE OPERATOR" at the end of my turn.. I finished blowing off *** a piece of paper with WIRED === on it, but accidentally blew it on top of Mr. Crab.. I also saw the watch, which is still pretty accurate..


From: Jim Burke
Date: Sat Sep 24 15:50:36 PDT 1994

Well, I love it.


From: Jim Burke
Date: Sat Sep 24 15:41:51 PDT 1994

Great idea, great implemtation. While nice, the graphic energy bar slowed things down a bit. *** Found a note on chrysocolla, but was not able to make out artifact to the north (up). Some sort of picture? ***


From: Robert W. Brewer
Date: Sat Sep 24 14:23:25 PDT 1994

*** Found a strange face with Greek letters on it. Very cool system!


From: Joshua Brandt
Date: Sat Sep 24 14:17:38 PDT 1994

Cool!!!!!


From: Charles Labiner
Date: Sat Sep 24 14:01:41 PDT 1994

Loved it! Unfortunately my Mac is slow,


From: Tim Langlois
Date: Sat Sep 24 13:54:49 PDT 1994

Loved the robot. I wish my link was faster. I did not have time to uncover anything.


From: John Fisher
Date: Sat Sep 24 13:07:21 PDT 1994

Pretty nify, but the picture was a little dark. Do I have to fix that on my end, though?


From: Tim Henrion
Date: Sat Sep 24 12:52:19 PDT 1994

***Found note about Abe Lincoln ***Found something else just as time expired. David Henrion - age 7


From: Tim Henrion
Date: Sat Sep 24 12:45:40 PDT 1994

***Found some pictures of eyes ***Found the note about pyrite and something we did not recognize


From: Kirk Shelley
Date: Sat Sep 24 12:32:18 PDT 1994

Very clever.....


From: Adrian Prestige
Date: Sat Sep 24 11:05:28 PDT 1994

What isB


From: Ralph Butler
Date: Sat Sep 24 10:58:24 PDT 1994

Really cool. Thanks for the neat demo.


From: Sean Edward Dunn
Date: Sat Sep 24 10:44:58 PDT 1994

Found: WiRiD label, Sunlight beams?, Pyrite.


From: Sean Edward Dunn
Date: Sat Sep 24 10:38:47 PDT 1994

I wish I could be on here longer..


From: Sean Edward Dunn
Date: Sat Sep 24 10:33:18 PDT 1994

I liked it.. again.


From: Sean Edward Dunn
Date: Sat Sep 24 10:27:25 PDT 1994

At the closest position, the image seems blurred. But, other than that, I REALLY liked the interactive feel of it.. Thankyou. Sean


From: Casey Durandet
Date: Sat Sep 24 09:54:07 PDT 1994

***match box, watch, crab/lobster, mathematical integral equation, haunting facial picture with 3 (Greek(?)) symbols on forehead, newspaper ads (transformers, museums, etc.), broken ceramic cup (?), picture of eyes, etc. How often does the "scenery" get changed? Quite good.


From: Robert Hyslop
Date: Sat Sep 24 09:38:42 PDT 1994

Not bad. It does get a little blurry when I zoom in to blow the air, but when the arm is above the ground, the pictures are quite clear. I'm not really sure what I was looking at... maybe a few real-time explantions would help.


From: Phil Reid
Date: Sat Sep 24 08:29:29 PDT 1994

***Pic of eyes *** Watch


From: S. Hermelink
Date: Sat Sep 24 08:00:39 PDT 1994

Hmmm... found nothing interesting. Nethertheles the idea is great!


From: Mark Leija
Date: Sat Sep 24 02:29:49 PDT 1994

That is realy neat. http://info.latech.edu/~leija/


From: muthukrishnan
Date: Sat Sep 24 01:54:57 PDT 1994

*** the arm movement picture on the side was not showing *** any changes even if I move from "distant" to "close" *** position ? Is that the correct operation ? Am i missing *** something ?


From: Bob Kanefsky
Date: Sat Sep 24 00:50:52 PDT 1994

*** Safety matches box at 612,389 *** Catalog page mentioning "...transformers" uncovered


From: tom kinch
Date: Fri Sep 23 22:35:31 PDT 1994

I REALLY nned a t3 line.


From: tom kinch
Date: Fri Sep 23 22:29:47 PDT 1994

teleoperation over a modem is for me a non-trivial task. this is great. it has only been in the last year that something like this was done over the net between nasa and moscow.


From: Emin Gun Sirer
Date: Fri Sep 23 21:48:00 PDT 1994

Good job.


From: Curt Meyers
Date: Fri Sep 23 21:38:23 PDT 1994

Where can I buy one of these things? I envision sitting back and cleaning my room from a remote location, like a big Lazy-Boy recliner. ***I swear I saw Elvis again!!


From: Ken Taylor
Date: Fri Sep 23 21:29:01 PDT 1994

Try out the telerobot in Western Australia


From: Terry Lam
Date: Fri Sep 23 21:21:34 PDT 1994

It is very funny!!


From: Curt Meyers
Date: Fri Sep 23 21:16:06 PDT 1994

***I saw Elvis in there!!!


From: Curt Meyers
Date: Fri Sep 23 21:04:32 PDT 1994

*** This is great, probably won't get my homework done tonight!


From: Cindy Bernard
Date: Fri Sep 23 20:22:38 PDT 1994

Really great!! Hope you don't mind but I did a few screen captures to use as grayscales in a landscape generation program. ***I seemed to partially uncover a piece of paper with black or dark stripes printed on it.*** I probably should have returned to the wider view to get an idea of the size of the object. I had wanted to see an overview of the space as a whole but that didn't seem to be p to be possible. I'll be back!!


From: Mike Becvar
Date: Fri Sep 23 19:25:23 PDT 1994

Nice project! One question, how often are things covered back up? It seemed like there were already a few things that other people had uncovered lying around. The picture seemed alittle fuzzy in the close up position, is this a time saving method or just the resolution on my monitor, or a shadow caused by the arm. Thanks for the time on the robotic arm, it was fun! Mike Becvar mbecvar@umr.edu


From: Bill Siever
Date: Fri Sep 23 19:15:10 PDT 1994

Neat Idea... My Pc Mosaic completly redrew the screen each turn, might be better/faster if it only updated changed things..(If that's possible under mosaic) It'd be nice to have a faster video of what's going on... But - It's a great idea, and a great start... Congradulation...


From: jim conallen
Date: Fri Sep 23 18:25:56 PDT 1994

Thanks for the test drive. Unfortunately the graphics driver I have at home here made the images I received rather undeciferable (sp?), however the concept of remote manipulation of an object across the US was quite stimulating. Thanx again -jim


From: Reiney Adams
Date: Fri Sep 23 18:05:28 PDT 1994

Perhaps we no longer need the real world as we have reduced it it to an arena of virtual manipulation. Only the Morlocks get to play with it as it is.......So, Mr./Ms. Morlock, how did I I do today?


From: Tarek Elaydi
Date: Fri Sep 23 17:54:43 PDT 1994

I found the entire concept well thought out. One draw back is that the bandwidth limitation did not allow real interactive control. I guess its just an idea before its time.


From: Scott Dennis
Date: Fri Sep 23 17:50:16 PDT 1994

Way cool! Thanks!


From: Earl Baugh
Date: Fri Sep 23 17:00:20 PDT 1994

*** Piece of paper, which looks like it's newspaper, and *** following that assumption, it looks like it's part of *** an entertainment section. It has an article on the *** J Paul Getty Museum, in Malibu. So if this actually is *** newspaper, then it was probably brought in from California. *** The date the museum was constructed would probably give *** an "earliest" possible date for this artifact.


From: Earl Baugh
Date: Fri Sep 23 16:41:35 PDT 1994

Very interesting page. I suspect I'll be back here quite a bit. I'm interested in the technology that you used to tie this all in together (I have some robotic controllers at my house, and a Sun that is on the net, so I've been thinking of having a "see Earl's House" robot.) Is there a place where I can get info on the construction of these pages (and the robotic setup?) Thanks.


From: Anthony D. Fischer
Date: Fri Sep 23 16:27:54 PDT 1994

NEEDS MORE TIME. 10 MIN WOULD BE GREAT!


