This presentation explores how wearables change the way we design applications and the impact they have on individuals with a disability. It includes information on different inputs, outputs, and ux considerations. Learn about the latest products, such as Soli, OrCam, and Horus.
Please note: this presentation is available in an accessible format. Visit Wearability.org for links and full details on these slides: http://wearability.org/wearable-first-design.html
42. …as someone with low vision and
(mild) cerebral palsy, no longer do I
have to fumble around my wallet
trying to find my credit card or
struggle with swiping my card into
the terminal.
-Steven Aquino
Wearable devices go beyond the watch and eye glasses. This presentation
introduces the wide variety of devices and how they can make the world
more accessible.
article by Smithsonian on how the pocket watch was wearable-first design http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/pocket-watch-was-worlds-first-wearable-tech-game-changer-180951435/
photo: vintage pocket watch by Genna G on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/genevievegood/2520978566/
User feeds information to computer, output can be cryptic.
photo: NEC 2203 Mainframe Computer by Don DeBold on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ddebold/5900039667/
Low bandwidth, small memory, but personal sized and with instant feedback.
Text based interface and output
photo: 『If nothing happens — Check printer 』by Daniel Rehn on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-rehn/9754578134
Linked data with images and dynamic interactions. Design was fluid and allowed fast iterations. Monitor size was not standard and led to restrictions in design
photo: early iteration of Google
Mobile First introduced the practice of designing for a device as a strategy. Mobile first required reducing the design to the most important elements and pushing the user to backup (web) for more complicated interactions.
luke W’s Mobile First Decree: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?933
What does it mean to design for wearable first? What is the interface? What is the input? What are the limitations? What are the advantages?
http://wearable-first.com
https://medium.com/@wearablefirst/wearable-first-d5ae0ecc0ebd
photo: moleskin notebook by Barn Images on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/barnimages/18368762634/
Wearables force us to re-evaluate the interface. How does one interact with the device? How do they get feedback? What is the sole purpose of the tool/app/wearable?
photos:
feet by Apionid: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apionid/16581908384/
hands by John Lambert Pearson: https://www.flickr.com/photos/orphanjones/413257654/
ear by Lucas Incas: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucasincas/6803640921/
Day 6 - Eyes only by Francisca Ulloa: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alosojos/336915882/
How can a wearable device have no interface? Perhaps the device is less about feedback and more about completing a task or providing input.
Google and Sensimed (http://www.technologyreview.com/news/418247/glaucoma-test-in-a-contact-lens/) have been adding electronics to contact lenses to detect glaucoma and diabetes.
Korean scientists are developing a soft contact lens with embedded diodes.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/515666/contact-lens-computer-like-google-glass-without-the-glasses/
This ring connects to an Android phone via NFC and allows the user to unlock their phone without a password.
Purchase on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1OC28Fu
Dialog is just one example of using biometric sensors for health monitoring. This watch and patch detect seizures, user feedback, and emergency alerting. http://www.artefactgroup.com/content/work/dialog/
Biometric tracking has become a key feature of most wearables.
IPV6 allows every object to have its own ip address. Wearable devices can surround and work within your body and be uniquely defined.
lamprey inspired nano-robots are being developed that can migrate through your body for healthcare.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/cyberplasm-micro-robot-modeled-after-sea-lamprey-could-swim-around-inside-you
photo: pacific lamprey by USFWS Pacific https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/7129322663/
https://developers.google.com/brillo/
Google’s Brillo and Weave projects are defining a standard interface for the Internet of Things. This will make it much easier for a wearable to communicate directly with other smart objects, such as your smoke alarm sending a signal directly to a watch.
image from: http://www.whatsupgold.com/blog/internet-of-things/
Karo Caran tries on a prototype that projects an image into the eye via laser at CSUN 2015. Karo exclaimed she’d never seen anything as sharp as the image delivered by these glasses. I don’t have the product information for this.
MIT’s Media Lab has been innovating the vision-based computers for many years.
Eye-based wearables follow the head and the user’s point of interest.
Eye tracking allows hands free. Sensors are at head level instead of floor level (cane)
photo: http://cameraculture.media.mit.edu/
Sension is working on facial and gesture recognition with Google Glass
Facial Expressions
Sension builds on the state of the art in face tracking to locate 76 landmarks in a user's face.
