A small, round robot with one gleaming green eye addressed asmall group from the phototonic display in the brand new FedExInstitute of Technology. The institute's director Jim Phillipssmiled as the robot complained about parts it ordered on eBay thatnever arrived.
"No one knows how good this place is," Phillips said. "It's acelebration, as much as anything, of technology."
Two years of construction, $23 million and 95,000 square feethas yielded an oasis of cutting edge technology and research on TheUniversity of Memphis campus, bringing academic and corporateresearchers, students, technology and jobs in a state-of-the-artfacility like something out of a science fiction movie.
LCD screens and plasma televisions seem to adorn every wall,while over a million dollars worth of brightly colored or gunmetalgray SteelCase furniture fills hallways and conference rooms.
The institute also houses a 200-seat digital conferencing roomcalled The Zone. It's the second largest room of its kind, behindone at the United Nations headquarters. The tallest Bose speakersin the world flank a huge television screen set into the wall.Small terminals at each seat allow participants to insert a SIMcard that, Phillips said, allows a speaker or professor a moreintimate connection with the students.
"It's digital hand-raising," said Art Grasser, co-director ofthe Center for Artificial Intelligence, found on the fourthfloor.
With all the new, high-tech equipment, the institute feels likean amusement park for techies, but there's much more to it.
"It's all fun and games down here (on the ground floor),"Phillips said, "but there is some very serious research going onupstairs."
The second floor is home to the Center of Life Sciences, whichfocuses on many advanced technologies in regard to living things.Among the center's research topics are nanotechnology for drugdeliveries, biosensors for early detection of cancer and monitoringthe breathing of premature infants, and the interaction of geneticand environmental factors in gene expression.
At the Center for Artificial Intelligence, Bryan Haynes workedon a computer-generated human avatar that would later give aPowerPoint presentation. The avatar spoke words Haynes typed intohis computer, while making realistic facial gestures like blinkingits eyes and making mouth movements. This conversation agent willeventually serve as a tutor on the institute's Web site.
The center is also working on the brains for the 2007 Mars roverfor NASA.
"This place has opened up more space for us," Haynes said. "Putus all in one place. There's lots of synergy going on."