From: Rastaman
Date: Fri Sep 23 16:07:08 PDT 1994

This is quite a step when I think about it. To move from the real world to the virtual one and then back out the other side in a different "real" location which responds to my actions like the one in front of my eyes is truly a strange and somewhat dislocating experience. I enjoyed the sensation immensely and found it more constructive than some of the virtual things I've found myself addicted to. *** didn't find alot but saw a face.


From: Chris Lehmann <M.D.>
Date: Fri Sep 23 15:06:37 PDT 1994

What a great way to waste time :) However I think this really shows that remote operation of excavation robots can be done by fools (at least I was able to operate it :)) ***found a keyring and of course forgot to note the coordinates and a long object with a lot of writing. I think this needs a way to focus the camera better since I couldn't read it well :( This was fun :)


From: Stephen J. J. Smith
Date: Fri Sep 23 14:24:03 PDT 1994

***Small ring (apparent shiny jewel-like object with at least a hint of a circular form attached to its "west-southwest" to the "west" side of the "south" part of the watchband? ***More of the writing on the watch description, by uncovering debris. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! We Are Scientists Get Out Of Our Way!


From: Peter Laws
Date: Fri Sep 23 13:49:21 PDT 1994

***Is that Lncoln's bust? I didn't have a penny or a $5 handy ... He's around 824,474. Peter


From: Rob Slater
Date: Fri Sep 23 13:35:06 PDT 1994

OK, this is starting to become VERY addicting. *** I found a watch at 577,515. It even had the correct time for PDT (which is where the robot is)!! -- Rob Slater (slater@phx.mcd.mot.com)


From: Peter Laws
Date: Fri Sep 23 13:27:58 PDT 1994

***Ick! A crab! What *is* that thing just NE of the WiReD sign?????


From: Peter Laws
Date: Fri Sep 23 13:18:33 PDT 1994

***The WiReD sign was tres cool - but what was the thing above it? The ruler was neat but that's been done. What a *neat* way to waste time!!


From: Raymond Swartz
Date: Fri Sep 23 13:01:36 PDT 1994

*** newspaper clipping, or section of a catalog, on the left side of the field.


From: Rob Slater
Date: Fri Sep 23 12:41:09 PDT 1994

Once again, this was a lot of fun. *** Spent some time looking at the ruler at the bottom of the screen. Once I decided that it was pretty well explored, I moved on. *** I then discovered a slip of paper with the word "Quartz" on it followed by some text. It looked like a caption to something, but I ran out of time before I could study it further. The slip of paper was at 571,470. -- Rob Slater (slater@phx.mcd.mot.com)


From: Omar Syed
Date: Fri Sep 23 12:38:29 PDT 1994

Wow that was fun. I saw a ruler and something else that looked like a baseball bat. To all the programmers who made it possible, thanks!!!


From: Amitabh Mehra
Date: Fri Sep 23 12:23:16 PDT 1994

Pretty cool, it was a feeling of empowerment controlling a robot thousands of miles away!!! Excellent work, USC!!!


From: Omar Syed
Date: Fri Sep 23 12:11:51 PDT 1994

I was the 6th person in the queue, so I left my X terminal for a while. By the time I came back my turn was over. I'll try again in a while. It would be nice if you could see how many people are in the queue before adding yourself. Excellent demo of the capabilites of WWW and Mosaic.


From: Karthi Vadivelu
Date: Fri Sep 23 11:48:37 PDT 1994

Wow, great fun ! ** found a couple of objects ** a ruler(marking 7) at ~520,310 ** a note of some sort inside what appeared to be a metal ring at ~1000,290. The contents appeared to be a dictionary entry for the word Mosaic !


From: Gary Dyrkacz
Date: Fri Sep 23 11:43:08 PDT 1994

The energy bar does take to long to redraw. The system is great and the turnaround time is fast! ***I saw a gauge or dial.


From: Tom Sullivan
Date: Fri Sep 23 11:30:54 PDT 1994

Hey this is pretty cool!!! *** I found a note talking about granite mortar & pestals (sp?) *** and a toy crab, a ruler and a few other things. Good job guys!


From: Gale Traynor
Date: Fri Sep 23 11:13:17 PDT 1994

***ruler ***silver object with intricate design


From: Rob Slater
Date: Fri Sep 23 11:08:49 PDT 1994

well i found some sort of note. This is great.


From: Ron Whittle
Date: Fri Sep 23 11:02:27 PDT 1994

Using graphics for the energy level slows down the redraw process. Wouldn't numbers be better?


From: Sujata Banerjee
Date: Fri Sep 23 10:52:15 PDT 1994

Better focus at the low position. Great work!!! *** Ruler (4in -- 5 in markings)


From: Antonio Freixas
Date: Fri Sep 23 10:34:57 PDT 1994

Nice but you don't get long enough to do much (and I have a high speed connection).


From: Bernd Helzer
Date: Fri Sep 23 10:29:14 PDT 1994

This is really cool!


From: Rob Slater
Date: Fri Sep 23 10:23:19 PDT 1994

This was a lot of fun. G-d bless the Internet for providing us with so many ways to whittle away at the day when we could be doing something productive. *** I Found a scrap of text at 750,400. I Did not have enough time to read what it said. It would have been nice to let me look at the update screen once more before dropping me into the log. This way I could jot down some notes before placing them here. Incidently, I found out about this robot by reading the Newsweek article. -- Rob Slater (slater@phx.mcd.mot.com)


From: James Holroyd
Date: Fri Sep 23 09:55:07 PDT 1994

Wow! I think this should be interfaced with that surgery TV show. Very cool. ***Found a diagonal long thing (I know, real specific) at 169,393


From: Scott Hankin
Date: Fri Sep 23 09:34:59 PDT 1994

In some ways, the area seems similar to the Internet. The search is analogous to trying to find something on the net, where you scan a large area to locate areas of interest. Sometimes you'll encounter a useful nugget of information, like the *** mineral used in making jewelry; other times you'll discover indormation which seems valid, only to turn out to be wrong, like the *** fool's gold. Access is faciliated via Mosaic. Some information is in different languages, like the *** page of info describing the transformer in English and German(?) and also points to the multinational nature of the net. This is probably just an indication that I spend too much time on the net, but I'm surprised at how many of the artifacts fit in this way. - Scott


From: Dan Gould
Date: Fri Sep 23 09:07:12 PDT 1994

Looked above 7 on ruler


From: Hakan Fortell
Date: Fri Sep 23 08:35:44 PDT 1994

Great! I'll try it again when there is less traffic on the net. /HF


From: irv kornfield
Date: Fri Sep 23 08:27:18 PDT 1994

Great fun, though it will take some time to better pilot the beas beast.


From: Ananjan
Date: Fri Sep 23 08:09:29 PDT 1994

The system crash and I could not finish the demo. The idea is great! but you still have to work some more to make more interesting.


From: Steve
Date: Fri Sep 23 08:05:01 PDT 1994

Great robot, but communication time from Canada takes 99% of the energy...not much time to see what the thing can do!


From: Steve Miller
Date: Fri Sep 23 07:11:48 PDT 1994

This is a great web site!!! Thanks!!


From: Unknown Token
Date: Fri Sep 23 06:41:14 PDT 1994

Very interesting and a great use for Mosaic. A suggestion: Add another camera with an overhead view of the robot and work area, with a Mosaic switch to toggle views between robot camera and overview camera. I think it would make the presentation much more interesting. Thanks - Chuck Cohen


From: Brad West
Date: Fri Sep 23 06:18:58 PDT 1994

I'd like to see video from either the camera on the robot arm OR a camera pointed at the robot arm pumped to a CU-SeeMe reflector so we could watch the robot's movements in real-time! This was a VERY interesting use of Web technology. As a USC alum, I'm glad to see the continued success of experiemnts like this.


From: Fredrik
Date: Fri Sep 23 05:42:45 PDT 1994

I think this was a very nice thing, although it was quite difficult. Keep up the good work!


From: Unknown Token
Date: Fri Sep 23 05:11:32 PDT 1994

So it was worth another try! I found a ***piece of paper with QUARTZ written on it at x544:y496, and right next to it a ***crab resting on its back at x524:y496. I'd suggest to change the time measuring in a way that the operator can control the arm as long as he/she wants, provided noone else is waiting for it, but at least for 5 minutes. People with slow connection would like this!


