WACIIH

(Pronounced as Whacky)

Wearable Assisted Computing for Increased Intelligence in Humans

Introduction        Whats a Wearable        Towards Human Intelligence       

Assisting Human Intelligence        Why Wearable Computing        Adapting to Human Intelligence

INTRODUCTION

Miniaturization of electronics components has enabled
systems that are wearable and nearly invisible, so that individuals can move about and interact freely, supported by their personal information domain.

WACIIH is a next generation mobile computing platform being designed at IIPS and “STORMLABS” – as a part of a Mobile Robotics project called ROBAGS-I under research at IIPS by our team. The design goal for WACIIH is a system that is light, ergonomic, reliable, flexible, and scalable wearable computing platform. WACIIH is a collection of low-aspect ratio, small, low-power computing components which connect with each other through the WACIIH body-bus and body network.

The WACIIH project is driven by the need for a truly functional, wearable, and flexible research platform for context-aware wearable computing research. My work of research is inspired by the work of many researchers, professors, colleagues and friends. My goal is not simply to build a platform, but to build a community of researchers, designers, and users. There is a great deal of technical depth and hard engineering behind WACIIH, but first and foremost WACIIH is about people and my desire to make people's lives better.

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What's a Wearable?

To date, personal computers have not lived up to their name. Most machines sit on the desk and interact with their owners for only a small fraction of the day. Smaller and faster notebook computers have made mobility less of an issue, but the same staid user paradigm persists. Wearable computing hopes to shatter this myth of how a computer should be used. A person's computer should be worn, much as eyeglasses or clothing are worn, and interact with the user based on the context of the situation. With heads-up displays, unobtrusive input devices, personal wireless local area networks, and a host of other context sensing and communication tools, the wearable computer can act as an intelligent assistant, whether it is through a Remembrance Agent, augmented reality, or intellectual collectives.

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Wearable Computer: Toward Humanistic Intelligence

Over the past 20 years, wearable computing has emerged as the perfect tool for embodying Humanistic intelligence. Humanistic Intelligence is intelligence that arises when a human is part of the feedback loop of a computational process in which the human and computer are in extreme close proximity.

It is common in the field of human–computer interaction to think of the human and computer as separate entities. How-ever, in HI theory, we prefer not to think of the wearer and the computer with its associated I/O apparatus as separate entities. Instead, we regard the computer as a second brain and its sensory modalities as additional senses, we must watch them merging with the wearer’s senses. When a wearable computer functions in a successful embodiment of HI, the computer uses the human’s mind and body as one of its peripherals, just as the human uses the computer as a peripheral. Thus, computing could be an interactive experience for manipulating words and pictures.

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Assisting Human Intelligence

Human Intelligence also suggests a new goal for signal-processing hardware—that is, in a truly personal way, to directly assist, rather than replace or emulate, human intelligence. To facilitate this vision, we need a simple and highly personal computational framework. The idea is to move the tools of augmented intelligence and communication directly onto the body. This will give rise not only to a new genre of truly personal computing but also to some new capabilities and affordances arising from direct physical proximity to the human body.  Moreover, a new family of applications will arise, in which the body-worn apparatus augments

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Why Wearable Computing?

An embodiment of wearable has three fundamental operational modes: constancy, augmentation, and mediation.

Constancy. An embodiment of wearable is operationally constant; that is, although it might have power-saving (sleep) modes, it is never completely shut down. So, for example, a pocket calculator kept in your pocket but left on all the time is still not interaction ally constant, because you cannot use it in this state (you still have to pull it out of your pocket to see the display or enter numbers). A wristwatch is a borderline case. Although it operates constantly to keep proper time and is conveniently worn on the body, you must make a conscious effort to orient it within your field of vision to interact with it. Wearable computers are unique in their ability to provide this always-ready condition, which might, for example, include retroactive video capture for a face-recognizing reminder system. After-the-fact devices such as traditional cameras and palmtop organizers can-not provide such retroactive computing.

Mediation. Unlike handheld devices, laptop computers, and PDAs, good embodiments of wearable can encapsulate the user. Such an apparatus doesn’t necessarily need to completely enclose us. However, the basic concept of mediation allows for whatever degree of encapsulation is desired (within the limits of the apparatus), because it affords us the possibility of a greater degree of encapsulation than traditional portable computers.

The encapsulation that mediation provides has two aspects, one or both of which can be implemented in varying degrees, as desired. These are:

Solitude: The first aspect is solitude. The ability to mediate our perception lets an embodiment of wearable act as an information filter. For example, we can block out material we might not wish to experience (such as offensive advertising) or replace existing media with different media. This control over the input space con-tributes considerably to the most fundamental wearable issue: user empowerment.

Privacy: The second aspect is privacy. Mediation lets us block or modify information leaving our encapsulated space. In the same way that ordinary clothing prevents others from seeing our naked bodies, an embodiment of wearable might, for example, serve as an intermediary for interacting with un-trusted systems, such as third-party implementations of digital anonymous cash.  Other technologies such as desktop computers can, to a limited degree, help us protect our privacy with programs such as Pretty Good Privacy. However, the primary weak-ness of these systems is the space between them and their user. Compromising the link between the human and the computer (per-haps through a Trojan horse or other planted virus) is generally far easier when they are separate entities. A personal information system that the wearer owns, operates, and controls can pro-vide a much greater level of personal privacy. For example, if the user always wears it (except perhaps during showering), the hard-ware is less likely to fall prey to attacks. Moreover, the close synergy between the human and computer makes the system less vulnerable to direct attacks.

The following figure depicts the six basic signal flow paths for intelligent systems embodying wearable.

                                                    SIGNAL FLOW

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Each path defines a wearable attribute:

1. Un-monopolizing. The device does not necessarily cut you off from the outside world as a virtual reality game or the like does.

2. Unrestrictive. You can do other things while using the device—for example, you can input text while jogging or running down stairs.

3. Observable. The device can get your attention continuously if you want it to. The output medium is constantly perceptible. It is sufficient that the device is almost always observable, within reason-able limitations—for example, as when a camera viewfinder or computer screen is not visible when you blink your eye.

4. Controllable. The device is responsive. You can take control of it at any time. Even in automated processes, you should be able to manually override the automation to break open the control loop and become part of the loop. Examples of this controllability might include a Halt but-ton you can invoke when an application mindlessly opens all 50 documents that were highlighted when you accidentally pressed Enter.

5. Attentive. The device is environmentally aware, multimodal, and multi-sensory. This ultimately gives you increased situational awareness.

6. Communicative. You can use the device as a communications medium when you wish. It lets you communicate directly to others or helps you produce expressive or communicative media.

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 Adapting to Human Intelligence

Because devices embodying HI often require that the user learn a new skill set, adapting to them is not necessarily easy. Just as a young child takes many years to become proficient at using his or her hands, some devices that implement HI have taken years of use before they begin to behave like natural extensions of the mind and body. So, in terms of human–computer interaction,5 the goal is not just to construct a device that can model (and learn from) the user, but, more important, to construct a device from which the user also must learn. Therefore, to facilitate the latter, devices embodying HI should provide a constant user interface that is not so sophisticated and intelligent that it confuses the user. Over a long period of time, the user will become one with the machine, constantly adapting to the machine intelligence, even if he or she only occasionally deliberately uses the machine. 

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