Sension machine learns what it means to be engaged across the internal shape parameters of the face, giving us super accurate user engagement scores and analytical insights into the content users are interacting with in real-time
http://www.sension.co/case
Captioning on Glass allows a person with a hearing impairment to see what another person is saying. This Georgia Tech project is available as open source. http://borg.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/?q=projects/cog
Google also has a patent on speech to text transcription http://goo.gl/p9IEIq
http://substance-en.etsmtl.ca/google-glass-instant-captioning-for-hearing-impaired/
People with short term memory loss require reminders. The watch is a natural location for reminders. Motion and biometric sensors could also detect when an activity has been accomplished. This avoids reminding user to do an already completed task and encourages independence.
shown watch: http://www.appsapk.com/calendar-reminder-smart-extras/
photo: Sound Wave by Betmari on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/76999192@N06/8915491422/
Ear based devices are common, especially after years of bluetooth headphones.
Ears provide same benefits of eye-based location.
Biometric information, such as body temp, pulse are available
hands-free, display-free interactions
Japanese researchers and ear based computer http://phys.org/news/2014-03-japan-tiny-ear.html
The finger reader project from MIT uses a finger based device to track the sentence a user is reading and convert to speech. It also guides the person to move up/down if they go off the line. http://fluid.media.mit.edu/projects/fingerreader
This should be possible with an eye-based device.
An intuitive portable device with a smart camera mounted on the frames of your eyeglasses, OrCam harnesses the power of Artificial Vision to assist the visually impaired. OrCam recognizes text and products, and speaks to you through a bone-conduction earpiece. http://www.orcam.com/
Horus, View for the Blind: http://horus.technology/en/viewfortheblind.php
Mobility assistance
Object detection
Text reading
Facial detection
Spoken interface
photo: skin-pression by Clonny https://www.flickr.com/photos/clonpop/54765165/
clothing can be embedded with threads that transmit electronic signals. A connected shirt can track movement, bio metrics, and potentially gestures. This is great for health monitoring. http://www.omsignal.com/
Clothing can also be combined with sensory output, such as vibrations, to give the wearer feedback.
Google and Levi’s are working together to develop a method to mass-produce cloth with embedded electronics. They’ve created the conductive threads and manufacturing process that allows the clothing to become the controller.
https://www.google.com/atap/project-jacquard/
This jacket gives vibrational feedback to let the user know if they should turn left or right while walking.
http://wearableexperiments.com/navigate/
Applying vibrations to the feet can provide enough stimulation to trigger a threshold within individuals with limited sense of touch. This could prevent falling.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/devices/vibrating-shoes-restore-balance-for-seniors
http://spectrum.ieee.org/ns/pdfs/0405balaf1.pdf
https://www.thalmic.com/myo/
primarily for basic gestures, i.e. presentations.
announced at Google IO, Soli is a handsfree gesture recognizer that uses radar instead of cameras. The latest prototype is tiny enough to fit within a watch or other wearable and allows people to control devices by moving fingers in the air. This solves the problem of small to no screen sizes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNiZfSsPc0
Tongue piercing as a switch device: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2013/12/02/the-wheelchair-driven-by-a-tongue-piercing-cool-concept-faces-uphill-battle/
RFID implants could be used as an identification resource. http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/08/13/want-an-rfid-chip-implanted-into-your-hand-heres-what-the-diy-surgery-looks-like-video/
http://amal.net/
photo: ETUX022: Chapter 2 by Rosenfeld Media on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/11279176583/
Which of these kids is using an assistive technology device? Tablets, phones, and assorted mobile devices are so common that stigma associated with earlier devices has diminished.
photo: student iPad school by Brad Flickinger https://www.flickr.com/photos/56155476@N08/6660001925/
“What made the Rio and other devices so brain dead was that they were complicated. They had to do things like make playlists, because they weren’t integrated with the jukebox software on your computer. So by owning the iTunes software and the iPod device, that allowed us to make the computer and the device work together, and it allowed us to put the complexity in the right place.” -Steve Jobs
photo: Seele der Musikindustrie by ken fager https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenfagerdotcom/4398922649/
At web4all 2015 conference there was a presentation on an application for improving stability with people that have parkinson’s. The project started with sensors mounted at the feet and hands as a proof of concept. Afterwards, the same functionality was recreated with just a phone’s built-in sensors.
https://mbientlab.com/
This kit includes the hardware needed for creating your first wearable. It also includes plugins and schematics to 3-D print enclosures.
You can build your first wearable project for $40 via http://www.adafruit.com/products/1405
Apple watch released with full accessibility and an Accessibility API that closely matches iOS. Users can control the visual display for low vision.
Android Watch is improving, but not to the same level.
https://developer.apple.com/watchkit/
http://www.android.com/wear/
Apple and Google Pay allows user to make payments with minimal movements
Remote microphone for voice dictation, actions
https://www.apple.com/apple-pay/