From: Unknown Token
Date: Fri Sep 23 05:09:41 PDT 1994

Very interesting use of the web!


From: Szabolcs Sziget
Date: Fri Sep 23 04:54:03 PDT 1994

This is COOL!!! A really original idea. However I only had time for 3 moves (Yeah, bits come here slowly), but i'm gonna give it another try.


From: David Peck
Date: Fri Sep 23 04:17:49 PDT 1994

Didn't have much luck finding anything today.


From: Dana L. Coe
Date: Fri Sep 23 04:02:11 PDT 1994

BTW, the *** obsidian was at 826,417 or slightly to the left of there. Saw the ***Pulse engineering chip Peter Wu started on, and I saw the ***turquois (sic) with something slightly to the north of it. BTW, I'm in Germany and the connection wasn't too slow. Although it could always be faster.


From: peter-wa
Date: Fri Sep 23 03:55:56 PDT 1994

Really silly, but lots of fun. Just think, one day we'll be doing this with a vehicle on the Moon..!


From: Dana L. Coe
Date: Fri Sep 23 03:45:47 PDT 1994

Shazam! My first time and a random stab gets me ***obsidian, a small piece thereof with the description that it was used ror knife blades because of the rock's sharp edge


From: Jorge
Date: Fri Sep 23 03:42:42 PDT 1994

Hello friends: I think that is very good. Thanks Jorge Pedraza(from Brazil)


From: Mark J Cargill
Date: Fri Sep 23 02:59:27 PDT 1994

I would have like to have seen an operators image in colour rather than greyscale. A bigger observation of the surrounding area would be nice. Extending the alotted time from 5 minutes to 7-10 minutes. More energy per turn would also help. A very novel idea though! Mark.


From: S. Meattle
Date: Fri Sep 23 02:02:22 PDT 1994

Pretty Cool. How about trying to put a color camera so that we can get color images. Great project!!! Cheers,


From: W.Vleeshhouwer
Date: Fri Sep 23 01:57:03 PDT 1994

*** Could not find the compressed air button anywhere, which is a shame, cause I would have liked to be able to read some of the text on the paper I found. For the rest it is a very interesting experiment which I enjoyed very much. Regards, Wim.


From: Chris Epler
Date: Fri Sep 23 00:48:07 PDT 1994

*** X: 281, Y: 341, some paper with 'onian' written on it, a logo of some kind, light text on dark background. Was a lot of fun, will try again soon I'm sure! 8-)


From: Gideon May
Date: Fri Sep 23 00:41:37 PDT 1994

Continued someones mission, didn't figure out yet what it was


From: Gideon May
Date: Fri Sep 23 00:31:44 PDT 1994

Amazing, just the thought of controlling a robot at the end of the world. *** Continued to find the end of the ruler


From: gerhard the third
Date: Thu Sep 22 23:57:35 PDT 1994

is this research on annoying people? get a real camera with a zoom button


From: gerhard the third
Date: Thu Sep 22 23:50:43 PDT 1994

*** a stone of granite and a note stating you get the pest of these ... right ?


From: gerhard the third
Date: Thu Sep 22 23:43:42 PDT 1994

a fairly nice initiative, but your pictures could be better


From: Andrew Goodman-Jones
Date: Thu Sep 22 23:24:22 PDT 1994

Well that was a buzz...missed a lecture but it was worth it!


From: Raymond Swartz
Date: Thu Sep 22 22:15:08 PDT 1994

I clicked on the image to move the robot, and immediately lost the image, yet the rest of the Mosaic window was still active. I was still supposedly in control, yet no image was available. It looked good until then.


From: Jeff Shepherd
Date: Thu Sep 22 21:54:03 PDT 1994

Hmmm.... lets see. I found

Then I started using the compressed air and uncovered More compressed air revealed But, I think the neatest thing I found was All kidding aside, this is really fun. As clever and innovative as Asterion 2000. I played and played and there was nobody in the queue. Download time was great for me as well. I can't believe after reading about this in Newsweek this place isn't absolutely swamped with useage.

Very nice implementation, being able to click on the schematic to move anywhere quickly, or on the picture itself for fine tuning.

I am curious, however, where the air jet is coming from. Sometimes blowing wouldn't do anything and other times though it would reveal what was directly below, I would cover a nearby interesting space.

Also, since downloading time is precious for people, how about being able to blow while the robotic arm is in the up position? I know the compressed air isn't that powerful, but how about when you do the air blast button have the arm go down, air blast, then go up again and transmit the new picture.

My final request: Reduce the size of the operator's log. How about weekly, or even daily. That sucker is just too huge.

ttfn,

- Jeff -

_______

jeff@trg.saic.com (Jeff Shepherd) Dance to Live!


From: Brian Wibbenmeyer
Date: Thu Sep 22 21:44:25 PDT 1994

*** Found the pyrite note at 753, 484; pen to the left Great system... How many people saw this in Newsweek?


From: Andrew Gallagher
Date: Thu Sep 22 21:39:51 PDT 1994

Hm... started digging around 850,370 found nothing!!! Still, a good laugh for 5.30am (local time)! Found out about it from Newsweek (didn't most people?) must tell everyone!!!! *8)


From: Joe Hales
Date: Thu Sep 22 21:30:00 PDT 1994

*** uncovered object that appeared to have several rows of English characters. Object appeared to be rounded, perhaps cylindrical. Could not make out clearly the letters Had a great time. Waiting for a chance to change a reactor core from my own office.


From: Erik Gilbert
Date: Thu Sep 22 19:30:10 PDT 1994

just giving a quicky demo to an onlooker...


From: Marc Vigna
Date: Thu Sep 22 18:52:36 PDT 1994

Me again. I found a ***4-legged creature on it's back in a relatively helpless position.


From: Marc Vigna
Date: Thu Sep 22 18:38:30 PDT 1994

I'll be back


From: Trent Andrews
Date: Thu Sep 22 18:24:22 PDT 1994

I like it.


From: Gregor Markowitz
Date: Thu Sep 22 18:20:34 PDT 1994

booga booga booga computers are great!


From: eric
Date: Thu Sep 22 18:06:01 PDT 1994

*** I found a Watch and on viewing the Object Closer By increasing the reseloution In My Xwindows session I could se a faint reflection Of the Robot Off the crystal in the watch.. Very Interesting. *** I also foud an object that Looked Like a crab... :) So when do I get to fly the space shuttle??


From: Jeff Thompson
Date: Thu Sep 22 17:26:28 PDT 1994

That was a rather interesting experience. I am currently doing tech support for x-mosaic over at NCSA and it was nice to use such a fun application to relieve a little stress. The delay times during the transmitssion of the updated images are a shame, but what could really be done about that. Consider using the mbone for real time transmission? Good luck with all of your work! Jeff thompson


From: joost schuur
Date: Thu Sep 22 17:19:50 PDT 1994

amazing. simply amazing. it absolutely astounds me what you can do with www. j


From: Allen Downey
Date: Thu Sep 22 16:59:30 PDT 1994

***I found something that looked like a frying pan with ***a map of the world (well, not OUR world) in the bottom. A good time was had by all.


From: R. Thor Prichard
Date: Thu Sep 22 16:53:19 PDT 1994

Very interesting project. On the fringes of technology -- a pioneering effort on the web. Congratulations. Yours in Cyberspace,


From: Mikol Ryon
Date: Thu Sep 22 16:36:21 PDT 1994

COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


From: Ed Greaves
Date: Thu Sep 22 16:11:49 PDT 1994

I enjoyed staying late at work to see this! *** Found the ruler and some small round object at the three inch mark. -Eddie


From: Rick Duffy
Date: Thu Sep 22 16:01:49 PDT 1994

THis is a great demo for people learning the net too!


From: Victor Zandy
Date: Thu Sep 22 15:57:06 PDT 1994

***I found a ruler! Why do I waste my time?


From: George Janczyn
Date: Thu Sep 22 15:23:04 PDT 1994

Fun! Thanks for the try.


