FPS thrill

At the Thrill Lab, volunteers will be asked to try several fairground rides while hooked up to equipment that tracks their emotional state. This includes an accelerometer that measures the G-force their body is subjected to and an ECG monitor that keeps track of their heart rate. In addition, a helmet-mounted camera will film their facial expressions as they ride the machine. Information will be beamed in real time to a computer and the measurements will be reproduced on several public displays. Besides, physiologists and psychologists will discuss how thrill, anticipation and fear are affecting them. "Eventually we hope to incorporate an adaptive element, to allow rides and computer games to react in real time according to the thrill levels being experienced," explained Walker.

tennis & stats

"An avid tennis fan, Vecer developed the idea for a new program while watching the Wimbledon tournament. During the broadcast Vecer found himself at odds with the television commentators' analyses. The match points deemed pivotal by the sportscasters made little sense from Vecer's statistical perspective. To confirm his intuition, Vecer developed a statistical model capable of measuring the importance of individual points in predicting the outcome of a game, set and match. As the game progressed, the model could instantly recalculate the chances of an outcome with each rally."

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Ziehier Bastiaan A.R. van D. — read on