At The Movies: Tactile Art & Tech for Autism

David Chesney is Back. This Time With Sean Ahlquist (Art & Architecture) and Sile O’Modhrain (Music). The project being highlighted this time is designed to use a flexible stretch “coloring book” to provide a kind of engaging biofeedback to children with autism regarding the amount of pressure they are using. This would have been fantastic to have when my son was small.

David Chesney: “The research that I do here at the University of Michigan is at the intersection of technology and childhood disability.”

Tactile Art | MichEpedia | MconneX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQU7ZhMvH2k

University researchers and students create device designed to aid in Autism therapy https://www.michigandaily.com/news/university-researchers-and-students-different-fields-study-create-device-designed-aid-autism-th

More videos about the project from Dr. Ahlquist.

Social Sensory Surfaces Research Project from Sean Ahlquist on Vimeo.

Social Sensory Surfaces Research Project https://vimeo.com/125392278

Stretch|PLAY from Sean Ahlquist on Vimeo.

Stretch|PLAY https://vimeo.com/125633678

Social Sensory Surfaces: http://taubmancollege.umich.edu/research/research-through-making/2015/social-sensory-surfaces

Related work from Dr. Chesney on his work with autism.

Software Engineering Class Hacks Autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUT-Chcffqc

Digital avatars help children with autism – w/video http://www.autismdailynewscast.com/digital-avatars-help-children-autism/21463/snapshot/

Hacking Autism and University of Michigan https://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/2012/05/01/hacking-autism-and-university-michigan

Video games help autistic students in classrooms http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-31/video-games-autism-students/55319452/1

More interesting projects by Dr. Chesney & his students.

Untapped Resonance: David Chesney at TEDxUofM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO9HSiUMylE

Engineering with Grace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDjYoyYfUQE
Engineering with Grace: Software class aims to help one teen communicate: http://ns.umich.edu/new/multimedia/slideshows/21712-engineering-with-grace-software-class-aims-to-help-one-teen-communicate
Computer Science with Soul: http://dme.engin.umich.edu/grace/

Provost’s Seminar on Teaching – Presenter David Chesney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDSwN1MEfnY

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At the Movies: Emerging Technologies for the New Year!

This is my last official work day of the year, which makes me think it is a ripe time to do a post looking over trends in emerging technologies. Maybe even a few posts. For starters, here is a roundup of videos from the past year that are looking at emerging technologies. Well, and you should always keep your eye on the Stanford Medicine X and TEDMED channels. FORAtv is another I like to track, although less medically oriented. This selection and more are available in my Emerging Technologies playlist.

The State of Technology in 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvWNonpZiIY
This video is by far the most Christmas-y of the collection, including Santa, the North Pole Workshop, and more. Watch for these emerging technologies. Did I miss any?
– ubiquitous satellite phones
– autolocation via GPS for crisis response
– independent robotic drones make deliveries
– Google Glass
– driverless cars
– 3d printing
– bioprinting
– auto-translation apps

Technology in Education: A Future Classroom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ73ZsBkcus
[From the 2014 White House Student Film Festival]
– greater variety of displays
– interactivity of surfaces
– portability
– interactive holographic displays for multiple viewers
– smart glass
– data & virtual object sharing for collaboration
– tutorials that track activities
– learning analytics
– gamification
– badges

Top 10 future technologies coming in 2015 (links) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViF_jJUfgio
– resonance (wireless) chargers
– 3d printing
– Windows 9
– iPhone 6, Sapphire screen (unscratchable & unbreakable)
– flexible tablets
– virtual reality headsets
– artificial self-regulating heart
– 1 terabyte archival disks (“CD”s / BlueRay)
– driverless cars
– Google’s Project Ara (modular personalized mobile/smartphone device design)

SIGGRAPH 2014 : Emerging Technologies Preview Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmyGD4yRTGE
– Pixie Dust (acoustic levitation of small objects)
– cascaded displays (spatiotemporal superresolution using offset pixel layers)
– Traxion (tactile interaction device with virtual force sensation)
– physical rendering with a digital airbrush
– HaptoMirage (interaction with 3D virtual environment without need of special glasses)
– MaD (mapping by demonstration, sonification of gestures to provide feedback, possible accessibility applications)
– Cyberith Virtualizer
– Birdly (see also Flying the Birdly Virtual Reality Simulator)

Welcome To The Future ( Samsung ) HD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyIvSIY0MTM
Just about displays, only the future of display technology, and how this will impact on our interactions with information and data in daily life.
– Flexible & sensor integrated displays
– Wall display
– Foldable display
– Bended display
– Automotive window display
– Blackboard display
– Unbreakable display
– Edu-desk display
– Transparent elevator display
– 3-foldable display
– Wearable display
– Smart window
– Table display
– Transparent large-format display
– Interactive floor display

World Economic Forum names top 10 emerging technologies of 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DniRTZx1FCw
– Body-adapted wearable electronics
– Nanostructured carbon composites
– Mining metals from desalination brine
– Grid-scale electricity storage
– Nanowire lithium-ion batteries
– Screenless display
– Human microbiome therapeutics
– RNA-based therapeutics
– Quantified self
– Brain-computer interfaces (BCI)
Most interesting observation from the video: “need for regulatory frameworks & strategic alliances among innovators and market leaders.” The report is available as a PDF.

