Turn a bunch of college students loose with computers and you will see a lot of video games. Turn a bunch of Cornell computer science students, engineering students and maybe a few artists loose with computers, and you will see new approaches to database management, walking, hovering and flapping robots and, well, a few video games, too -- but at least original ones.

Find all this and more at the annual BOOM (Bits on Our Minds) exhibition Wednesday, March 8, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Duffield Hall atrium. The exhibition, organized by the Faculty of Computing and Information Science but open to students throughout the university, is a showcase of student computing projects.

Some projects take physical form, such as walking robots, the autonomous underwater vehicle (a fancy name for a computer-controlled submarine) or an evolving attempt at a device that flies by flapping its wings. Some projects are useful, like programs to identify and track arteries in cardiac images or to screen children for dyslexia. Some are just interesting to look at, like computer-animated films or simulated ant drawings (Don't ask; just come and see).

And of course the games, which range from the familiar combat style (but with a provision for players to create their own higher levels) to "Monkey Funk," about a monkey looking for its barber, and "Penguin Adventure," wherein an umbrella-carrying penguin must rescue its mother.

Some 50 projects are expected. For a complete list visit http://www.cis.cornell.edu/boom/2006sp/. The event is supported by grants from Bloomberg and Credit Suisse.