A team of 2 developers from Sentient Computing took part in the Unearthed Hackathon in Perth over the weekend of 02/05/14. With only 2 days available, they tackled the challenge to provide a simulation solution to assist mines in managing a network of linked conveyor belts in a port stockyard. The goal was to be able to track and manage the dependencies between conveyors, control the traffic, and coordinate maintenance and downtime issues.
Using our MVX technology along with existing conveyor, and equipment assets, they were able to create an interactive 3D simulation of the actual stockyard. The application is linked to phone and mobile devices so that a person on site can navigate to where a problem is, and remote users who can see exactly what they are referring to. Due to time constraints, they were only partially able to implement the connection to the underlying network and database. However, they were able to demonstrate the ability to select and modify control settings on the conveyors using the simulation tool.
There were rounds of applause during the presentation, as people saw how easy it is to navigate through the virtual mine site and how accurately the equipment and stockyard are depicted. The value of being able explore the true environment, as opposed to relying on 2D schematics, had enormous appeal.
The opportunity to rapidly prototype and deploy a real-world solution made for a challenging and fun weekend. It was good to interact with other teams who work with different technologies and to network with local talent.
Sentient Computing and Woodside Energy were recently announced the Platinum Award winners in the Game or Simulation category of the 2013 LearnX Impact Awards. The purpose of the LearnX awards program is to:
Our winning submission was our Heat Stress training module, developed for Woodside Energy. The training module was set in a 3D virtual environment which realistically represented the Pilbara region where Woodside’s Browse operations were located, and was designed to interactively and immersively teach users about heat stress, including: the symptoms to look out for, ways to prevent heat stress, and the appropriate procedures to follow in emergency scenarios.
The training module has since been completed by approximately 700 Browse employees and contractors, over 86% of which rated their experience as good, very good or excellent.
We would like to thank everyone from Sentient, Woodside and Torq who were involved with both the development of the module and the submission entry, for their valuable contributions towards this award.
We went. We Struggled. We Conquered!
Bright and early on Saturday morning, a group of the Sentient team braved the cold and lack of sleep, to drive to the Northam Army Training Camp where we battled through the cross country Warrior Dash obstacle course. After arriving and picking up our race kits which consisted of timing chips, number bibs and viking hats, we quickly got into our race gear and headed to the starting line. The race started with an uphill climb to the first obstacle of mud trenches, needing to crawl through it with barbed wire inches above our heads!!! 11 more obstacles followed, a mixture of jumping flaming coals, climbing vertical walls, swimming through muddy trenches and jumping hay bales. The dash distance was 5kms all up and the team finished a little spread out but everyone did an awesome job and completed every obstacle!
After accepting our medals at the finish line and a quick & cold wash down with a hose, we grabbed Doug’s wallet and headed for the bar and food stalls. They had live music to listen to and giant turkey legs to wolf down. I think we earned it!
A few cuts and bruises became apparent after a proper wash at home, but we all came out unscathed and proud!
Next year we’ll get the whole team doing it, start training people! 
– Leonie
On Friday the 10th May, Sentient Computing received our very own Oculus Rift kit. This was met with much enthusiasm, excitement and more than one exclamation of “WHOA!”
A bit of back story.
In August of 2012, OculusVR launched a crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter to fund the creation of the Oculus Rift, a Virtual Reality headset aiming to be both effective with its immersion, and affordable to the general public. Within a few hours, the Rift blew past its goal of $250,000, to reach an incredible $2.4 million at the close of the campaign 30 days later, nine times their initial target.
Skip forward 8 months, and the developer versions of the Rift begin shipping; a plethora of videos, pictures and demos appeared over the following weeks as eager devs got their hands on their very own Rift – and now Sentient has joined them.
The experience with the Rift is amazing; so amazing in fact, that it’s very difficult to understand what it’s like without experiencing it for yourself. We’ve all seen graphical fidelity improving over the years – greater numbers of polygons higher definition textures – but for all the beauty to be found in the digital landscape, we continue to watch it through a porthole, the video screen providing just a small window into those worlds, and a barrier to fully experiencing them. Enter the Rift, and that barrier is shattered; look straight ahead, and our view isn’t from a porthole, instead we are there – turn around and we don’t see the familiar walls and furnishings of the office, but instead an incredible vista from the world we have entered. Left, right, up, down, it doesn’t matter where you look – now we are truly experiencing the world as it was meant to be.
So where to from here? Well, that’s rather easy actually;
Training. Inductions. Simulation.
