Hizook

People who know me well are aware that I enjoy good science fiction.  One of the best scifi books in recent history is Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge, which has won a 2007 Hugo nomination.

One of the things that makes Vinge a good scifi writer is that he is well educated in science and technology (former professor in math and CS).   According to Dr. Thad Starner, a wearables expert from GA Tech who is acquainted with Vinge, I know that Vinge was an early subscriber to the "Wearables Mailing List."  All of this means that Vinge is well-versed in the current capabilities and exciting future of wearable devices and human-computer interfaces.  To make a long story short, I love this book.

Anyway... I was thrilled to get an email from a colleague (Dan) that Vinge released a free, full-text, online copy of Rainbows End!!!  You can find the link on Vinge's website:  Vrinimi.org.  The direct link to the book can be found here.  Enjoy (and if you like the book, be sure to support the author by buying a copy -- we want to send a clear message that "we want more").

Perhaps the ultimate in wearable computing and humanoid robots is an exoskeleton. If you recall, I was privaledged to watch a talk given by Stephen Jacobsen of Sarcos at the Wearables conference. I tried finding copies of the images and videos he showed, but at the time, they were closely guarded... Well, now Engadget has posted similar to the ones Mr. Jacobsen showed us a few months ago...

So here is a picture, followed by a video (local copy here).

I spent last week attending the International Symposium on Wearable Computing (ISWC). It was held at Hyatt Harborside in Boston, MA.

The conference (and Boston) were interesting for a number of reasons:

	I got to present our paper, "Hambone: A Bio-Acoustic Gesture Interface." The presentation went well, and the technology was very well received. I even got interviewed by some local reporters. I can't remember the station's call sign, but the interview was supposed to be put up online somewhere. The paper had previously been nominated for the Best Paper Award, a designation that earns both prestige and a $1000 check. Unfortunately we did not win...
	I got to meet Dr. Mark Smith. He is one of the co-inventors (so I'm told) of the optical mouse, which he helped develop while working at HP. He was a cool "hardware" guy like myself, and I'm glad I got the chance to chat with him. Thanks Kent, for the introduction.
	I met Leah Buechley. She works at Colorado Boulder on wearable fabrics. She's the designer of LilyPads (she's wearing one in the picture), which you sew onto your clothes and then use conductive fabric to connect individual components. These things were featured on Make Magazine's blog a while back, and can be purchased from Spark Fun.
	On the left is Dr. Thad Starner (co-author on Hambone) wearing his wearable computer. This is probably one of the few places on Earth where sporting a heads-up display and wearable computer is considered "cool."
	Every attendee received their own "wearable computer" in the form of a T-shirt with built-in LED equalizer. I'm fairly certain that no equalization is actually occurring, but rather just amplitude detection (and then display on the LEDs). Either way, these are fun shirts! They are made by a company called T-Equaliser, and I guess you can buy them commercially. My new friend, Tilman, actually wore his out one night (under his overshirt -- it was cold in Boston). Before we left the bar, he pulled off his overshirt and let the T-shirt show. He received lots of curious looks! I'm sure this would be an interesting conversation starter (or the ultimate in nerd-wear). Of course, we were strongly cautioned against wearing them airport, especially given the incident with the MIT student and LEDs at Logan Airport.
	The coolest talk at the conference (well, besides mine) was on wearable robotics by Stephen Jacobsen of Sarcos. The best part was watching their videos of robotic exoskeletons. Unfortunately, I can't find a single one of their videos online -- apparently we were very lucky to watch the videos! Needless to say, it was quite impressive watching their combustion-engine-driven exoskeleton play soccer, lift huge loads, do tons of weight reps, etc. I'm definitely going to have to look into this company a little deeper... I understand they do work in a variety of fields... (Sounds like my kind of place)

OK, the coolest part of my trip is something I have no pictures for... It was a guided tour of MIT's Media Lab. That place has everything! I can't even recall all the projects, people, and equipment that I witnessed... it was incredible! They had dozens of spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, oscilloscopes, power supplies, etc. They had several laser cutters, milling machines, and water jet cutters, in addition to a femtosecond laser, ablation laser, atomic force microscope, electron microscope, scanning tunneling microscope, etc. I saw the apparatus for "bubble computing," the first NMR quantum computing rig, etc, etc, etc. Seriously, that place is like heaven for a guy like me! Thanks so much, Matt, for taking me on the tour! (Next time we go, let's go wander the MIT stacks...)

