The Talisman project may have magical effects for three computer science graduate students as they look to their future and the future of their idea.

Talisman, meaning magical device, is a computer application that would manage tasks based on location.

After placing fifth in Imagine Cup 2004, Mike Clement, Richard Arthur and Trent Taufer said Talisman may have a future.

"We're looking at it," said Arthur, 26, from Richland, Wash. "I personally think it is a very viable thing. If Talisman software ... got in with good GPS producing companies, then the GPS companies would want to sell Talisman with their product."

Clement, 24, from Buffalo Grove, Ill., said Talisman will remind users to buy the CD they want the next time they are near a music store or when they buy eggs, the next time they were near a grocery store.

"Even though, obviously, there is no magic involved, it kind of acts magical and mystical in that it recognizes where you are and then is able to help you based on that," Clement said.

Arthur and Clement said they may possibly start their own business with the Talisman idea.

"If I can put something together reasonably quickly, then we can probably take it to market," Arthur said.

The impact of the project may someday be seen on BYU campus and college campuses everywhere.

"I see the Talisman project affecting a lot of people," Arthur said. "Students can use something like this to remind themselves that they need to pay their tuition the next time they are near the ASB."

This year's Imagine Cup competition, sponsored by Microsoft, occurred in Los Angeles April 17. The BYU team placed fifth out of 18 teams with different projects from the western United States. The computer science department funded the trip for the students.

The competition allowed the students to create contacts with other computer science graduate students and with Microsoft employees that could prove beneficial for future relations.

The competition, which was right in the middle of finals week, forced the team to finish up semester projects, study for finals and finalize the Talisman presentation before they left.

"We did stuff in the airport and on the plane and at the hotel," Taufer, 24, from Taylorsville, said. "A lot of it is prioritizing."

On top of the Talisman research and project, these three students are also involved in additional research for their master's program.

They do robot research and work with interactive machine learning.

"The basis behind machine learning is that we have, as humans, all this prior experience so we are able to recognize things," Clement said. "The computer doesn't have 20 years of experience, and so we use our experiences to help the computer gain knowledge."

Taufer said, "Instead of just having it be completely done by the computer or completely done manually by a person, you are combining the best of both worlds."

Students may have seen a robot named Polar Bear traveling around campus recently. The students from a lab in the Talmage Building control Polar Bear.

"Hopefully at some time, we will be able to develop a large enough base of prior knowledge for the robot so it can do its own thing," Clement said.

Taufer, who said he has always been interested in and played with computers, is creating an intelligent note-taking system with screen crayons.

"I think it is that mentality of always wanting to build and create," Taufer said. "I also played with Legos when I was little and it just extended to the next generation of Legos where you can build anything and everything. It is virtual Legos."



Copyright Brigham Young University 10 May 2004