Hybrid Librarian: Future’s 10 Mind-Blowing Technologies About to Emerge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K587Za5qSjA
– super smart assistants (intelligent assistants, AI, like Siri, Cortana, Google Now, Watson, Cyc)
– hypersonic trains
– wearable computers
– advanced 3D printing
– lab-grown organs
– super immersive gaming
– bionic arms
– driverless cars
– holographic technology
– eternal life

Make It Wearable (playlist) | Episode 2: Human Health https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2l3e1oNwUU
– trackers
– behavior modification
– big data
– patient-clincian relationship change
– injury identification
– rehabilitation
– prompts
– answer new questions
– data ownership
– research in the actual environment where behavior occurs
– “everyone can say, ‘this is my question. this is my data.'”

At the Movies: Games for Healing

I found so many great videos related to gaming, that I am going to have to subdivide them into sections. I’m thinking health, social change, education, just for starters. There several ways to slice each of these, so who knows? I’m starting with of the health-related gaming apps and tools that really caught my interest, and will expand upon some of this in the future.

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SickKids Pain Squad iPhone App http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsl9NjyVpHY
Sick Kids App: http://campaignpage.ca/sickkidsapp/

A really fascinating idea, this app uses simulations of the old “cops & robbers” type of games and action TV shows to engage kids in tracking down the “bad guy” in their cancer treatment.

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truth presents: Tommy Castillo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN8LJbh6v88
The Truth: Flavor Monsters: http://www.thetruth.com/games/play/flavor-monsters/

There are several videos of this game in Youtube and on the website for the game. I chose this one not because it shows gameplay but because it gives some explanation of the ideas behind the game, which focuses on awareness of chemicals and food additives.

“INVASION IS REAL. NO CITY IS SAFE.
FACT: In 2009, flavors were outlawed from cigarettes. But flavors still exist in 45 other tobacco products. Humanity needs you. Stop The Industry’s gunk spread before it’s too late. Download Flavor Monsters today. Free on iOS and Google Play.”

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ZOMBIES, RUN! A running game & audio adventure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyFqZtKvya0
Zombies Run Game: https://www.zombiesrungame.com
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/zombies-run!/id503519713

Speaking of monster invasions, check out Zombies, Run! This is one of the better known of a type of games called “exergames” or “exergaming”. They combine exercise with a game. In this game, zombies chase you, and you run. You get feedback from the game telling you how close the zombies are to catching you.

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The “What’s a Zamzee” Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ER015VIzU
Zamzee: https://www.zamzee.com/

Zamzee combines exergaming and kids, with an app to make moving fun. Personally, I suspect Dance Dance Revolution already has everyone else beat in this respect, but the idea is sound. Evidently it works pretty well, since this video was designed and made by an actual kid.

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Bad Trip: Navigate My Mind from KwanAlan on Vimeo.

Bad Trip: Navigate My Mind http://vimeo.com/47943812

Bad Trip completely blows my mind. It is a combination of gaming and psychology.

“Since November 2011, every moment of my life has been logged by a video camera that mounts on my eyeglasses, producing an expanding database of digitalized visual memories. Using custom virtual reality software, I design a virtual mindscape where people can navigate and experience my memories and dreams. The mindscape grows continually as fresh memories and dreams come in.”

While I am not suggesting that this particular game be used for health, I am thinking that this could be a really exciting approach to work with patients of a variety of sorts. The obvious connection is for patients with some kinds of mental illness, but I could also see this idea being repurposes to help explain the lives of persons with invisible disabilities, or a kind of storytelling approach toward learning about a new diagnosis through the life of someone who already has it and has had it for a while. Very creative!

At the Movies: Citizen Science

Science Nation – Citizen Science: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlcl85_gLR8

This video from the National Science Foundation focuses on the citizen science project, NestWatch, which coincidentally gives you another way to spend time. They have what is probably the world’s largest collection of web cams focused on bird’s nests. They also have a large collection of videos of nesting birds from the Macaulay Library. In nesting season, you could easily spend an enormous amount of time watching baby birds. The citizen scientists, however, do the daily checks, and keep data allowing the scientists to compare these nesting families to the behavior of their great-great-great grandparents. The most important line from the video:

“We need to be looking at these problems at very large geographic scales, and the only way to do that is with citizen science.”

Annotating the Deep Sea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMrTXA2cXno

“Census of Marine Life … concluded that the deep ocean is vastly underrepresented in their marine species database, the largest in the world. Undiscovered species are estimated to be 70%-80% of all marine species…. It’s likely that 700,000-800,000 species remain unknown.”