From: Shubhabrata
Date: Thu Sep 22 14:17:05 PDT 1994

This is amazing !!!!! I just checked out another site in Univ of Western Australia where one can do a similar(though not so complicated) task. Guys ,how about showing a glimpse of the campus as it changes over the day


From: Marc Vigna
Date: Thu Sep 22 14:10:40 PDT 1994

Very cool. Found a ***piece of paper with an equation on it***


From: Rich Travsky
Date: Thu Sep 22 13:38:23 PDT 1994

Hmmm.


From: Lance M. Kennelty
Date: Thu Sep 22 13:35:32 PDT 1994

***Wired and watch Nifty keen! A neat little WWW site. What's next a robo-bulldozer on a LA freeway??


From: P. Lincoln
Date: Thu Sep 22 13:18:04 PDT 1994

Slow net prevented much exploration. Found two small items, but couldn't identify in time.


From: Dilvan
Date: Thu Sep 22 13:13:17 PDT 1994

from England is very sloooow.


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Thu Sep 22 12:50:06 PDT 1994

Where is the box of matches?


From: Jack LAbor
Date: Thu Sep 22 12:44:21 PDT 1994

***Have located a toothpick? and some sort of disk with Greek symbols but energy level fell off before I noted location. I agree that 5 minitues is too short, but the concept here is great, had fun while it lasted. By the way, I found out about this through Newsweek Magazine, Sept. 26, 1994 Issue. Thanks again. Jack.


From: Luis E. Menoyo
Date: Thu Sep 22 12:30:05 PDT 1994

Was able to get to the *** coffe cup *** could not read the note inside. Maybe next time.


From: Luis E. Menoyo
Date: Thu Sep 22 12:13:32 PDT 1994

This is great! Thanks.


From: Unknown Token
Date: Thu Sep 22 10:39:05 PDT 1994

Great ! A sugestion - add a kibutzer's box where observers can type at the operator and display the messages in the operator's ? and observer's ? screens.


From: Scott Hankin
Date: Thu Sep 22 08:59:02 PDT 1994

Found: *** slip of paper containing definition of Mosaic(!) in a coffee cup. Intriguing, as that's what I'm running to access this. Also located *** a small (plastic?) bust of a man, significance unknown. - Scott


From: Mark Ericson
Date: Thu Sep 22 08:52:06 PDT 1994

I found a piece of pyrite (fools gold) with a paper description of pyrite. I also tried to move a piece of paper that was curled up by lowering the arm and dragging. I don't know if I was succesful.


From: Jay Howell
Date: Thu Sep 22 08:46:09 PDT 1994

That five minutes seemed a little short


From: richard K
Date: Thu Sep 22 08:34:06 PDT 1994

***9/22/94 BULLETIN... ***Have successfully unearthed ***a detailed photograph of ***what I believe to be the ***robot god. This "god" is ***believed to be the founder ***of the ancient civilation ***"Robotnerds". I hope to ***discover more on future ***expeditions. *** ***Yours Truly, ***Arnie Saknussen *** ***


From: Scott Hankin
Date: Thu Sep 22 08:19:45 PDT 1994

What a cool toy! I can't wait to show it to my colleges here at work. Many thanks for providing it to the Web. - Scott


From: Jay Howell
Date: Thu Sep 22 08:14:28 PDT 1994

I found something like a key ring to day. Also saw the plastic doll shown in the demo.


From: Adrian Ruzsicska
Date: Thu Sep 22 07:47:40 PDT 1994

*** A lot more fun the second time. I found two solutions to NPComplete problems! Maybe not, but I had a lot of fun. Delay was significant, but I'm not sure of the cause, probably my distance. Thanks very much.


From: Tim
Date: Thu Sep 22 07:34:58 PDT 1994

***Had a geology lesson. ***Beleive these messages were left by an alien race to enlighten us. ***Found a watch which was about 5 min fast, no doubt due to time warping by the nuclear explosion. ***Found a lantern. This may be a cleverly designed alien spacecraft. ***Conclusion: The government is run by aliens, and the Cold war was a plot by them to advance NASA so they could build ship to get home. They left the messages to alert us to their persence and gave us this knowledge as payment for the time they spent among us. -TLR 9/22/94


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Thu Sep 22 07:26:07 PDT 1994

*** Wide field ca. 50 by 42 (assume mm); Narrow field ca. 23 by 20 so x2 magnification


From: Adrian Ruzsicska
Date: Thu Sep 22 07:24:32 PDT 1994

*** Very interesting exercise. Gave me some appreciation *** as to what it would be like to operate a robot remotely *** at great distances. *** I have not caluculated the distance from Darwin Australia *** to yourself, but I imagine it would be in the vicinity *** of 15000 miles. (*** Thanks very much... al l the best with it all *** Adrian


From: Josh Stillerman
Date: Thu Sep 22 07:17:26 PDT 1994

Wow this is fun! *** Found a watch that had the correct CA time on it. Also found a striped piece of paper near the watch. I am not sure what it was.


From: Le Meur
Date: Thu Sep 22 07:11:26 PDT 1994

That's really great to drive an engine from so far away ... .. but don't we say that with Internet we are so closed all of us ...


From: keith mayer
Date: Thu Sep 22 06:44:11 PDT 1994

I only found rocks!


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Thu Sep 22 06:42:00 PDT 1994

*** found "head" at 816,477


From: Dan Gould
Date: Thu Sep 22 06:39:48 PDT 1994

Last operator was at lanter about 774,388 After looking around lantern, visited some empty areas. Around 405,490 the was a black square with white framing and something (dirt) lying on top. At 389, 508 there was a circle, like a bowl with dirt in it. I think this is great, but once the queue starts growing, it will become impossible to use. If people had fast net connections, you should make thumb-wrestling robots...


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Thu Sep 22 06:31:36 PDT 1994

NOTE: the small square on the diagram is about the area of the wide field view


From: Jeanne M. Sirovatka
Date: Thu Sep 22 06:26:51 PDT 1994

Very exciting -- just think about how this could revolutionize science! *** Found some sort of technical engineering paper!


From: Jeff Gilbert
Date: Thu Sep 22 06:12:09 PDT 1994

Fantastic demonstration!


From: Robert B. Saltzman
Date: Thu Sep 22 06:09:49 PDT 1994

Got a series of HTTP access errors trying to access... //cwis.usc.edu/dept/elab/ark/green.gif Restarted several times and finally located... ***a piece of paper that said "A Free Gift From..." Did not have enough time to identify it further. I think that 7-8 minutes might be more appropriate when there are only a few people on the queue. Very nice project.


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Thu Sep 22 05:56:29 PDT 1994

*** what is the round "medallian" at about 560,355 ? NOTE to novices: In general, moves on the map are best done at z=170 (wide field)


From: James Peterson
Date: Thu Sep 22 05:49:44 PDT 1994

A FUN TIME HAD BY ALL. A TEN FROM THE CANADIAN JUDGE.


From: EDWARD DRUY
Date: Thu Sep 22 05:05:48 PDT 1994

***I discovered a scrap of paper, but when I tried to clear it of debris with the air jet, it became obscured. Can one control the strength or duration of the jet?


From: David Peck
Date: Thu Sep 22 04:17:45 PDT 1994

I found and uncovered part of a ruler; above the "7" mark there is something else which looks similar to a button...


From: Christoph
Date: Thu Sep 22 03:24:46 PDT 1994

Yessss! *** Found a piece of paper with a face on it!


From: Christoph
Date: Thu Sep 22 03:13:04 PDT 1994

I haven`t found anything! I`ll try again. This thing is very funny and interesting!


From: Sören Teurich
Date: Thu Sep 22 03:04:48 PDT 1994

Thanks for this great WWW-Service. I really enjoyed "digging in the dirt" from a distance of several thousand kilometers. Perhaps every excavation should be done like your project. *** I discovered something that looked like some snippet of a newspaper or book. I could not read anything of it, though. Until the next time...


From: Michael Schmitz
Date: Thu Sep 22 02:46:43 PDT 1994

*** petrol lamp @ 776,365


From: Fluckiger
Date: Thu Sep 22 02:36:55 PDT 1994

Super, et a reessayer... Fluckiger


From: Steven Verver
Date: Thu Sep 22 02:31:08 PDT 1994

I did'nt find a thing!!!


From: Axel Spohr
Date: Thu Sep 22 02:28:29 PDT 1994

Pretty nice environment, but I think it would be helpful to get a third vertical position even further up to get an overall picture if the robot allows. Air pressure should be reduced a little as I got the impression that I blew away objects of interest along with the sediments at times.


