Wireless RERC - Wearables

Wireless Researchers Presenting at CSUN 2015

mz22 — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 16:45:11 +0000

accessibility

Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC)

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

Wearables

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Presentations

Wireless RERC researchers Ben Lippincott and John Morris will be presenting at the 30th Annual Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference, also known as CSUN 2015. The conference will convene in San Diego, CA from March 2 to March 7, 2015. Attend the conference and be sure to visit the following Wireless RERC sessions:

Wireless Independence Now Workshop: AT&T and the Wireless RERC will conduct educational outreach sessions that will educate users with disabilities about accessibility features found on wireless devices.

Use of Mainstream Wireless Technology by Adults who Use AAC: This lecture will present findings of a study of access to and use of mainstream wireless technology by adults who use specialized Speech Generating Devices.

EyeRemember App on Google Glass for People with Acquired Brain Injury: Presentation of results from development and testing of Google Glass app that reminds users with acquired brain injury of important information regarding friends and family.

Call for Papers Open - 2015 Web for All (W4A) Conference

mz22 — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 12:40:38 +0000

Wearable Technology

Wearables

Web Accessibility

W4A 2015: IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY OF THE WEB, MOBILES AND WEARABLES!

The 12^th Annual Web 4 All (W4A’15) Conference, an event highlighting innovations in wearable and accessible technologies, will take place May 18-20, 2015 in Florence Italy. The W4A’15 theme is “The Wearable Web,” promoting the best of web, mobile, and wearable innovations designed for people with and without disabilities. Some highlights for the event include:

IBM will provide travel grants to both grad and undergrad students with disabilities
Google will sponsor 6 PhD students to participate in the Doctoral Student Consortium
Intuit will award $2,000 and $1,000 to the best technical and communication papers
The Paciello Group (TPG) will give awards to the winners of the Accessibility Challenge

Technology and paper submissions are currently being accepted and should discuss the technical solutions and scientific insights into technologies addressing diverse user needs (i.e. access and functional needs, culture, education, emotions, etc.). W4A’15 will be accepting submission until January 23, 2015, and notify award recipients by March 4, 2015

The event is also co-located with the 2015 24^th International World Wide Web Conference Web for All and the International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services in Florence, Italy.

Georgia Tech Creates Google Glass Caption Software

mz22 — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 15:36:59 +0000

Google Glass

Wearables

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

Researchers create software for Google Glass that provides captions for hard-of-hearing users

October 2014 – A research team at Georgia Tech has created Google Glass speech-to-text software that facilitates conversations for users who are hard-of-hearing. The software allows people who are hard-of-hearing to wear Google Glass while another person speaks into a smartphone. The smartphone works with an Android transcription API, allowing the speech to be converted to text and displayed on Glass’ heads-up display.

The software was inspired by Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing Professor, Jim Foley. When asked about the software, Foley said, “This system allows wearers like me to focus on the speaker’s lips and facial gestures. If hard-of-hearing people understand the speech, the conversation can continue immediately without waiting for the caption. However, if I miss a word, I can glance at the transcription, get the word or two I need and get back into the conversation.”

The captioning software for Google Glass is available for download at MyGlass. For more information about the project, please click the here.

Shepherd Center and Wireless RERC Awarded Google Grant

mz22 — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 19:53:07 +0000

Google Glass

Wearables

Wearable Technology

Google Awards Grant to Shepherd Center Researchers to Create Wearable Computer App for People with Memory Deficits

The Shepherd Center and the Wireless RERC have been awarded the Google Glass Accessibility Grant to develop an application to assist individuals who experience brain injury-related memory loss. The $15,000 award amount will go towards app development and testing on the Google Glass device. The wearable computer technology will aid in helping users recognize people who do not regularly frequent their social circle, a common issue for those who have memory loss.

The Google Glass device includes head-mounting, optical display, smartphone-like features and voice response technology, ideal for those who may have usability challenges. John Morris, Ph.D., the project leader for the app, references three potential benefits of the app:

If the solution proves effective, people living with brain injury may enjoy greater levels of community and family participation, with lower levels of stress and anxiety;
The user-testing research involved with the app development could help researchers develop a specific clinical practice protocol for use of electronic memory aids;
The research and development community could benefit from this work through the researchers’ presentation of their results at conferences and in professional publications.

The app will be free to the public upon release. For more information, please click the link below.

2014 “Getting Wireless” Student Design Challenge

mz22 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:12:25 +0000

Universal Design (UD)

inclusive design

user-centered design

Wearables

“Getting Wireless” Student Design Challenge

February 2014 — Wireless RERC researcher, Jim Mueller, introduced the 5^th annual “Getting Wireless” universal design challenge to 29 second-year Industrial Design students at Virginia Tech (VT). Along with the VT students, 40 second-year and 19 third-year Industrial Design students at GA Tech will begin the challenge in March. The theme of the 2014 “Getting Wireless” challenge is wearable technologies. Hands-on demonstrations of Google Glass will be provided to the students at the beginning of the project to offer them a starting point and encourage them to consider the diversity of emerging wearable devices. Final project designs will be presented at the HEAL event in May.