Researchers from Texas A&M Engineering developed changing hardware that can be used in unconventional ways. They incorporate intelligent features like sensing and energy harvesting, turning passive interfaces into adaptive interfaces. These interfaces will power millions of computers, helping those with disabilities and automating household chores.
A light switch that powers an LED to help locate it during night. A light switch that powers an LED to help locate it during night. Image Credit: Dr. Jeeeun Kim/Texas A&M Engineering.
Hardware that can store energy but only use that energy for the specified purpose is called a passive interface. Examples of such hardware are light switches and doorknobs. However, research is developing new ways to harness and adapt that energy. For example, opening your fridge could activate the kitchen light, or unlocking the doorknob could activate the alarm system.
Kim's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation will fund this research.
Daily design issues are hard to attend if prior experiences are used as a baseline. Even to those with known personal goals, like reducing utility bills, adopting the latest scientific advances in real life demands expertise because tools to support end-users, like you and me, are lacking.
Dr. Jeeeun Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Texas A&M Engineering
3D-Printed Augmentations
Through 3D-printed augmentations, the project will seek to raise user awareness of everyday computational issues and redesign opportunities. A window slide or a refrigerator’s door hinges can be enhanced by adding an attachment that transforms the energy generated by sliding the window or opening the door into energy that can be used in different ways. With augmentation, for instance, turning a doorknob may activate an intruder alarm, or opening a refrigerator could activate the inventory display.
This study will explore novel approaches to capture highly conceptual interaction properties and critical fabrication parameters for accurate and efficient complex augmentations. This will make intelligent augmentations affordable for users.
Dr. Kim added, “Unfortunately, recent advances in AI research of today only focus on object, instance level detection from millions of images and videos such as a toilet, microwave, not the human interactions, lifting a toilet lid and tapping on microwave’s button panels, where all human-centered computing challenges actually occur.”
Kim has built a novel framework for a large-scale dataset that helps characterize human interactions with everyday things, fine-grained pieces, and their interaction features.
Kim has created an end-to-end software solution that allows laypeople to point their smartphone camera at their indoor surroundings, scan for hidden accessibility barriers, and overlay found information on Augmented Reality (AR) views.
Awareness of Wasted Energy
Kim hopes that this tool will encourage pro-social behavior by raising awareness of accessibility and design opportunities that are plentiful but often missed.
Dr. Kim stated, “My research is not limited to accessibility solely. I hope my toolkit for end-users can scan the multi-residential buildings and interactions at multiple dimensions, so residents also can notice how inaccessible their common physical environments are, how much energy is being wasted, and how they can make changes toward smart, sustainable buildings by themselves.”
Although replacing these interfaces entirely with smart devices is impractical and could result in e-waste with a significant negative environmental impact, augmentations offer a cost-effective way to reconfigure everyday interfaces. Kim hopes that this research will guide the modification of physical interfaces to make them more user-friendly and economical.
Dr. Kim concluded, “By tackling multifaceted, interdisciplinary approaches across digital fabrication, end-user programming, deep learning, robotics, and design, this project lays the foundation for a future where every individual creates daily innovations in assistive computing devices, smart homes, and green buildings.” The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), Texas A&M Engineering's official research organization, oversees funding for this study.