The Rome Labs Snoball Cam

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

> From the Rome Labs Home Page...


so check out the official Rome Labs Snowball Cam!


http://www.rl.af.mil:8001/Odds-n-Ends/sbcam/rlsbcam.html


What is the RLSBC?
The Rome Lab Snowball Camera is a holiday stress releaser for humankind.
The perfect gift for the person who has everything.


What is the object of the RLSBC?
The object is to throw snowballs on unsuspecting targets. If the picture
shows the snowball (which appears as a large white circle) over any part of
the target, it is considered a hit. You may hit more than one target with a
snowball or you may not hit anything. You calculate your score based on
hits multiplied by the value of the targets that you may hit. (See target
profiles below.)


How does the RLSBC work?
The RLSBC is a camera mounted on a workstation that is also interfaced to
an ice machine (the kind that makes snow cones) and a robotics arm. When a
request comes in to the workstation a snowball (made by the ice machine) is
thrown by the robot arm out into the room. If an engineer happens to be in
the way of the projectile she/he gets hit. At the same instant the ball of
snow is thrown, a camera takes a picture of the incident, digitizes it, and
sends it back to the requester.


To determine the actual path of your projectile and your chances of scoring
a hit you must take into account: size, weight, and roundness of snowball,
distance to target, air density, the target's profile, room population,
time of day, and lunar phase. (Of course, we don't take any of these into
account!)


Who are the targets?
The targets are engineers who are assigned to and work in the same area as
the RLSBC. All targets have profiles associated with them. If there is no
target profile then the target is considered a transient.
Make sure you study the target profiles.


What do I win?
nothing. But wasn't it fun!


RLSBC Glossary
Hit - snowball meets engineer
Miss - snowball misses engineer
Snowball Cam - device capable of delivering frozen projectiles and
recording the incident
Target - unsuspecting engineers assigned to the RLSBC work area
Target Profile - information about target and points scored if hit
Transients - targets who are passing thru work area (non-assigned).
Happy Holidays!!


Disclaimer: (The engineers you are about to use the RLSBC on are
professionals. Do NOT try this at home. Somebody could get hurt. Get the
facts. Snowball throwing is dangerous, illegal, and just plain stupid.)