OpenCog / Hanson Robotics hackathon and informal tutorial session
Hong Kong Science Park, May 9-20, 2016
Attention all OpenCog developers! — and all wannabe OpenCog developers with reasonable programming/CS background –
We are gathering a number of normally-scattered OpenCog and Hanson Robotics software people in Hong Kong during the period May 9-20, to
- share know-how regarding OpenCog development — especially as regards using OpenCog for robotics, but also more generally
- work together on increasing OpenCog functionality
- brainstorm and discuss regarding the next phase of OpenCog improvements/extensions
The proceedings will be informal but there will also be lectures/tutorials and structured discussions. See the Cog-a-thon wiki page for details.
If you are serious about getting deep into OpenCog development, this would be a good chance to rapidly increase your knowledge of the system and how to work with it. To make the most of the opportunity, you would be well advised to run through as many hands-on OpenCog tutorials as you can beforehand; and to install the open source Hanson Robotics “simulated robot head” software stack (to be put in this repo shortly) on your laptop beforehand as well.
There is no charge for you to join us — and also no funding available to support you to join us! If you want to participate, you are responsible for getting yourself to Hong Kong, finding a place to sleep (the rooming houses in Chungking Mansion or Mirador Mansion are always an option if cost is an issue); and for bringing a laptop and a lot of enthusiasm for early-stage AGI work.
(Note, life will be easier if your laptop is running Linux natively. Ubuntu or Debian are the distros we tend to work with, but other distros are fine if you know what you’re doing. We will be doing a bunch of stuff involving using OpenCog to control animated models in Blender, and Blender sometimes runs badly in a virtual machine, and networking in and out of a VM can be a pain. If you are gonzo at complex VM configurations, do whatever you want, but consider yourself warned!)
There will also surely be some group social activities, to be organized fairly ad hoc: a couple nights out in Hong Kong island, and likely a day hike on the weekend in some of the beautiful Hong Kong mountains.