The immersive potential for training is huge – instead of simply having a trainee or contractor watch a video, answer a few questions and promptly forget the important bits, you could have them experience exactly what happens and how to handle a situation – cheaply, safely and in a way they will remember. Induct someone through a digital version of the very plant they will be working at, have them navigate their way to a muster point in a simulated emergency, or assist a coworker with a task. There are many other possibilities that a safe, immersive environment can provide.
We’ve already began working on integrating the Rift into a number of our demonstration projects, and look forward to giving our customers a chance to experience the Rift for themselves. Keep an eye out for upcoming events, as the Rift could be a feature presentation!
Another meeting involving a bit of fun, creativity, learning and teamwork this week!
This time we were one big team, working together to earn a sickeningly delightful morning tea of donuts, hedgehog slices and cupcakes. Mike and I spent a lot of energy and air blowing up 16 balloons to attach to the board room whiteboard. Only to have them, one by one, shot and popped by each staff member wielding a foam bullet gun with a toothpick attached. Inside each balloon I had placed a Pictionary or Charades clue for them to perform to the group. Some were tricky, some not so much. The rules list unfortunately did not stop some members from cheating, clearly cracking under the pressure! However we agreed to let them slide as they were still creative answers!
We had a new member, Mandy, join us at the meeting this morning. No doubt feeling very surprised when she walked into the board room to be greeted by this group below:
“Welcome Mandy!” Mandy being new, when each team member had had their go at the challenge balloons as i have just named them, they also gave a brief bio to help her get to know us all. Next came the learning part of the meeting, with each team member sharing what their focus was for last week and what they plan to focus on in the week coming.
After popping and solving some clues that described a few possible social events we could hold next, there has been a tie on the votes for a laser tag session or a board game night. Both will be great team building exercises, although we may have to get some charades and pictionary one on one coaching started!
– Leonie
The other morning we discovered that a project that we were working on did not have a designated Project Manager, we also worked out that it was running on time and to budget.
So the question is – how important is a project manager?
To help answer this question – we are going to see how this project does without a PM and if I have the courage (stupidity?) to leave it alone.
Will update comments here as we go along.
For this week’s version of our Monday Morning Meetings, I decided to get everyone up and running in a mini “Sentient Amazing Race”.
After being split up into teams of two or three, everyone’s first task was to find the first clue hidden on one of their cars. This required much prompting and hints from myself, watching in amusement as numerous people passed the clue multiple times. Eventually Leonie found it hidden next to Doug’s front wheel, quickly followed by the other teams. This first clue contained a number of riddles which contained some locations around the office. At these locations I had hidden a packet of lollies/chocolates as well as the next clue – a small crossword puzzle asking Sentient-related questions. A few teams managed to finish this quickly, and were then lead to go to the car park. In the front of the Sentient building I had Mike set up a little Nerf shooting range, where people would shoot two bullets each into various buckets, which showed their preference for what MVX should specialise on. Eventually the teams finished, the first team being Paul Turbett and Tim Smith – although it seems they did not complete their crossword puzzle completely!! If it hadn’t been blatantly written that they had to complete the crossword puzzle, I would have admired their ability to come first without completing it all haha. Following their team was Jarred and Leonie.
After everyone had finished (helped by me allowing the last teams to take several steps closer to the Nerf buckets), they munched away on their packets of sugar in the board room. Here I got them to discuss in teams ideas for how to get Sentient into a “well-known market leader” status within 2-5 years. There were a lot of interesting and amusing points raised during the discussions which were then shared with the whole group. After this, they individually answered a few questions including which previous project/task had motivated them the most, and what project they would work on if they could work on anything for the next 6 months.
My aim in this meeting was, first, to get everyone in a “teamwork” mode and have some fun. Then secondly, to get everyone thinking more ambitiously about where they themselves as well as Sentient could be, and to get them sharing some of their ideas. I think everyone did great in this meeting, we had a lot of good discussions and things to think about for our future plans, and everyone got to have a bit of fun. And lollies. Can’t forget the lollies.
P.S. The leftover lollies/chocolates that weren’t found are in the kitchen (they won’t be for long).
– Camille
“I thought our company values were Fun, Team, Learning and Creativity” was a comment I overheard at our last MMM (Monday Morning Meeting) while we were plodding through the usual agenda, in a boring, engineering and tedious LIST fashion.
So spending some time on this, I have decided that each meeting will be given to a person to run.
Its theirs.
The out comes of the meeting is simply to Springboard the activities to be done during the week in a fun, learning and creative environment.
They can pretty much do what they want.
I am quite excited to see what we can come up with as a company and I am sure there will be some very interesting themes, places and things we will no doubt be dragged to.
