Tas Silg Temple

We had an incredible opportunity to access an archeological site restricted to the public to investigate the cisterns on site. The temple has a great deal of history... from being a pre-historic site of worship, to a Roman temple that stood as a beacon from the bay below. One interesting feature of the temple was the clay walkway that surrounded the center of the temple (only about half still in tact) that was patterned with evenly-spaced square pieces of marble. Our archeologist on site, David, said that this was a way of defining a "medium" for extremely important ground and common ground. It was a mix, making it a sort of semi-formal site. The temple was of course in ruins above ground, but was currently being excavated for further discoveries in the area. There was a full-immersion baptism site, signs of large columns to hold the roof, and clear signs of divisions within the temple.

The cisterns, however, we more intact underground than the remains above ground. The first cistern was square with 4 hallways in each direction. One was too shallow to investigate, and was even hardly noticeable, as the water level only allowed us to see the slit of the bottom of the hallway. The other three hallways led to large rooms filled with rubble. Each of these rooms had at least two off-shoots that showed signs of even more caves. Unfortunately, all of these accesses were too shallow for the ROV to pass.

The second cistern was similar, but only one hallway was deep enough to explore. This hallway was back towards the first cistern. Once we reached the end of the hallway, it was clear that this hallway connected the two. Below, you can see the mosaic of the sonar images we gathered from the cistern. As you can see, this was a very complex and exciting cistern.

We explored one more cistern out in a nearby field, but it was only a circular well with no outlets. Below is the group with our archeologist, David, at the temple site.

More Projected Geometry

Projected geometry has improved! Surface extraction for a cistern has made it through the pipeline and (as shown below) is now visualized. At the moment, we have a simple keyhole cistern... one of the most common outline shapes for cisterns. It is interesting to see how the sonar scans picked up other objects at the level of the scan that have been interpolated into vertical barriers (seen as pillars).

In addition to surface extraction, I now have multiple projections that can be merged together as a mosaic on the wall of the cistern. Below you can see the mosaic merged together in Microsoft Word on the left. On the right, the same mosaic is replicated in the 3D environment on a wall of the keyhole cistern. The images are actually taken from the ISIS boat trip. On the ISIS, we recorded the ROV's video of the shipwreck. From the video, I took screenshots that represent sequential frames of different features of the shipwreck. With a little patience, I put the images together (as accurately as I could) to represent the shipwreck.

This process will be the same for combining images from the all of the surveyed sites with their corresponding geometry. The mosaic process of projective texturing still has a lot of work to help streamline the process more. Just for the record... this is all REALLY cool :P

The Cave of Wonders

You will wish you were here! Day two of the cave had a few exciting discoveries... as well as a couple of newly created set-backs. Because our sonar was out of commission the first visit, we spent all of Thursday repairing and splicing the tether that caused the problem. Today, we finally had a chance to map the cave and the wonders contained within its depths.

The newly repaired tether worked like a charm as we mapped the surface of the first pool in the cave. We also mapped varying depths at multiple locations in the cave that we hope to "paste" together. This will hopefully be enough data to completely represent the water within the pool in the cave. In addition to horizontal scans with the sonar, we ran a couple of lengths in the pool with the sonar strapped vertically to the ROV. This will provide us with two sets of dimensions to log the depth of the pool. We used this method primarily to make up for our faulty depth sensor in the ROV's control box.

After mapping the pool, I drove the ROV around to get some close up video of the sides and bottom of the pool. I found a lot of interesting things... a couple of tires and oil bins, plenty of rubble, bottles, and occasional sections of wood. One particular piece of wood had a community of water creatures... either miniature crawdads or a type of shrimp. It was pretty cool!

Unfortunately, our repaired cable suddenly failed and we lost driving ability for the robot. We switched to our other tether, but that one didn't connect sonar, so we only did visualizations from then on.

All in all, the cave was very exciting. I only wish I had my scuba gear to dive down in it!

