Technology has many ramifications through its application. Already we are seeing dramatic changes in social structure and lifestyle through the availability of information at the touch of a button. In contrast to the changes however, many paradigms still remain constant. Rather than making revolutionary leaps in the ideas on how to actually apply the technologies, economic factors have made for more evolutionary steps. Unfortunately this has led to a widespread technology industry approach of taking baby steps rather than pushing the technologies to their limits.
The Body Automatic project seeks to take existing technologies and expand on them by using commodity components as an initial platform to develop and explore the next revolutionary step of human interaction with technology. Our project differs from the wearable projects at Carnegie Mellon and MIT in our goal of eventual transparency with the surrounding environment. Other current projects tend to focus on immediate applicability in the industry. This focus seems to lead to end results that are tailored to specific solutions rather than a general-purpose platform.
In order to achieve the goal of transparency through a pervasive information network, the Body Automatic project can be seen as somewhat platform independent. Rather, the team is focusing on universal hurdles that face the use of wearable technologies. One barrier to the widespread acceptance of the technology lies in the human/computer interface. While our current platform features a display to control the system, we feel that it is a temporary solution to the problem. In addition, the value of information in the proper context and time can not be understated. Through the use of sensor data and global positioning systems, the Body Automatic team is seeking to overcome this challenge.
Teams that are composed of only computer scientists or engineers risk approaching a problem through very similar perspectives. While a single disciplinary approach can result in a rapid solution, the end result might illustrate factors unconsidered by the team. To avoid this pitfall, the Body Automatic team is composed of members from extremely varied disciplines. We feel that while not everyone might be able to specifically contribute to the other’s work, the unique perspectives provided by each team member can provide extremely valuable insight that might otherwise be overlooked. Currently the Body Automatic team consists of members from the Theater and Dance Department, the Convergent Media program, the Computer Science Department, and the Electrical Engineering Department. In addition to their expertise, the team members also bring backgrounds in Architecture and Design.
The Body Automatic project is a multi-year experiment that will be realized through various phases. The first phase of the Body Automatic project involves the assembly of the hardware components and construction of the sensory network. In this phase, the initial software engines will also be interfaced to the various components. The second phase involves the utilization of the system in both real world and performative scenarios. Additional phases will involve the modification of the fundamental human computer interfaces to the system as well as the evolution beyond commodity components.
