5930 Middle Fiskville Rd., Austin, TX 78752
Presenter:
Peter Hottenstein, PMP
Manager, Distributed Systems Section
Southwest Research Institute
Office: 210.522.3731
Mobile: 210.833.2300
email: Pete.Hottenstein@swri.org
www.tspi.swri.org
Have you ever needed to model and animate a
dozen people leaving an elevator? Or a thousand people leaving a football game?
Or a typical lunchtime crowd in downtown Austin? Or an emergency evacuation of a
school? Or blood cells racing down an artery or racing down a freeway? Don't
worry, help is on the way.
Peter Hottenstein from Southwest Research
Institute in San Antonio on the SwRI project on Training, Simulation and
Performance Improvement. The product which he will discuss at our meeting is
The MAICE StationTM (Modeling of Aggregates of
Individuals and Crowd Evaluation Station), a prototype platform for developing, analyzing, and
researching the behaviors and actions of aggregates of hundreds, or thousands of
individuals. The independent individuals are modeled simply and directly from
behavior parameters. The individuals can communicate between themselves, act on
the environment, act on other individuals and make decisions. The user can run,
pause, fast forward, single step or slow down the scenario executions speed.
Features allow the user to analyze multiple timelines, evaluate the effects of
changes in deployment of resources, and study variations in behavior.
Peter and his associates, Tom Glass and Eric Peterson, are evaluating the feasibility of making MAICETM a plug-in for 3ds Max and/or Maya.
It appears to me that in addition to the battlefield and security applications for which they have developed this system, there are commercial possibilities for building and city planning, for training and professional development and for entertainment applications such as movies and games.
After the MAICETM presentation there will be a panel discussion of MAICETM and other Crowd Systems. Matt Scibilia of Critical Mass Interactive, Inc. will chair the discussion.
History of Southwest Research Institute The SwRI staff conducts fundamental and applied research in almost two million square feet of laboratories, workshops, and offices in San Antonio. SwRI specializes in the creation and transfer of technology in engineering and the physical sciences. With a staff of more than 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support personnel, they conduct nearly 2,000 nationally and internationally sponsored projects each year.
Here is the drill-down from SwRI to MAICETM to show you how it fits into their mission.
Training, Simulation & Performance Improvement Featured Projects
Modeling of Aggregates of Individuals and Crowd Evaluation (MAICETM) Station