Georgia Institute of Technology

Apr 3, 2020

The world is on lockdown right now, and we’re all searching for new ways to occupy our time inside. With only so many times you can re-watch The Office (oh, who are we kidding – maybe just one more time through…), we thought it would be fun to share some of the interactive tools from our own researchers’ workshops.

Below, you’ll find just a couple of the tools you can interact with online, giving you opportunities from learning how to code to creating art. But this is only just a start – we’d love to hear from you.

If you’re a Georgia Tech student or faculty member, submit your interactive tools to communications officer David Mitchell at david.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu. We’ll add to the list, share with our audience, and help everyone find some enjoyment during a difficult time.

Create Your Own Generative Art Pieces – submitted by Devi Parikh

Looking for a new piece of art for your wall? With this tool, you can flex your creative muscles. Choose a style, adjust the values, colors, and properties, and generate a piece that would fit in nicely in your home.

This work demonstrates a broader area of research into machine learning and creativity. The first piece of AI-generated art to go to auction sold for $432,500 in 2018.

LINK: https://cc.gatech.edu/~parikh/art.html

Interact with Visual Chatbot – submitted by Devi Parikh

Parikh’s lab is doing research in an area called visual question answering. Developed in 2017, this demo allows you to upload an image and have a conversation with a chatbot about it. Pick out an image you’ve taken or just grab one from the web and ask questions to see just how quickly and accurately this AI can perform the task. This research is key to developing agents that can reason about specific tasks in the real world.

LINK: http://demo-visualdialog.cloudcv.org/

Learn to Code Using EarSketch and TunePad – submitted by Brian Magerko

Have you been dying to learn how to code? There’s no time like the present. Without the benefit of a classroom setting to learn all the ins and outs, you might find a usable tool like EarSketch beneficial. EarSketch uses music to guide the learner. With sounds from the EarSketch library or your own uploads, along with Python or JavaScript to code, you can produce quality music online.

Like EarSketch, TunePad – developed in collaboration with Northwestern University – is a tool for creating music using the Python programming language. No knowledge in music or coding is required to get started. Get those musical juices flowing, and start creating.

LINK: earsketch.gatech.edu

Learn About Grasping Tasks Using this Online Tool – submitted by Samarth Brahmbhatt

This tool allows people to interactively explore how we grasp household objects. So, why is this important? Grasping is a key capability in the development of household robotics. In order to train robots how to grab and use items in the house, we need to identify the most efficient approach. Explore this tool, which includes items from an apple to a doorknob to a video game controller.

LINK: https://contactdb.cc.gatech.edu/contactdb_explorer.html