Tag Archives: Royal Alcázar

integration, project

Guarded tour

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At five in the afternoon the Royal Alcázar closes its gates for new visitors for the day. The shop closes and the FROG makes its last tour of the day. This is a quiet time to test the latest updates and enhancements.

The security guards make their way from the entrance through the Alcázar making sure that everyone can find the exit. And sometimes, as on this day, they stop to watch the FROG for a moment.

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One FROG, four security guards
One FROG, four security guards
project

Pomegranates or ‘granadas’

Pots at the entrance
Pots at the entrance

There are pomegranates everywhere in the Royal Alcázar in Seville: in pots, in the gardens, on tiles and on tapestries.

In the Vault room the FROG robot stops for a short interactive quiz with the visitors. The answer to one of the questions should actually be ‘pomegranates’ …

Shield on tiles

Today, Javier told us that the pommegranate is the heraldic device for Granada. This device is seen in two parties of the shield on the tile above.

This close-up of the photo at the top shows a tiny pommegranate in the same stage – bursting open to reveal its seeds.

Ripe to bursting
Ripe to bursting

 

And here you can see the same thing on another tile picture.

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Here the fruits look perfect.

Border of a tapestry
Border of a tapestry with pomegranates

 

The fruit seen below is on a larger plant in the gardens.

A fruit
A fruit
The whole plant
The whole plant

This might just be one as well – it is on a tile set into a path in the gardens.

Is this a stylised pomegranate?
Is this a stylised pomegranate?

By the way, we didn’t change the answer to the quiz question – so, I’m afraid this post won’t help you get it right.

presentation, project, reviews

Final Review in Seville

The FROG consortium will be at the Royal Alcázar in Seville from 17 till 21 November 2014.

We have been busy finishing our reports and now the EU representative and two independent reviewers (both researchers with a lot of experience with robots) will come to see if we have done our work properly.

This is a very serious event – somewhere between a tough audit and an excellent masterclass for the researchers.

FROG will be put through its paces … Looking for interested visitors!

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dissemination, press, project

Press event for FROG – 24 September 2014

Today FROG is the centre of attention at the Royal Alcázar in Seville!

FROG enjoying the limelight at the Royal Alcázar in Seville
FROG enjoying the limelight at the Royal Alcázar in Seville

All camera’s and microphones were turned on FROG…

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in the Vault Room … from behind FROG …

 

… and in the Tapestry Room.
… from behind the cameras.

The event was started with short presentations by Vicente C. Guzmán Fluja the Rector of Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville,  and FROG’s own Luis Merino Cabañas also from UPO, and Vanessa Evers, coordinator of this EU project representing the University of Amsterdam.

Rector of UPO opens the event
Rector of UPO opens the event

FROG then took everyone on a short tour of the Alcázar and demonstrated his capabilities. Journalists from all media were in the party, both local and national!

Back in the on-site lab, Luis Merino and Fernando Caballero were interviewed for TV and radio.

 

Interview in the lab
Luis and FROG were interviewed in the lab

 

This afternoon there will be a workshop for a small group of official tour guides from the Royal Alcázar and one from the Lisbon Zoo.

Coverage here 

project

The rain in Spain…

Unfortunately, the rain in Spain doesn’t always stay on the plain. Today we had plenty of it at the Royal Alcázar and here we have a FROG that doesn’t like getting too wet.

Outside the lab - 21 September 2014
Outside the lab – 21 September 2014
photo
Fine yellow sand in the gardens

In spite of all of the visitors the staff keep the halls and patios amazingly clean. There is a lot of loose yellow sand in the gardens and, of course, this gets washed and walked everywhere.

Wet but pretty, garden path
Wet but pretty, garden path
Blossom rained down from the trees
Blossom rained down from the trees

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Part of the tour route
Part of the tour route

 

(next day) Path close to the lab and close to the gardens - amazingly little sand
(next day) Path close to the lab and close to the gardens – amazingly little sand
demos, experiments, integration, meetings, project

FROG’s Wizard-of-Oz web interface

Yesterday, while the FROG was powered-down for hardware enhancements, Randy Klaassen and Jan Kolkmeier from the University of Twente added some features to their FROG Wizard-of-Oz web interface.

They designed and implemented this web interface to control not only the output of specific AR content but also to trigger chosen steps from the State Machine.

This interface is not used for the FROG tour when the robot is running autonomously but is a splendid tool for experiments or testing as it can trigger specific states or abilities. It can also be used to keep the FROG in action in the case f really bad weather as it can be used to run just the indoor parts of the robot mission.

FROG's WOZ web interface runs on any device - here on a laptop, a notepad and a smartphone.
FROG’s WOZ web interface runs on any device – here on a laptop, a notepad and a smartphone.

 

Earlier that had made a quick round of the Alcázar and effectuated some quick fixes in their coding for “Ripples through Europe” and “The toilets are NOT over there!“