Gone Fishing

Click here for a Video!

What's Going On Here?

You're seeing a simulation of a school of fish interacting with the museum's visitors! As visitors step into the water, the fish swim away from them. This setup works by using a boid simulation which scientists believe closely describes the way schools of fish behave. A single fish determines its path by sensing the paths of the fish around him.

As a potential predator, visitors startle the fish and cause the fish immediately near them to change direction. This, of course, causes the fish near them to change direction, until they are all swimming away from the obstacle.

To see visitors, we are using a device called a Kinect. The Kinect is the device that can be used with XBox to play games without controllers. It is a very advanced device, especially considering the price! We programmed the Kinect to send data on where visitors are standing to the fish simulation, where we mark them as a predator! Technology is pretty cool!