Well, I don't really have much else to say, so here are a few pictures. First is a picture of the Boston skyline, right out my Hyatt hotel-room window!

This is one by Jungsoo (a labmate that attended as well); his photos are much better than mine.

Another Jungsoo shot. Actually, you can find all of his from the conference here.

Me giving an interview about "Hambone." I must admit, it went fairly well for my first time on camera. I'm a natural, and if you couldn't tell from the above picture, fairly good looking. If this whole PhD deal falls apart, I figure I can always get a job in television... HA!

So some colleagues that sit near me are publishing their interesting/unique wearable interface, called the Gesture Watch.

The principle (on a very high level) is essentially the same as my wearable, Hambone, only the sensors (and interaction technique) are different. Instead of piezoelectric sensors, they use infrared sensors which detect your other hand's movement over the "watch." The signals can then be translated into commands to control a program/device.

This is basically an extension of work done previously called the Gesture Pendant (local copy). It is really neat to see it shrunk down even further. It would (honestly) be very cool to see this sort of interaction in a watch -- eliminate those unsightly buttons!

Anyway, I'm quite jealous... Both of our projects (through the Contextual Computing Group lab) were approached by Discovery Channel representatives for abstracts, paper copies, etc. Their's ultimately made it on Discovery News, as well as Gizmodo and Engadget!

Guess I'll just have to make something cooler still, but in the meantime I'm happy with my publication -- not bad for a class project.

Well, I suppose I should go ahead and announce it since it is official...

I have my first (conference) publication as 1^st author, and it was nominated for best-paper!  There were a total of four authors: myself (Travis Deyle), Szabolcs Palinko, Erika Shehan-Poole, and Thad Starner.  The paper is entitled "Hambone: A Bio-Acoustic Gesture Interface."  It is being published in ISWC 2007 (International Symposium on Wearable Computers).   Take a look at the device.

In layman's terms:

You put these two sensors on your wrist.  When you move your hand, the device sends the signals to a computer.  The computer figures out what motions your fingers are making and then controls some computer program. 

Check out the video (local high-res copy) to get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Here is a good image showing the gestures we used and what "typical" waveforms from each gesture looked like.

Anyway, here is the abstract:

Mobile input technologies can be bulky, obtrusive, or difficult to use while performing other tasks. In this paper, we present Hambone, a lightweight, unobtrusive system that affords quick access, subtlety, and multitasking capabilities for gesture-based mobile device interaction. Hambone uses two small piezoelectric sensors placed on either the wrist or ankle. When a user moves his hands or feet, the sounds generated by the movement travel to Hambone via bone conduction. Hambone then transmits the signals digitally to a mobile device or computer. The signals are recognized using hidden Markov models (HMMs) and are mapped to a set of commands controlling an application. In this paper, we present the hardware and software implementation of Hambone, a preliminary evaluation, and a discussion of future opportunities in bio-acoustic gesture-based interfaces.

I'm not sure what the rules are about posting pre-release copies of the paper...  I'll go ahead and post the paper, since I hate the non-color IEEE proceedings versions anyways.  Be advised, it is a hefty download (about 11.5MB).  It may be modified and/or replaced eventually by the "actual" IEEE version.

Seiko recently unveiled a unique new application for E-Ink display technology -- unsurprisingly, the application is related to wristwatches.

The Seiko press release actually does a great job describing the electronic ink concept employed by the E-Ink corporation.

Electronic ink is a proprietary material that is processed into a film for integration into electronic displays. Although revolutionary in concept, electronic ink is a straightforward fusion of chemistry, physics and electronics to create this new material. The principal components of electronic ink are millions of tiny microcapsules, about the diameter of a human hair. Each microcapsule contains positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid. When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule where they become visible to the user. This makes the surface appear white at that spot. At the same time, an opposite electric field pulls the black particles to the bottom of the microcapsules where they are hidden. By reversing this process, the black particles appear at the top of the capsule, which now makes the surface appear dark at that spot.

