Home automation has always been considered a much more comfortable and smart way to use home devices. This is true, but there is also an improvement in accessibility that may not be obvious to the majority of Spaniards, but those with some type of disability may appreciate it.
To improve the use of different household appliances, the use of wearables, devices that we carrylike watches (which can even help us quit smoking) or rings. The latest project comes from the University of Washington, which showed a device with a camera that can control smart devices simply by pointing and gesturing.
It's a wireless ring, like the ones we've seen in recent months, but it bases its interaction with other elements on images. To do this it requires the inclusion of a camera, which captures them so that they can be processed by the smartphone to which it is connected.
We call it IRIS, acronym for Interactive Ring for interfacing with smart home devices (interactive ring to manipulate home automation devices). This device was created for don't depend on voice commands with whom we usually interact with this type of devices, whether through the Alexa voice assistant, that of Google or even that of Apple.
The ring has a camera that can detect the device it is pointing at. Once identified and previously configured, a marked action can be executed using the by pressing a button integrated on itas shown in the demo video.
In addition to being able to program an action by clicking on the button You can do the same for gestures by moving your handthanks to the accelerometer integrated into the device. This allows us to measure the movement we make and relate it to a different action.
For example, you can point at a speaker and press the button to start or pause music, then point and rotate to increase or decrease the volume. And all that without having to use voice commands or use your smartphone, which makes it much more comfortable for some people. Another use would be to connect the ring to a smart lock, as shown in the image, so that by connecting it to the phone it serves as a remote opening system.
Examples of using IRIS
Free Android
One of the most remarkable elements is that IRIS is able to understand what it sees through the camera using computer vision modelsknowing that it must perform one action and not another depending on where you point. So even if we point to a specific light, we should not be afraid that it is wrong and believe that it is another light that needs to be turned on or off.
The ring has a small battery that allows its use between 16 and 24 hoursat least in the prototype designed by researchers at the University of Washington. It connects to the mobile via Bluetooth, transmitting the image captured by the camera. The smartphone analyzes it using artificial intelligence and executes the action we have programmed.
Examples of using IRIS
Free Android
“Voice commands tend to be very cumbersome,” said Maruchi Kim, a doctoral student at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington and one of the project's creators. “We wanted to create something as simple as clicking an icon on your computer desktop.”
One of the biggest challenges, according to the researchers, was place the system in a ring because they thought it was the best way for users to wear it throughout the day. The challenge was integrating a camera into a wireless smart ring with its implications in terms of size and power limitations. As if that wasn't enough, the system also had to turn devices on and off in less than a second, otherwise users would think it wasn't working and stop using it.
Dada las limitaciones de la transferencia de datos del bluetooth, los investigadores hicieron que el anillo comprimiera las imágenes antes de enviarlas al smartphone para su procesamiento por el motor de visión por ordenador. Para ahorrar batería, la transmisión de datos se activa cuando el usuario hace clic en el botón y se apaga a los tres segundos. Según el estudio realizado por estos investigadores, la mayoría de participantes del mismo prefirieron IRIS a un sistema de comandos de voz. Uno de los motivos es que IRIS controlaba los dispositivos del hogar más de dos segundos más rápido que los comandos de voz.
“En el futuro, la integración del sistema de cámara IRIS en un anillo inteligente de seguimiento de la salud sería un paso adelante enorme para este tipo de aparatos”, ha indicado Kim. “Permitiría que los anillos inteligentes aumenten o mejoren la capacidad humana, en lugar de simplemente indicar el recuento de pasos o la frecuencia cardíaca”. Actualmente la mayoría de anillos inteligentes de empresas de primer nivel se centran en este tipo de funciones de salud. Por el momento este proyecto está en desarrollo, y no se ha anunciado ni como modelo comercial ni como idea para escalar en un futuro inmediato.