SMARTech Collection: Contextual Computing Group Publications

The Gesture Pendant: A Self-illuminating, Wearable, Infrared Computer Vision System for Home Automation Control and Medical Monitoring

Thu, 28 Sep 2000 22:58:59 GMT

Title: The Gesture Pendant: A Self-illuminating, Wearable, Infrared Computer Vision System for Home Automation Control and Medical Monitoring

Authors: Starner, Thad; Auxier, Jake; Ashbrook, Daniel; Gandy, Maribeth

Abstract: In this paper we present a wearable device for control of home automation systems via hand gestures. This solution has many advantages over traditional home automation interfaces in that it can be used by those with loss of vision, motor skills, and mobility. By combining other sources of context with the pendant we can reduce the number and complexity of gestures while maintaining functionality. As users input gestures, the system can also analyze their movements for pathological tremors. This information can then be used for medical diagnosis, therapy, and emergency services. Currently, the Gesture Pendant can recognize control gestures with an accuracy of 95% and user-defined gestures with an accuracy of 97% It can detect tremors above 2HZ within ±.1 Hz.

Description: Presented at the 4th IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computing (ISWC 2000), Atlanta, GA., October 2000.; ©2000 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

Mobile Capture for Wearable Computer Usability Testing

Fri, 28 Sep 2001 22:58:59 GMT

Title: Mobile Capture for Wearable Computer Usability Testing

Authors: Lyons, Kent; Starner, Thad

Abstract: The mobility of wearable computers makes usability testing difficult. In order to fully understand how a user interacts with the wearable, the researcher must examine both the user’s direct interactions with the computer, as well as the external context the user perceives during their interaction. We present a tool that augments a wearable computer with additional hardware and software to capture the information needed to perform a usability study in the field under realistic conditions. We examine the challenges in doing the capture and present our implementation. We also describe VizWear, a tool for examining the captured data. Finally, we present our experiences using the system for a sample user study.

Description: Presented at the 5th IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computing (ISWC 2001), Zurich, Switzerland, October 2001.; ©2001 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

Using Multiple Sensors for Mobile Sign Language Recognition

Sun, 28 Sep 2003 22:58:59 GMT

Title: Using Multiple Sensors for Mobile Sign Language Recognition

Authors: Brashear, Helene; Starner, Thad; Lukowicz, Paul; Junker, Holger

Abstract: We build upon a constrained, lab-based Sign Language recognition system with the goal of making it a mobile assistive technology. We examine using multiple sensors for disambiguation of noisy data to improve recognition accuracy. Our experiment compares the results of training a small gesture vocabulary using noisy vision data, accelerometer data and both data sets combined.

Description: Presented at the 7th IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC 2003), White Plains, New York, October 2003.; ©2003 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

Towards a One-Way American Sign Language Translator

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 22:58:59 GMT

Title: Towards a One-Way American Sign Language Translator

Authors: Brashear, Helene; Henderson, Valerie; Hernandez-Rebollar, Jose; McGuire, R. Martin; Ross, Danielle S.; Starner, Thad

Abstract: Inspired by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) recent successes in speech recognition, we introduce a new task for sign language recognition research: a mobile one-way American Sign Language translator. We argue that such a device should be feasible in the next few years, may provide immediate practical benefits for the Deaf community, and leads to a sustainable program of research comparable to early speech recognition efforts. We ground our efforts in a particular scenario, that of a Deaf individual seeking an apartment and discuss the system requirements and our interface for this scenario. Finally, we describe initial recognition results of 94% accuracy on a 141 sign vocabulary signed in phrases of fours signs using a one-handed glove-based system and hidden Markov models (HMMs).

Description: Presented at the 6th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, Seoul, Korea, May 2004.; ©2004 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.