From: Georg Thallinger
Date: Thu Sep 22 02:20:43 PDT 1994

I wasn't able to find anything useful by myself. What i saw was: *** a lamp - which somebody else dug out I realy enjoyed it Thanks Georg


From: Michael Schmitz
Date: Thu Sep 22 01:48:39 PDT 1994

*** strange equation @ 257,400 (blown away by the wind)


From: Michael Schmitz
Date: Thu Sep 22 01:42:05 PDT 1994

*** Matches @ 619,374


From: Scott Meeker
Date: Thu Sep 22 00:18:11 PDT 1994

Please mount an acetylene torch to your arm!


From: Jeremy Smith
Date: Thu Sep 22 00:13:33 PDT 1994

This was a very interesting experience for me. I was driving the robot using a Mosaic client for Windows 3.1 over a 14.4 SLIP connection so the updates were a little slow but exciting nonetheless. Thank you for allowing people like me the oppurtunity to try something that would not be available otherwise!


From: Tom Wilberding
Date: Wed Sep 21 23:05:09 PDT 1994

Pretty cool! I'm using a V.34 dialup, so wait for the images prevented any real exploring, and reaffirmed my desire to get an ISDN line.


From: Antonio V. de Jesus III
Date: Wed Sep 21 22:04:52 PDT 1994

Have you guys heard of CU-SeeMe... Updating is taking too slow... especially when EVERYTHING including text and most especially the energy level is being redisplayed. What about reprogramming and following the same concept of sending video. (4 bit grey scale) for faster updates. Live AUTO-UPDATES at the image screen. I don't really mind not seeing the energy level at all.


From: Josh Berman
Date: Wed Sep 21 21:58:52 PDT 1994

*** A Free Gift courtesy of Smithsonian... a bag of sweet basil @ (x,y) (310,305). My friend was impressed with what can be done on the Web. Bravo!


From: Bob Peterson
Date: Wed Sep 21 21:17:12 PDT 1994

I saw the man that the Voyager probe saw on Mars. How did he get in there?


From: Michael Lee Starr
Date: Wed Sep 21 21:14:57 PDT 1994

The picture looks as if it is solarized, everything else appears to be working normally. The first time I registered (9/20/94) the picture was of good quality. I am running NCSA Mosaic on a 486 IBM PC. Michael Lee Starr Fermi National Accelerator Lab


From: Nicholas Molfetas
Date: Wed Sep 21 21:00:57 PDT 1994

What are the black areas? eg. X:653, Y:424 (I'm sure someone else has seen them, but the log is so )huge!!


From: Nicholas Molfetas
Date: Wed Sep 21 20:53:34 PDT 1994

*** I saw the formula paper-strip too (couldn't make much out of it though) *** There's also a ruler in the lower-middle of the quadrant (X: 510, Y:338)


From: Nicholas Molfetas
Date: Wed Sep 21 20:38:20 PDT 1994

Hey, that was too short!! *** I was looking at a label reading "Smithsonian" and was trying to blow sand out of something else that was written next to it but ran out of time... Great idea!


From: Matthew Tebbs
Date: Wed Sep 21 20:32:48 PDT 1994

What a great idea for an interactive use of the Web! Btw, there was a packet of 'Sweet Basil' and a strip of paper with a differential equation written on it. The GUI was very easy to use.


From: Rob McCool
Date: Wed Sep 21 16:53:01 PDT 1994

*** I found some kind of round thing, it looked like a can.


From: Santosh Mallesan
Date: Wed Sep 21 16:50:36 PDT 1994

Found a ***Photograph of a man's face and another ***object with letters H1 and champion on it. This is pretty neat!


From: Mark A. Brown
Date: Wed Sep 21 16:30:46 PDT 1994

Testing after restart


From: Scott Paisley
Date: Wed Sep 21 15:22:26 PDT 1994

Great idea, but how do I use the controls to order a pizza? I'll be using your system to demonstrate many great things that can be done in the Web... Thanks...


From: M.J. Uribe
Date: Wed Sep 21 15:17:06 PDT 1994

*** found a watch, a piece of paper that said "TURQUOISE was the principal stone used in jewelry" and a shiny metal object. this is a very interesting idea. I found out about this in the Newsweek article, 26 Sep issue.


From: Jay Biddle
Date: Wed Sep 21 15:01:25 PDT 1994

*** Found a chrome snap like used on dog chains. Not sure of size. Noo air needed to excavate.


From: peter hill
Date: Wed Sep 21 14:49:55 PDT 1994

It was over too soon. I was just about to make an astounding discovery.


From: peter hill
Date: Wed Sep 21 14:05:52 PDT 1994

I don't have any comments because I could hardly tell what the objects were. I'll try again. Thanks.


From: Rick Wilkerson
Date: Wed Sep 21 13:59:39 PDT 1994

** wrist watch time was 1:50. "Art Museum" ticket? position x586 y538


From: Michael Luna
Date: Wed Sep 21 13:51:38 PDT 1994

***I found a watch that read 2:51...


From: Erik van Bronkhorst
Date: Wed Sep 21 13:46:46 PDT 1994

Fun! I think 8 minutes would be more appropriate. Thanks!


From: Jay Howell
Date: Wed Sep 21 13:31:59 PDT 1994

***This is a great stress releaver. I can see this becoming very addictive.


From: ashok nanjundan
Date: Wed Sep 21 13:13:57 PDT 1994

***A peice of paper said "chrysocolla was used in jewelry and sandstone paintings. I found a scale boried half buried half way in the sand


From: David Peck
Date: Wed Sep 21 13:08:03 PDT 1994

Hi. I'm sorry, i didn't really get a chance to use the robot because something else came up, but I'll definately be back...


From: Richard Harbottle
Date: Wed Sep 21 12:59:55 PDT 1994

*** It was a wierd, but cool, controlling this thing thousands of miles away. From the time delays maybe just too far.


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Wed Sep 21 12:47:15 PDT 1994

Awwkkkk .... I buried it instead of uncovering it :(


From: Gary Stewart
Date: Wed Sep 21 12:26:00 PDT 1994

*** Interesting shiny object at 365,400 with the shape of *** a cylinder. Perhaps a coaster from a chair? I've put on a "virtual glove" and touched the real world... Thanks for the chance to test this new interface! -gary


From: Phoenix
Date: Wed Sep 21 12:08:15 PDT 1994

This experiment is very informative, especially since I am currently enrolled in a VR class at USL (University of SouthWestern Louisiana) and about to develop some platform to view and interact sgi inventor files with the Mosaic server. I was able to find a watch!!! HOURAY!!! I'm sure I'll practice and gather more ideas from YOUR great experiment to help me with my project. Thanks to all the people who made this experiment possible, it's really a thrill to control something from the swamps of louisiana.


From: Stan Thompson
Date: Wed Sep 21 11:27:55 PDT 1994

***I was distracted by an object (514,483) near the watch. It appears to be a toy crab. I was able to clear off a bit more of the sediment covering it, but a couple of times the blast of air seemed ineffectual. Next time I come here I think I will limit the scope of my investigation to the watch.


From: Edgar Tooley
Date: Wed Sep 21 11:25:17 PDT 1994

This is great!! saw the ***eyes picture, ***Matches and ***watch. Al those are in the center of the work area. Small movements in the arm change the view a lot. Let's get one of these on the moon or the bottom of the ocean.


From: Stan Thompson
Date: Wed Sep 21 11:12:11 PDT 1994

***Continued Excavation of the watch found at 562,532. Uncovered more of the face near the 3 o'clock region. I thought I saw something shiny near the watch to the bottom left of it, but I didn't have time to investigate. Hope- fully someone else will continue work on this area.


From: Tim Huff
Date: Wed Sep 21 11:07:39 PDT 1994

It was good to see something interesting on the WWW for a change. The only bad thing that I encountered was the speed of the operation. It seemed that most of the time was spent waiting for the screen to refresh. Also the display was not very good. I could barely see anything out of that camera. All in all though, I thought it was fun and I will have to do it again.