Projective Texturing of Cisterns

For the final presentation of the cistern exploration project, all of the video and images will be mapped to the geometry generated from the sonar data. The screenshot below is a mock world generated to serve as example data extracted from sonar. Using mathematical calculations, the images are loaded into a program and projected onto the geometry (just like you would think a projector to work) to make the world look more realistic and similar to what it actually looked like from the perspective of the robot. There is currently only one projection of one image taken of a cistern a couple of years ago.

At this point, there is certainly more work to be done to merge our actual data and images together. The previous plan was to automate the video frame extraction with the location and orientation of the robot and project it. After completing many projects, we realized that it would be near impossible to complete this automatically and accurately.

Currently, my plan is to (once the geometry is loaded into the program) load images that correspond to the cistern and scan through them until one matches the current orientation within the world. At this point, the image projection will be saved, and a new image can be loaded to project and save to overlay or stitch with previous projections. This method will be an easy way to accurately bring multiple images together and place them in the right place in the geometry to make the world realistic.

Britain and France: Reading Response #2

Brig Bagley

Critical Response #2

One very interesting contrast between Great Britain and France is the different statuses of engineers in each country. Their individual histories have shaped the image and roles of engineers, either by giving engineers an important place in society, or by considering engineering a lesser, even non-professional way of life. The same profession, so to speak, was completely different in different societies due to the specific situations these societies had to offer for engineers.

In Great Britain, engineers spawned from the crafting society, inventing—out of necessity—better ways of life. However, at that time in Great Britain, craftsmanship was considered inferior to positions such as lawyers and doctors—those who took years of theoretical and literature-based schooling. Having emerged from the “blue collar” area of society, engineers did not receive recognition, sufficient support, or even social status for many years. The appreciation for the skill and talent of the belittled craftsmen was years in the making. In the article “Engineers in Britain: A Study of in Persistence,” (28) Smith and Whalley emphasize the fact that “engineers have found it difficult to separate themselves from their manual, craft origins, and therefore issues of status have bedeviled the ‘occupation’ for over a century.” It is clear that the history of Britain and its earlier view of craftsmanship ruined the success of the engineering profession for decades.

France, in contrast, had a completely different historical story. About the time of the French revolution, everything in France changed. The government (before being overthrown) began to research and fund different types of engineering in hopes to gain the confidence of its people for a growing and superior military. Although this government failed, their plans did not. The newly established government continued the funding and support of engineering schools to train hundreds of new engineers. Because of this inflated view of engineering, the engineers of France did not often do what we in the United States think of engineers doing today. The engineers in France were revered and were given high leadership positions in all areas. In essence, engineers were the doctors and lawyers of France. In Ermenc’s article, “The French Heritage of Engineering Schools,” he mentions the engineering schools of France “supplied the needs of the government for naval, military, and strictly scientific and engineering personnel,” and that the objective of a particular school, the Ecole Centrale, was “to be the preparation of a corps d’elite of engineers for industrial leadership” (143). It is clear that the needs of France inflated engineering well beyond that of Great Britain. France put a great amount of respect and confidence into its engineers, and it is this history of France and engineers that influenced the greater part of engineering in the United States.

Although both Great Britain and France produced similar fields of engineering, the take and success in each country was greatly dependent upon its support by both the government and society. The freedoms and innovation and opportunities that we see in the United States were not available in either of the French or English states when engineering began. The history of that time primarily determined the growth and success of engineers and their careers.

Progress Report #1: Malta – Becoming a Scientist/Engineer in Malta

Progress Report #1

Brig Bagley

Malta – Becoming a Scientist/Engineer in Malta, Historical and contemporary pattern, roles and status

Malta is a small country in the Mediterranean that has actually had quite an interesting and unique history—despite the little to no attention US history and education gives it. Although it is one of the smallest countries in the world, it is one of the most densely populated countries… about four hundred thousand in 121 square miles. Because Malta is such a compact country, as well as it being in a strategic location in the Mediterranean, architecture and defense are two early-developed and mastered scientific or engineering areas.

First as a colony of Great Britain, then eventually as an independent republic, there are many similarities and differences between engineering in Britain.

