R.I.P.L.T.R.A.N.E.
See below for James Rouvelle's desciption of his ongoing project. He and his colleages in Berlin will adapt R.I.P.L.T.R.A.N.E. for use in Simultaneous Translation thereby extending its functionality into the realm of performance.

“R.I.P.L.T.R.A.N.E., pronounced "ripple train" is an acronym for: Research, Instruction, Programs, and Logic for Trans Robotic Adaptive Networked Environments.

What the components of T.R.A.N.E. mean are:

1. Trans. abbr.
1.transaction, 2,transitive,
3.,translated;translation,4,transportation, 5,transverse. Trans applies to, and modifies all of the words
that follow it.

2. Robotic.
machines that can make decisions "on their own" - including, in this project, when to modify themselves

3. Adaptive.
All the elements of the work - of the specific and unique
environments developed, will need to adjust their behaviors to continue as active
elements within the

4. Network (ed).
Linked causally.

5. Environment.
The collective and specific, local embodiments of the
project.

This project has two components. First, we will implement an adaptive, real-time network connecting robotic objects /environments in NYC and Berlin, Germany over the web. Second, we will develop an online resource encouraging others, and instructing them how, to join in. Our intention is to start something that will take on a life of its own. “

The way we did this is to create an array of PIC chips doing their own thing and sharing certain important data over an RS-485 protocol – in other words, we built a LAN out of PIC chips. One of the PIC chips acts as a “Queen” and sends bytes of data serially into a JAVA client application on a host PC. That host PC assembles all the bytes into a string of 108 bits and sends that string to a JAVA server application that receives a similar amount of binary data from both locations – you can have many more than two locations in this setup,

The server receives the strings and performs a bitwise logical &, producing a hybrid, third data string that is sent back to both environments and processed in any way those who created the specific, local environments want to. The key is to have the local, PIC LAN’s able to work on their own so that the data from the web acts to influence an ongoing process and allows the two environments to respond to, and influence each other, without creating a standard user dominated, push-button relationship. I am happy to say that things worked out very nicely.

– James Rouvelle

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