From: eatspam
Date: Wed Sep 21 11:01:41 PDT 1994

***I found an octopus!!! Happy Happy I also found that I couldn't register using NCSA Mosaic for Macintosh. I couldn't see the entry fields. But I had no problem with NCSA Mosaic on a Sparc. Jason Fiorillo eatspm@mit.edu


From: Larry Engholm
Date: Wed Sep 21 10:38:38 PDT 1994

*** It's a sheet of paper saying "A FREE GIFT FROM *** Smithsonian" on the bottom. Started uncovering more of the sheet.


From: Larry Engholm
Date: Wed Sep 21 10:30:05 PDT 1994

Thanks, I've entered a new age. *** Found paper saying "A FREE GIFT FROM" at (336, 334).


From: Richard G. Clegg
Date: Wed Sep 21 06:01:26 PDT 1994

*** Hmm... definitely a watch there - it seems to have a bit of paper under one of the hands.


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Wed Sep 21 05:51:41 PDT 1994

*** something at 612/443 *** hint for others: look at the ruler at about 550/340 to get an idea of scale *** z=170 is wide filed view ... zoom out to see what you are doing


From: Mike McFadden
Date: Wed Sep 21 05:46:15 PDT 1994

*** removed some more debris from a picture of an eye.


From: Ken Taylor
Date: Wed Sep 21 04:37:24 PDT 1994

Try the robot in


From: Jim Fergerson
Date: Wed Sep 21 04:04:50 PDT 1994

***There's a small globe at the bottom edge of the operating region, just to the right of the central arc that breaks up the bottom edge. I'm impressed!


From: Gwyn Evans
Date: Wed Sep 21 03:54:49 PDT 1994

*** Did some clearing off what appears to be an exhibit of Pyrite with the caption "Pyrite or fools gold was used as inlays in jewelry"


From: Urban Nilsson
Date: Wed Sep 21 03:47:31 PDT 1994

*** Trying to read the message on the paper I found


From: Richard G. Clegg
Date: Wed Sep 21 03:06:54 PDT 1994

Really pretty cool idea - I was very impressed. Unfortunately, the link to the UK is a bit slow which is a problem (But not one you can do much about).


From: Davor Pavisic
Date: Wed Sep 21 02:33:22 PDT 1994

Did not have enough time to play much with it since transfer time to Europe is quite long. I found this http site reading this weeks news week!!! I did have fun!!! *** I found a piece of paper with an integral of some kind *** integrating from 0 to T but could not blow away the rest *** of the dust which was on it!


From: Matisse Enzer
Date: Wed Sep 21 01:39:31 PDT 1994

***Found the watch at approx X583 Y514


From: ari
Date: Wed Sep 21 01:37:36 PDT 1994

*** This is COOL!


From: Martin Cholkowski
Date: Wed Sep 21 01:27:28 PDT 1994

I got the ***pice of paper.


From: Kai-Mikael Jää-Aro
Date: Wed Sep 21 01:12:06 PDT 1994

A piece of paper mentioning GRANITE. How hard it was to blow away the sand, was I at the bottom of a steep pit so it all rolled back again? Wide-FOV camera!


From: Josh Berman
Date: Wed Sep 21 01:08:45 PDT 1994

After looking for a while, I am curious as to how much maintenance is performed on a "daily" basis. Are objects re-covered or moved, or has the "sandbox" stayed the same since day one? Advice? Can the page be changed so we can enter X & Y coords.? I ask because we can "log" positions of interesting stuff, but it's hard to find it quickly enough to look further. Thanks, Josh Berman jberman@hmc.edu


From: Kheong Chee
Date: Wed Sep 21 01:01:17 PDT 1994

good project idea! link was too slow though


From: Martin Cholkowski
Date: Wed Sep 21 00:56:19 PDT 1994

The 5 minutes is not enough on a slow link!


From: Horst F. Schaude
Date: Wed Sep 21 00:25:08 PDT 1994

*** I wonder if i find some cigarettes after finding the matches


From: Unknown Token
Date: Wed Sep 21 00:18:16 PDT 1994

Great idea! Great program. Now let's play chess with it.


From: P. E. Costello
Date: Wed Sep 21 00:16:23 PDT 1994

There's a watch at 562 - 532 - and a piece of paper about QUARTZ is under the watch and watch band. That's roughly in the center of the excavation area. The watch works and shows Pacific time. It was midnight when I uncovered the right side.


From: Clem Taylor
Date: Tue Sep 20 23:46:40 PDT 1994

Wow, this is really impressive. I think I will continue playing...


From: P. E. Costello
Date: Tue Sep 20 23:34:34 PDT 1994

Yes the burst is working, I answered it myself!


From: P. E. Costello
Date: Tue Sep 20 23:27:55 PDT 1994

Is the air burst working tonight? 9/21/94 @ 2:25AM EDT


From: Scott Yow
Date: Tue Sep 20 23:23:02 PDT 1994

I am very impressed with the creativity and work that went into implementing this


From: roy
Date: Tue Sep 20 23:07:32 PDT 1994

This is really cool! We should extend this concept to gaming over the net.


From: David Mischel
Date: Tue Sep 20 22:27:12 PDT 1994

***In position x=261, y=374, I found a piece of paper with a differential equation writen on it. I do not know what this\ equation signified. I think you should have written one of those fortune cookie messages instead; more people would have understood you. The program is really groovy!!!


From: Unknown Token
Date: Tue Sep 20 22:11:03 PDT 1994

*** hand-cuffs, i think..!!! *** some pamphlet *** porcelain cup


From: anhsoo gaur
Date: Tue Sep 20 22:06:21 PDT 1994

*** hand-cuffs *** some pamphlet *** porcelain cup


From: anhsoo gaur
Date: Tue Sep 20 21:59:37 PDT 1994

***inter-alia, found a porcelain cup containing a pamphlet, which had the meaning of mosaic written on it. ( by the way was enlightened to know that mosaic was latin in origin, i had thought that it was norse)


From: anhsoo gaur
Date: Tue Sep 20 21:46:16 PDT 1994

am a bit confused about movement in the Z-plane


From: Rob McCool
Date: Tue Sep 20 21:17:57 PDT 1994

*** Found some silver thing. Don't know what it was. Seems like compressed air is low, or something. Oh well back to work I guess. --Rob


From: Evan Noynaert
Date: Tue Sep 20 20:34:35 PDT 1994

**Some type of object with a loop of string, possibly a wrist strap


From: Evan Noynaert
Date: Tue Sep 20 20:20:35 PDT 1994

***I found a small statue of a man's head. It had previously been partially uncovered. I was trying to clear the hairline when energy ran out.


From: Glenn Faden
Date: Tue Sep 20 20:17:49 PDT 1994

We both played this time. ***We found hebrew writing and wefound a description of an electronic part, catalog # DCTX-22.


From: chas redmond
Date: Tue Sep 20 19:58:31 PDT 1994

my son says I needed only 20 more seconds - there is this delay problem running at 14.4 as opposed to 56 or faster, but then this is the only robot on the net. chas


From: Glenn Faden
Date: Tue Sep 20 19:46:57 PDT 1994

My son played this time. His name is Jeffrey. ***He found a piece of paper and he thinks it says "Page 39".


From: Glenn Faden
Date: Tue Sep 20 19:24:57 PDT 1994

Thanks for letting us search for artifacts. It was a most unusual experience. ***We saw a dark rod but we couldn't determine exactly what it was because our time ran out. My son thougt he saw somthing shiny, but we passed it. --Glenn


From: Adam Mayer
Date: Tue Sep 20 18:28:10 PDT 1994

Bizzarre, refreshing. Thanks for making the web worth the bandwidth. *** I found some artifacts previously uncovered-- a mannakin's head, a globe; obviously people concerned with learning-- or just spherical things. I uncovered the top half of something that looks like a belt buckle at the end of a pole; hopefully someone will finish excavating it.


From: Owen Long
Date: Tue Sep 20 17:54:22 PDT 1994

I like it.


From: Anawat Chankhunthod
Date: Tue Sep 20 17:49:59 PDT 1994

I'm so impressed. Color camera might make it even greater.


From: ali sant
Date: Tue Sep 20 17:43:26 PDT 1994

oh boy oh boy oh boy wow


From: Albert Zvara
Date: Tue Sep 20 17:25:42 PDT 1994

X:666 Y:440 Has something which appears to be something other than sand (finally!), will explore it..looks like a dish of some sort?