The education system follows that of Great Britain, with primary and secondary schools. The primary level has an examination that determines religious or state schools. After secondary school, the students have the option to opt out of further work or to take the O-level exam and continue into a system similar to a Junior College. Following this, students take a matriculation exam (A-level exam) to determine if the student can enter into an undergraduate program at the University of Malta. Because Malta is similar to Britain in education, there is less pressure and more difficulty to enter into higher level education into areas such as science and engineering. However, Malta does not share the craftsmanship and apprenticeship history that Britain does, and therefore did not view science and engineering as a lesser profession like Britain did.

Malta has a long history of architecture, dating back into the BC era with primitive Neolithic temples. There is also a lot of influence by the Romans, and most recently, Britain. There is history with engineers in the mid 1500s at Fort St. Michael and Mdina during the Siege of Malta, where engineers were part of construction and destruction of architecture as a result of the siege. One of the most well-know engineers at about that time was Francesco Laparelli de Carotona, who designed the original City Gate, known as Prota San Giorgio. It was later replaced by the Maltese engineer Tommaso Dingli. When Britain was in control of Malta, another group of engineers built a new gate.

The basis of my project will focus on how the history of Malta has greatly affected its state, recognition, and use of engineering and science. The outside world has had a large influence on Malta and its current relationship with engineering. Although Britain has shaped its structure and educational path, other countries and necessity has encouraged growth and respect of many other areas of engineering, such as the military and architecture. In order to protect the state and compensate for the limited land and resources available, engineers had to conquer scientific battles. I will do more research in these areas to pin point what it is that has really formed the patterns, roles, and status of engineers.

“Siege of Malta. ” Wikipedia. . 27 January 2011.

“Malta.” Wikipedia. . 27 January 2011.

“Valletta.” Wikipedia. . 27 January 2011.

Reading Response #1

Brig Bagley

Reading Response #1

Engineering in the United States has a very distinct image: white collar, male, smart, technology, and innovation are all terms that often go synonymously with the term engineering. The process of engineering also has a well defined sequence of actions: see a problem or need in society or in an item, find a better solution, test the solution and throw it out into the public, repeat. To those of us in the United States, it is almost accepted that all of these terms and sequences are true for the majority of engineers and engineering in general. Few, if any, realize that engineering does not mean the same thing around the world. In fact the different views of engineers across the world differ so much that some may not even consider the other view to be engineering at all. Because of the differing perspectives of engineering, it is imperative that engineers are aware of the conflicts between cultures to be successful. In addition, engineering must not be labeled or categorized for certain types of people, backgrounds, or even defined as one distinct and particular process.

Engineering has a very bare minimum of universal ground. Although the perspectives may be different, engineers in near all countries are looking to better the world. Needless to say, nearly all professions hope to better the world. This makes engineering seem as uniform as the countries of the world. But it is true. According to the article, “The Globally Competent Engineer: Working Effectively with People Who Define Problems Differently,” by Downey and others, “engaging ways of thinking and understanding that differ from your own can refer either to ways of solving or of defining problem” (2). The very core of engineering depends on how people define problems and identify solutions to those problems. If engineers of differing cultures cannot agree on whether a problem is a problem, or determine if a solution is a solution, how can we expect any progress? Engineers must be aware of certain cultural differences to maintain common ground as well as respect the differing needs within that culture.

Society (especially in the United States) often labels every part of life and puts images on top of all aspects of the world. Women are refined and classy. Men are strong and dominant. Nurses are female assistants to doctors. Engineers are white-collar men. We as human beings are very aware of their social status and where they lie in all of these labels. We are also aware of where we fit into these patterns, and where we do not. As expected, we tend to move towards the labels that society associates with us. According to Lucena, “dominant images create expectations about how individuals in that location are supposed to act or behave” (5). Why would someone try to swim against the current? It’s much easier to go along with the direction things are going. Because of this mindset, the diversity and individuality that could benefit all of these different aspects of life is lost. To overcome this loss, it is imperative that people, (and in our case specifically, engineers), remove the social labels and barriers that confine the possibilities within the realm of engineering.