Adventures in Assistive Technology

From The Democrat and Chronicle: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110928/NEWS01/109280329/UR-joins-pervasive-computing-effort?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

Professor Henry Kautz, chairman of the University of Rochester's Computer Science Department, has a special interest in using computers to help the elderly and people with disabilities.

In one of his research projects, Kautz has a 3D camera hooked up to a computer programmed to ask if help is needed when a person seems confused about what to do next in preparing a meal. It will then offer a prompt on what steps to take to complete the task.

Kautz's research will get a boost when UR joins an initiative organized by Intel Labs and involving five other major research universities. Working with Intel, the leading maker of computer processors, UR will team up with researchers from Cornell University, Stanford University, UCLA, Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Washington. Much of the work will be done at member colleges, although the University of Washington will be the base of the center.

"The new center is, broadly, to explore new kinds of computer systems — not limited to desktop computers," said Kautz.

Intel, founded in 1968, develops technologies, products and initiatives to advance how people work and live. According to Intel, the work of the initiative — called pervasive computing — is "high-value" and can be applied to real lives. The goal over the long term is to improve consumers' physical and emotional well-being, assist them in coordinating their busy lives and enhance the functioning of the home.

"The whole notion of pervasive computing is to embed small computer devices and sensors into everyday objects," said Dieter Fox, who is associate professor of computer science at the University of Washington and is overseeing this initiative.

Cellphones, for instance, can already be equipped to tell users their exact locations.

But, according to Fox, the pervasive computing initiative could take technology further by creating devices that tell users when it's time to pick up their children at day care or that they need to leave work early because there was a car accident on the travel route.

Read the full story at: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110928/NEWS01/109280329/UR-joins-pervasive-computing-effort?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

Posted by jla134 at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From boston.com: http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-20/business/30180956_1_steering-wheel-research-car-computer

It can talk, see, drive and no longer needs a human being to control it by remote. The car of the future — completely computer-controlled — is on the streets of Berlin.

All summer, researchers from the city's Free University have been testing the automobile around the German capital.

The vehicle maneuvers through traffic on its own using a sophisticated combination of devices, including a computer, electronics and a precision satellite navigation system in the trunk, a camera in the front, and laser scanners on the roof and around the front and rear bumpers.

"The vehicle can recognize other cars on the road, pedestrians, buildings and trees up to 70 meters (yards) around it and even see if the traffic lights ahead are red or green and react accordingly," Raul Rojas, the head of the university's research group for artificial intelligence, told reporters at a presentation Friday.

Posted by jla134 at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From PCWorld: http://www.pcworld.com/article/240168/26foottall_rubiks_cube_is_even_harder_to_solve.html#tk.rss_main

It first appeared at Burning Man, providing a guiding light in the wastes, and now it's coming to Seattle's Pacific Science Center. What is it? Why, it's a huge 26-foot Rubik's cube that can actually be solved. It takes 3 people, however, and they stand apart from each other (60ft-Burning Man, 30ft-PacSci) and each participant only gets to rotate one axis. Created by Groove Studios, they call it the "Groovik’s Cube."

As the Groovik site puts it:

"Groovik's Cube offers a unique new playing mode consisting of three players who must collaborate to solve the classic Rubik's cube puzzle. The cube is controlled via three touch screen interfaces located around the cube, with each interface capable of rotating only one axis of the cube - no single player can solve the cube alone."

I know what you're thinking, because I thought it too: The giant cube doesn’t rotate and turn in the air as if it were being solved by Yoda. The cube, which is built from steel and fabric, is lit from the inside with powerful LEDs, so it just has to change the color being displayed to reflect the moves made by the players.

Not having to move and rotate an enormous steel Rubik's cube also allows people, as in 3 of them, to compete for the fastest solving time possible. The Groovik's Cube has only been solved 6 times with the fastest time so far was at Burning Man, surprisingly enough, where 3 people puzzled it out with a time of just 46 minutes. I wonder how long it took them to find threepeople at Burning Man who could work together well enough to solve the massive Rubik's cube.

Weighing in at a little over 2 tons (4500 lbs), the huge cube can be mounted on a steel pole and secured by guy-lines. Surprisingly, all the lights in the cube use only as much energy as 2 hair dryers. It's pretty impressive considering how bright the cube looks in some of the pictures.

They're building a Groovik for the Pacific Science Center right now, and as of this writing, there are three videos up showing the first few days of construction in quick time-lapses. We've embedded the most recent one above, but check out the Pacific Science Center's YouTube channel for the earlier ones.

Posted by jla134 at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From disabilityscoop: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2011/09/20/tech-giant-autism-apps/14068/

Hewlett-Packard is teaming up with a pair of autism organizations to develop apps to help people with the disorder handle everything from scheduling and communication to bullying.

At a "hackathon" scheduled for Oct. 11, the computer giant plans to bring together a slew of volunteer developers tasked with creating apps to address seven core areas of need for people within the autism community.

Some of the apps are expected to be designed for individuals with the disorder to use themselves. These might include apps featuring social stories, help with time management, assistive communication software or a tool to report bullying. Other applications will be designed to help parents and professionals track progress with behavior or other medical concerns.

Ideas for the apps were selected from over 250 suggestions submitted to Autism Speaks and the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, which partnered with HP on the "Hacking Autism" initiative.

Once complete, the apps will be provided to the public free of charge, according to officials at Autism Speaks.

Organizers said it’s not yet clear what platforms the apps will work on, though they hope to make the software available for smartphone and tablet users.

Posted by jla134 at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 'Transcribe Your Class' Project is up and running for another semester.

During this project, students are able to submit recorded lectures (audio or video) to a special Hosted Transcription Service that automatically creates multimedia transcripts. The multimedia transcript returned to the student has been edited for accuracy.

Research results to date are very positive. Students that participated in the first phase overwhelmingly endorsed the system and indicated that the availability of these transcripts augmented other supports, facilitated better access to course information, and led to increased independence.

For the second phase of the project, we have made the following important changes:

- Until we reach our maximum number of participants, students will now be able to upload unlimited files for transcription.
- The system can now accept various media formats, including mp3.
- Students that complete the project will receive a $50 stipend for their contributions to the research.

There is also a short video that explains the project at http://transcribeyourclass.ca/index.html

A brief application and complete project details are available at http://transcribeyourclass.ca/participate.html

Or, contact DSS at the U of S for more information: dss@usask.ca or 966-7273.

Posted by jla134 at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)