From: Ashish Kolli
Date: Tue Sep 20 17:04:56 PDT 1994

*** An excellent demo. I wish I could work on this!!!


From: Eddie Fein
Date: Tue Sep 20 15:31:41 PDT 1994

*** Looks like a tablet with writing on it at x:749 y:338 z:170


From: Erik Gilbert
Date: Tue Sep 20 15:11:24 PDT 1994

What a cool demo! *** I found some kind of swivel, but I didn't dig anything up.


From: Jason Connelly
Date: Tue Sep 20 14:57:15 PDT 1994

Cool idea. Very ingenious thought to allow users on the net to interact with the physical world. Next thing you know, we will be able to smack letterman from the privacy of our own home.


From: Michael Van Norman
Date: Tue Sep 20 14:39:41 PDT 1994

Very impressive WWW application! Good job!


From: pete bonasso
Date: Tue Sep 20 14:24:17 PDT 1994

Nice piece of work. A color camera would help immensely.


From: Reboot
Date: Tue Sep 20 14:12:16 PDT 1994

cool


From: Dave
Date: Tue Sep 20 13:51:48 PDT 1994

Better than 'Cats'!


From: Comet
Date: Tue Sep 20 13:44:55 PDT 1994

*** 75,328,170 some writings (a book?) *** 526,552,170 power supply *** 561,527,170 writwatch *** 827,5x472 human (827,472) Operator note: Raise camera for wider field of view. Lower camera to shoot blast of air.


From: Scott Paisley
Date: Tue Sep 20 13:08:19 PDT 1994

This is very cool. I would be interested in knowing what is happening here. Is this a real robot I'm operation, or are you doing some massive calculations on images. Eitherway, it's very cool. Great idea... CHeers, -Scott Paisley


From: David Lee
Date: Tue Sep 20 13:01:11 PDT 1994

COOOOOLLLLL!!!!!


From: Doug Doyle
Date: Tue Sep 20 12:57:57 PDT 1994

Bingo! You have nailed a new kind of on-line entertainment. Congratulations, hope you can get it to market as well!


From: Ethan Haslett
Date: Tue Sep 20 12:41:11 PDT 1994

Very nice. Somewhat similar to a research project that I am going to start working on. Thanks!


From: Bob Sandstrom
Date: Tue Sep 20 12:22:38 PDT 1994

I like it. Wait till my son hears that I operated a robot! Wow!!


From: David DeMers
Date: Tue Sep 20 12:18:26 PDT 1994

Way cool; good demo of what can be done with the web. I'd like to get an Internet bridge server onto the web someday.


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Tue Sep 20 11:34:41 PDT 1994

*** places to look: 468/508 battery, 129/404 tourist guide?


From: David Lee
Date: Tue Sep 20 10:54:31 PDT 1994

OUTSTANDING WORK! Thanks for the chance to operate your robot! David


From: Jim Poling
Date: Tue Sep 20 10:27:04 PDT 1994

How in the world do you know where the user clicked inside of the image? Great toy!


From: Jim Poling
Date: Tue Sep 20 10:15:43 PDT 1994

This is a great tool for show k-12 kids the value of telecomunications. Thanks!


From: John Stallings
Date: Tue Sep 20 10:10:02 PDT 1994

*** Interesting....


From: Sean Ahern
Date: Tue Sep 20 09:45:28 PDT 1994

Completely cleared off the face of the watch. 'Twas hard; it was fairly well buried. I was also surprised to find the robot unmanned at 9:40 Pacific Time. Hm.


From: Barry Rosen
Date: Tue Sep 20 09:11:03 PDT 1994

*** Easy to operate interface - very short learning curve. Found paper with Mosaic definition at 991,300


From: Haavar Larsen
Date: Tue Sep 20 08:17:59 PDT 1994

Very special feeling to sit in Norway and controll a robot in US! :) A bit slow link though...


From: Ravi Sreekantappa
Date: Tue Sep 20 07:41:33 PDT 1994

*** Interesting interactive site for robot enthusiasts I found a wooder ruler aptly marked 'ruler' (I would'nt have known !!) at X=556, Y=326 & Z= 170, very close to the inner perimeter of the robot's envelope. Will visit again. Cheers!!


From: Eric Lambert
Date: Tue Sep 20 07:27:14 PDT 1994

It's a bit difficult to make out what is seen. Most of this is, for me, because the viewing area is too small. There is not enough visual context. However, this is a very interesting project and a very well implimented Mosaic site. Thanks. -Eric Lambert


From: Martin Corley
Date: Tue Sep 20 06:37:09 PDT 1994

Short time to explore a great interface. Looking forward to trying again!


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Tue Sep 20 06:19:58 PDT 1994

Found cup with def of mosaic ... anachronism?


From: John P. Oliver
Date: Tue Sep 20 06:14:08 PDT 1994

Amazing demo of the web ... More fun than OUTPOST


From: Steve Baumann
Date: Tue Sep 20 05:56:36 PDT 1994

*** we got a good blast of air to clear off the diamond safety matches


From: Steve Baumann
Date: Tue Sep 20 05:50:28 PDT 1994

*** found a note that said "agate chips were used for spears and arrows"


From: Steve Baumann
Date: Tue Sep 20 05:44:33 PDT 1994

*** PRETTY cool. I found a double-handled lantern


From: lynne
Date: Tue Sep 20 04:28:23 PDT 1994

Fun, this is what I like about the Web, real interaction with distant objects, not more and more text! This is what education should be about, but I didnt find anything, Can i have more clues :-} Lynne


From: Chris
Date: Tue Sep 20 04:00:05 PDT 1994

Good stuff, But where did the time go?! Cheers!


From: James E. (Jed) Donnelley (currently in Stuttgart <Germany)>
Date: Tue Sep 20 02:32:37 PDT 1994

***Well, I found a watch, a technical note that contained comments about a battery, some text about chips were ... arrows. With so little information, it would be interesting to try to put together a picture of the whole area from the operator comments. --Jed


From: Mattias Haern
Date: Tue Sep 20 02:23:05 PDT 1994

Fun idea! *** Found a watch which said 2:20 AM (it appeared to be functional). Position: (574, 506)


From: <>
Date: Tue Sep 20 02:11:57 PDT 1994

***Well, I found a watch, a technical note that contained comments about a battery, some text about chips were ... arrows. With so little information, it would be interesting to try to put together a picture of the whole area from the operator comments. --Jed


From: Richard M. Ashton
Date: Tue Sep 20 01:58:05 PDT 1994

Ho hummmm. Didn't find much in the very short time perioed allowed.......


From: James E. (Jed) Donnelley (currently in Stuttgart <Germany)>
Date: Tue Sep 20 01:35:36 PDT 1994

It is tough operating the arm from over here in Germany during the work day. I'll have to come in early (VERY early U.S. time) and give it a try. Today I've only gotten in about 3-4 movements during a turn due to slow updating of my returned images. Still, it is enough to convey the idea. Thanks again... --Jed


From: James E. (Jed) Donnelley (currently in Stuttgart <Germany)>
Date: Tue Sep 20 01:25:57 PDT 1994

Pretty interesting. It must be fun to watch people move the arm around and blow that stuff (polystyrene?). I would like to see it sometime. How can I find out where this are is really? Anyway, a chance to plug my telecom pages (One Stop Shopping for info about the InfoBahn): Telecommunication pages Jed Donnelley from the LLNL Advanced Telecommunications Program. Thanks for putting up such a fun demonstration (I guess Wired helped sponsor?) --Jed (jed@llnl.gov - currently on sabbatical in Stuttgart, Germany)


From: Alonso Favela
Date: Mon Sep 19 23:49:45 PDT 1994

This is cool


From: Alonso Favela
Date: Mon Sep 19 23:46:19 PDT 1994

This is cool. I saw it as the "Server of the Week" in PCWEEK magazine and thought I'd give it a try!


From: Kari Komminaho
Date: Mon Sep 19 23:20:29 PDT 1994

Quite interesting, as I tried this for the first time ... Background strory is what ?


From: James Crawford
Date: Mon Sep 19 20:55:38 PDT 1994

This is an amazing demonstration of telepresence. My only wish is that I had a faster connection! Maybe when that T1 connection is in place... Thanks!


