Harry Potter's Magic Hat becomes alive

 

Students from the University of J'pura won the first place-Robotic Competition in Spain

  

In the world-famous film Harry Potter, the main character Harry was wearing the magic hat which was speaking. A similar Magic Hat has been created by a group from Computer Science at the Faculty of Applied Science of the University of Jayawardenapura, Which has won the first place for the robotic competition held in Madrid, Spain.

80 competitors from famous Universities in the world, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Harvard University etc,  had presented their novel ideas, but the group comprising Adhisha Gammanpila, Asela Wijesinghe, Tehani Wanniarachchi, Viraji Amarajeewa and Dovini Jayasinghe, the undergraduates had been able to blossom their Magic Hat up among compactors remarkable. The project of Magic Hat was supervised by Dr Ravindra De Silva, Senior Lecturer at Computer Science, Faculty of Applied Science.

How does the idea come?

The students had to perform a practical project as a group according to the lesson of 'Human-Robot Introduction' conducted by Dr Ravindra. The students had needed to think of a novel idea at an international level. Afterwards, the idea resolutely became to create the Magic Hat. The group studied and heard the sorting movements of the hat by mean of video graphic actions.

How it works

Firstly, they had made structure including two motors to sort the hat, which was similar to Harry Potter. Thereafter the group had set up to install the speakers and special sensors which would be able to monitor wearer's brain signals and interact with people in and around the user. The high-quality cameras helped to recognize the person's actions. Specially made voice patterns that were created with the help of the mathematic system which allows the hat to speak.     

Especially for Autism patients

When an autism patient is wearing the hat, brain signal detections can be recognized. The magic that makes user interact with people. For example, it makes what kind of activity we should do in each situation. The team intends to test it clinically in collaboration with an Autism clinic at the Hospital and thereafter introduce it to the market.

The team is also grateful to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sampath Amaratunge, the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Prof. Laleen Karunanayake, the Head of the Department of Computer Science, Mr Ananda Gamini and Mr Udaka Manawadu who is a research assistant at the Computer Science laboratory along with all the members of the academic and non-academic staff and all their fellows.