E-Ink is well suited to wristwatch applications for a number of reasons. From the press release, a few of the reasons include:

Ultra high contrast: The display is made up of pure black and pure white particles which allow the same contrast as on a printed page; twice the contrast, in fact, of a LCD panel.

Ultra thin: The display is much thinner than is possible with any conventional watch technology, analog or digital. The display is also flexible, so 'wrist bracelet' or bangle designs are possible.

Low power consumption: The display is readable under very low light conditions, so no backlighting is required. The display also has an inherently stable 'memory effect' that requires no power to retain and sustain the image. For these reasons, battery life is extended.

Unrestricted size: Because of its flexibility and other properties, the display can be of virtually any size and shape. In this design, the display area covers over two thirds of the total surface area of the watch.

The most enticing aspect about E-Ink wristwatches, however, is their ability to transform to a new "style" at the flick of a switch. All of these aspects make it an ideal wearable device.

Imagine having sunglasses which can change color or opacity on-demand with the flick of a switch! This is the goal of Chunye Xu (and team) at the University of Washington. In the image below, the lenses block 55% of incident light (on the left) and 95% (on the right). There is also a video of the lenses in action (locally here).

The sunglasses use a thin-film of electrochromatic material. Wikipedia has a decent page that discusses the effect. It is also described in the news release as follows.

Researchers made the glasses using electrochromic materials that change transparency depending on the electric current. Many groups, including the UW, are developing such materials for so-called "smart windows" that could soon be used in energy-efficient homes and offices. Most smart windows use liquid-crystal technology or inorganic oxides. Those materials are expensive to produce and require a constant or frequent injection of power to hold their tint. The UW glasses are based on a new type of smart window using organic, rather than inorganic, oxides. These are cheaper to manufacture and require less power.

The prototype glasses are powered by a watch battery that attaches to the glasses frame, and the wearer spins a tiny dial on the arm of the glasses to change color or shade. The lenses were created by sandwiching a gel between two layers of electrochromic material. Applying a small voltage moves charged particles from one layer to another, and changes the transparency. Once the glasses are a certain tint they will stay that way without power for about 30 days. A single watch battery is able to power thousands of transitions, Xu said.

Also, the prototype shown above only produced blue hues. This isn't exactly "new," as viologens (another electrochromatic material) produces a bluish hue. However, the big breakthrough comes in the ability to create red and green hues, which Xu and colleagues have done, as discussed in their academic paper (or here locally). This opens the technology to some new applications (from another news release).

By combining the polymers of different colors into multiple layers and supplying different levels of current from the batteries in the sunglasses, a wide variety of different colors can be produced in the lenses, Xu says.

If the power consumption is low enough, this technology could be used (instead of the magnetic bead technology) for the next generation of electronic-ink (or E-Ink) and electronic-paper. Electronic-paper is already being touted as one of the "next big things" for smart materials. In fact, we've already seen commercial products, such as the Sony Reader pictured. Electrochromatic electronic-paper would allow for color rendering yet still boast the very low power consumption required for prolonged operation. Further, the electronic-paper would be read (much the same as "normal" paper) in lit conditions. If thin-film solar cells can be integrated into the electrochromatic layers, the electronic-paper could be entirely self-powered!

So a question that could be posed is "How is this better than the lenses that change transparency when you go from indoors to outdoors?" Well, those lenses use the photochromatic effect, where the lenses change color/opacity based on the amount of incident light. In this case, the lenses are sensitive to UltraViolet (UV) light. When outdoors the lenses become darker in the presence of UV, and when indoors the lenses become lighter as the UV is no longer present. There are 2 or 3 problems with photochromatic lenses (compared to these new electrochromatic lenses).

• When you're in the car, the car's windshield blocks much of the UV light, causing the lenses to become more transparent. Since people spend most of their outdoor-time inside their car (well, at least I do), the lenses' ability to turn dark is useless.

• You can't adjust the lens settings to be brighter or darker based on your personal lighting preference. My threshold for bright light is much less than most other peoples'. This might have something to do with too much time in front of a computer monitor...

• For those who care about fashion, you can't change the color of photochromatic lenses to match your attire. (I personally don't care about this though.)