CarCoach
CarCoach is a car-integrated computerized system that provides proactive feedback by employing tactile and audible modalities. The system detects common driving behaviors and identifies patterns of good and bad driving habits. Such as, excessive braking force, extreme acceleration, turning or changing lanes without signaling and unsteady steering. A study evaluated the effectiveness of the system by looking at the effects of positive Vs. negative feedback, as well as the effects of scheduled Vs. continuous feedback on driving performance and anxiety.
Lover’s Cups
Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung
Lover’s Cups explore the idea of sharing feelings of drinking between two people in different places by using cups as communication interfaces of drinking. Two cups are wireless connected to each other with sip sensors and LED illumination. The Lover’s cups will glow and celebrate when your lover is drinking.
The Exercise Car: A Solution to Drowsy Driving?
Ted Selker, Anna Pandolfo, Matthew Hockenberry
Drowsy drivers are a danger to themselves and others on the road. Additionally, for many commuters it is hard to get ample time to exercise during the week as commuting time eats away at personal time. The ExcerCar project is an effort to enhance both alertness and physical activity. We are developing an exercise interface to the vehicle that counteracts the effects of fatigue and inactivity while driving. The hypothesis is that exercise will mitigate the effects of fatigue and increase a drowsy driver’s alertness. Put another way, can Fred Flintstone’s car make him a more alert driver?
Project Webpage
Walter’s Helmet
Ted Selker, Ernesto Arroyo and Minna Ha
Walter’s Helmet is a bike helmet project. The project seeks to establish mediated information with the minimum of user distraction. As a hands-free interface, the helmet will listen to the audio, imagery, and motion of the environment. The bicyclist can make phone calls or give dictation, or listen to music or other information. The helmet attempts to provide the user with the most information and the least interruptions. It uses a horn, and front, back, and side lighting for visibility and signaling. The helmet is designed to intrude slightly with unusual external information; for example, it will tell you when a car is approaching.
HiTV
Jackie Lee, Chaochi Chang and Hyemin Chung
We introduce HiTV that enable affective interaction and feedback capabilities with TV. HiTV encourages people reacting to the TV contents with affective actions with a soft ball. When watching TV, a person can pick up the HiTV soft ball to toss around or throw the ball to hit the TV when s/he doesn’t like the character or contents in the TV. As the ball hits the TV, the character inside the TV program will get visually distorted and scream. With HiTV, the interaction and feedback of the TV experience can be greatly enhanced by considering the affective actions of TV audience and fulfilling their expectation from emotional reaction. Webpage
I/O Earphones
Connor Dickie and Ted Selker
When it comes to designing wearable computers creators must play within the constraints of what is socially acceptable, or risk limiting the technology to a small audience. With this in mind we endeavour to incorporate sensor networks into ordinary headphones, and use the information garnered from this network to reason about a user’s state. We are also developing software that will support the explicit and implicit interactions supported by I/O Earphones.