Panamath: Keeping Track of Football: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtF4zg7HjGA

And now for something a little different. Panamath, a citizen science math understanding project, has a lot of videos showing some of the things they’ve learned about how people think mathematically. This one talks about how our brains juggle all the information needed to understand what’s happening in a football game.

University Rink Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3IxAfgpa-o

Or maybe what you really want to be watching is hockey! Or even better, playing it! Well, there is a citizen science project for hockey, too. Scientists are concerned about the potential impact of global warming on outdoor hockey rinks, and have set up a citizen science project called RinkWatch to gather data on backyard rinks in northern climes.

iSeeChange: The Almanac: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjqtlWTFmk

“Whoa! Suddenly we have dust on snow, and well, that was a freaky Spring, and then the next Spring, and then the next Spring…. So something has changed. we’ve flipped some trigger, and now we’ve got this new paradigm.”

“We’re coming out of an ice age. We OUGHT to be warming up!” “Why now? Why do they all of a sudden think man is causing this?”

“Every year is different. Are you curious to know HOW different? We can find answers. Together.”

NYSL: Alexandra Horowitz on “Inside of a Dog”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGFJRzI3O3A

I couldn’t find a video promoting this citizen science project, but I did find this video explaining the sorts of information they hope the project will generate and help them understand. This is a lecture by Alexandra Horowitz about her popular book on how dog’s think. How they want to study dog cognition is by having people videotape themselves playing with their dog, and then upload it to the site for “Project: Play With Your Dog.” What a cool name is that for a science project?

At The Movies: Emerging Technologies (Feb 3, 2013)

I keep collecting videos on various topics for my work with the tag #2watch, but then never have time to actually look at them. I woke up this morning thinking, “Wow, that might make a nice weekend blogpost series!” So here you go. This week I stumbled on several videos illustrating or discussing emerging technologies.

Terminator’ arm is world’s most advanced prosthetic limb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUPnnROxvY

Phenomenal fine motor control, and you know it will just keep getting better, which is really exciting. I chuckled at the moment where he joked, “And this is [the movement] that scares the little kids” and then crooked his prosthetic index finger to its metal palm in the universal gesture for, “you better come here.” So will we have incredibly functional cyborgs, or just add new human limbs? Both are becoming ever more viable options.

Team of Doctors Successfully Perform Double Arm transplant on Veteran. http://singularityhub.com/2013/02/01/team-of-doctors-successfully-perform-double-arm-transplant-on-veteran/

Heart In A Box | Debbie Chesebro, Josh Kurz & Shane Winter from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Heart In A Box | Debbie Chesebro, Josh Kurz & Shane Winter http://vimeo.com/51888389#

“Heart In A Box explores the Organ Care System that revolutionizes heart transplantation by keeping the heart warm and beating during transportation from donor to recipient.” This innovative technology was developed at UCLA and is now available from Transmedics. PS, there are lots more fascinating etech videos in the Fast Forward competition. If I keep doing this series, we’ll get to more of them.

100 year old keeps sharp playing Nintendo DS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nawe7F8cZ_U

Not just emerging new technologies, but also innovative or emerging uses of current technologies. I love this idea of using gaming systems to preserve cognitive function in the elderly. Until I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease and MTHFR, I was worried about my own erratic cognitive functions. Now, while we have the medical solutions in place, I find I am very protective of my future cognitive functioning, and I’ve been looking for tools and solutions to help keep my brain lively and focused. Like her, I started using games. Mine are games I can play with friends on my phone, to add in the social aspect. The games this lovely lady is playing include: Scrabble, Zenses, My Word Coach, Art Academy, Classic Games, Family Fortunes, Left Brain Right Brain.

Wouldn’t it be cool if… you could engineer a better world? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU1vstn99mc

This starts out with an engineer making up something fun for a child’s birthday present, and then doing the “what if” that is so common among creative types, and expanding upon the original idea. The next thing you know, it becomes “what if we could use this approach to make prosthetics and medical devices more comfortable for spin cord injury patients?” He points out that this is not uncommon. When they started, “no one was thinking about revolutionizing robotics.” A big part of the value for me in this video was that he clarified what motivates both the creation and adoption of new technologies.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Kurzeil’s Singularity Hypothesis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWDuzTxoS4Q

Very interesting look at the role of emerging technologies in the future of humanity. Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked what he thought about Kurzweil’s theory of the Singularity. (Kurzweil wrote a book about this, if you want to know more.) Briefly, Tyson says, “I’m not convinced.” and then expands upon this to explain why he believes that over the past few hundred years humanity has created several tools that do something we used to do better than we ever did it, and it has yet to diminish our sense that being human is completely awesome. He says it better, so watch the video.

Want more? The MIT EmTech (Emerging Technologies) conference happened in October, and they now have posted videos of the presenters.

EmTech 2012: http://www2.technologyreview.com/emtech/12/

EmTech12 Videos: http://www2.technologyreview.com/emtech/12/video/#!/tab/highlights/