From: Jonathan
Date: Mon Sep 19 20:38:10 PDT 1994

I'm impressed. Is there an address to which I might "submit" objects to be placed in the next drop on Mercury, so that other, future civilizations might detect them and learn about us thereof? Many thanks, you've restored my faith in the web. Jonathan. jmayer@umich.edu


From: Tooru Hamada
Date: Mon Sep 19 20:14:31 PDT 1994

Very nice!!
But,I think it is not enough time to enjoy it for me , not only me but everybody in Japan.

I'm thinking to some project.

hama @nanzan-u.ac.jp
 

From: Tomohisa Shibayama
Date: Mon Sep 19 19:26:46 PDT 1994

Hi,How are you. I enjoyed your program. But , I am poor at English, so it takes long time to get the answer. And because it also takes long time to access your host , the time to operate the robot is little. Anyway I am interested in your project. Scince now, I will access your host. Last, excuse me , if I will mistake grammer or words in English. Tomohisa Shibayama


From: Rob McCool
Date: Mon Sep 19 18:32:19 PDT 1994

*** I'm trying to figure out what this thing that looks like a pot is.


From: Rob McCool
Date: Mon Sep 19 18:21:40 PDT 1994

I found some weird bust thing. Don't know who it was. Very cool.


From: Comet
Date: Mon Sep 19 18:07:49 PDT 1994

Mosaic definition found at 982,288


From: tim edwards
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:52:22 PDT 1994



From: j foss
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:47:38 PDT 1994

Very nicely done. It must be interesting to view from your end!


From: Landon Noll
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:41:50 PDT 1994

I suggest that you show the Email address of the current operator. It would also be nice if the current operator could view the operator queue.


From: Jim Phillips
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:37:13 PDT 1994

Great idea. A quick comment about the UI; I didn't figure out that I needed to re-register to operate after waiting in queue (probably a limitation of the browser but should be hinted somewhere). Good work! I can't wait to see your WWW tele-operated roof camera so we can pan around the USC campus and check out that wonderful LA weather ;-)


From: Robert Gooch
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:37:11 PDT 1994

***bell ***matchbook ***mosaic-dictionary entry I am impressed. :-) That is quite a nice diversion from the "normal" internet workings. Thanks for the drive, I'll be back. :-) R. Gooch


From: Landon Noll
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:26:06 PDT 1994

Very nice application!


From: Igor Chechelnitsky
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:18:18 PDT 1994

Thanks again!


From: Hal Rager
Date: Mon Sep 19 17:00:29 PDT 1994

no objects were discovered during this session


From: Philip Winston
Date: Mon Sep 19 16:20:47 PDT 1994

Well done and a neat idea. THEN IT FREAKED OUT and it pulled down 1.4 megs of "inlined image data" twice in a row, without displaying anything. I don't know what went wrong.


From: Edward Cardinal
Date: Mon Sep 19 16:10:17 PDT 1994

We found an integral equation, but didn't have enough time to uncover it all. VERY cool demonstration of net capabilities, though.


From: Ted Morris
Date: Mon Sep 19 15:26:17 PDT 1994

nifty. cute. and very cool. loved the interface, concept, etc. had a hard time building complete mental picture of site. perhaps use a camera with wider field of view?


From: Eric Sharakan
Date: Mon Sep 19 15:19:39 PDT 1994

Five minutes goes by awfully fast when you're driving, but awfully slow while you're waiting your turn. ***found a partially covered piece of paper with some writing on it, but ran out of time before I could uncover more of it.


From: todd mcchurch
Date: Mon Sep 19 15:03:16 PDT 1994

real cool idea.


From: Buddy
Date: Mon Sep 19 14:19:15 PDT 1994

Go Mosaic for Windows crashed twice. Still managed to find a paper.


From: Buddy
Date: Mon Sep 19 14:03:01 PDT 1994

cool!


From: tim edwards
Date: Mon Sep 19 13:59:15 PDT 1994

Very Cool! Didnt find much tho...first time and all


From: Rainer Kleinrensing
Date: Mon Sep 19 13:52:28 PDT 1994

no further discoveries since the speed of connection was very slow - but perhaps Im luckier tomorrow


From: Mario Errico
Date: Mon Sep 19 13:31:03 PDT 1994

Me again!


From: Eric Paulos
Date: Mon Sep 19 12:59:39 PDT 1994

MORE TIME KEN!!!!!! I timed my last connection at it was for less than 3 1/2 minutes. See you this Friday... -eric


From: J. B. Levin
Date: Mon Sep 19 12:53:55 PDT 1994

This is an interesting experiment. THx for making it available. /JBL


From: Jeff A. Webb
Date: Mon Sep 19 12:26:37 PDT 1994

Great! I started to unearth something, maybe someone will finissh it!


From: Aaron Price
Date: Mon Sep 19 12:21:06 PDT 1994

This is very impressive, although I only had control for a few seconds before it terminated my session. good job.


From: Graham Johnson
Date: Mon Sep 19 12:16:19 PDT 1994

I can't believe my AI prof is actually giving me extra credit for playing with this...


From: Francesco
Date: Mon Sep 19 12:08:36 PDT 1994

I really think it's a great job, but 5 min are a very short time to operate in a profit way the robot. I suggest to size this time according to the waiting list. --Francesco Caruso Data Base Research Group Bellcore.


From: Gene Fowler
Date: Mon Sep 19 12:07:49 PDT 1994

previous session got dropped, found *** pyrite card *** squid on top of *** agate card *** matchbook air just affects the sand, not other heavy object


From: Gene Fowler
Date: Mon Sep 19 11:46:03 PDT 1994

First time user, ran out of time before finding anything, network was slow


From: Chris Adaline
Date: Mon Sep 19 11:34:55 PDT 1994

Found a scrap of paper about sandstone at x=484 y=502


From: Jay Selley
Date: Mon Sep 19 10:54:25 PDT 1994

Very neat, but a bit slow from here. ***Found a bit of paper with a definition of quartz on it, ***something that looks like a crab, and ***something burried, but then my time ran out.


From: Karl Heinz Kremer
Date: Mon Sep 19 10:18:22 PDT 1994

*** found OBSEDIAN definition on paper *** and a ruler - cool.


From: Joe Cunningham
Date: Mon Sep 19 09:18:35 PDT 1994

Raise camera on both up and down positions. Pretty cool, though!!


From: Mario Errico
Date: Mon Sep 19 09:11:26 PDT 1994

Hello there! This is my fourth (fifth?) turn as Operator: very nice! I'd like to learn more about the project. I have read the on-line paper: Is there any other on-line document on the workings of your systme (particularly how to set up a Mosaic page) ? Thanks a lot Mario


From: Brian Ottinger <ottinger.pgh.wec.com>
Date: Mon Sep 19 05:45:51 PDT 1994

Very slick. It would be interesting to see who is watching and maybe have some interaction with them. Watchers might be able to make suggestions on the fly about what the operator should do. Thanks.


From: Karl Heinz Kremer
Date: Mon Sep 19 04:58:39 PDT 1994

Unfortunately I haven't discovered anything. I'll try again later.


From: Philip J Naylor
Date: Mon Sep 19 04:24:23 PDT 1994

Ooops !
Please ignore the personal link on my previous post - it doesn't work, I missed out some stuff.

Philip


From: Philip J Naylor
Date: Mon Sep 19 04:06:24 PDT 1994

I never thought I'd enjoy scrabbling around in a tray of cat litter ! Didn't find anything though - how deep are things buried ? Should one blast reveal stuff, or should one dig a bit ? Philip


From: William Campbell
Date: Mon Sep 19 00:42:03 PDT 1994

This is cool... ***A SMITHSONIAN logo


From: David Newman
Date: Mon Sep 19 00:23:29 PDT 1994

Very nice. ***I found a Sweet Basil sign, and a typewritten card with something about noise and a rock. The quiz was a nice use of the web as CBT. Even nicer that it was open-book. A little slow to get the graphics at 14.4, though.


From: Mark Costlow
Date: Sun Sep 18 23:35:37 PDT 1994

***Found a piece of paper with a definition of CHRYSOCOLLA. Very cool demonstration!