{"606097":{"#nid":"606097","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Wearable Ring, Wristband Allow Users to Control Smart Tech With Hand Gestures","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENew technology created by a team of Georgia Tech researchers could make controlling text or other mobile applications as simple as \u0026ldquo;1-2-3.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUsing acoustic chirps emitted from a ring and received by a wristband, like a smartwatch, the system is able to recognize 22 different micro finger gestures that could be programmed to various commands \u0026mdash; including a T9 keyboard interface, a set of numbers, or application commands like playing or stopping music.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/a-R45u5sqFc\u0022\u003Evideo demonstration of the technology\u003C\/a\u003E shows how, at a high rate of accuracy, the system can recognize hand poses using the 12 bones of the fingers and digits \u0026lsquo;1\u0026rsquo; through \u0026lsquo;10\u0026rsquo; in American Sign Language (ASL).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Some interaction is not socially appropriate,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Cstrong\u003ECheng Zhang\u003C\/strong\u003E, the Ph.D. student in the School of Interactive Computing who led the effort. \u0026ldquo;A wearable is always on you, so you should have the ability to interact through that wearable at any time in an appropriate and discreet fashion. When we\u0026rsquo;re talking, I can still make some quick reply that doesn\u0026rsquo;t interrupt our interaction.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince one of the\u0026nbsp;goals\u0026nbsp;was to enter digits using only one hand, the team decided to use\u0026nbsp;ASL, which already has well defined hand postures for each digit. In this manner, the user might select options from a numbered list, call a phone number, or do simple calculations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe system is called \u003Cem\u003EFingerPing\u003C\/em\u003E. Unlike other technology that requires the use of a glove or a more obtrusive wearable, this technique is limited to just a thumb ring and a watch. The ring produces acoustic chirps that travel through the hand and are picked up by receivers on the watch. There are specific patterns in which sound waves travel through structures, including the hand, that can be altered by the manner in which the hand is posed. Utilizing those poses, the wearer can achieve up to 22 pre-programmed commands.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe gestures are small and non-invasive, as simple as tapping the tip of a finger or posing your hand in classic \u0026ldquo;1,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;2,\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;3\u0026rdquo; gestures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The receiver recognizes these tiny differences,\u0026rdquo; Zhang said. \u0026ldquo;The injected sound from the thumb will travel at different paths inside the body with different hand postures. For instance, when your hand is open there is only one direct path from the thumb to the wrist. Any time you do a gesture where you close a loop, the sound will take a different path and that will form a unique signature.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EZhang said that the research is a proof of concept for a technique that could be expanded and improved upon in the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research was presented last month at the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). The paper is titled FingerPing: Recognizing Fine-grained Hand Poses Using Active Acoustic On-body Sensing (Cheng Zhang, \u003Cstrong\u003EQiuyue Xue\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EAnandghan Waghmare\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003ERuichen Meng\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003ESumeet Jain\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EYizeng Han\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EXinyu Li\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EKenneth Cunefare\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EThomas Ploetz\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EThad Starner\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EOmer Inan\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EGregory Abowd\u003C\/strong\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers on this team, including Zhang, have worked on similar unique gesture techniques in the past. Zhang graduated from Georgia Tech in May and will join the Information Science Department at Cornell University as a tenure-track assistant professor.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Using acoustic chirps emitted from a ring and received by a wristband, like a smartwatch, the system is able to recognize 22 different micro finger gestures that could be programmed to various commands."}],"uid":"33939","created_gmt":"2018-05-11 17:13:54","changed_gmt":"2018-05-24 13:47:29","author":"David Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-05-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-05-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"606096":{"id":"606096","type":"image","title":"FingerPing 1","body":null,"created":"1526058685","gmt_created":"2018-05-11 17:11:25","changed":"1526058685","gmt_changed":"2018-05-11 17:11:25","alt":"FingerPing Ring and Wristband","file":{"fid":"231158","name":"Screen Shot 2018-05-11 at 1.08.10 PM.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202018-05-11%20at%201.08.10%20PM.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202018-05-11%20at%201.08.10%20PM.png","mime":"image\/png","size":170906,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202018-05-11%20at%201.08.10%20PM.png?itok=JFfG2X5R"}}},"media_ids":["606096"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2017\/11\/29\/wearable-computing-ring-allows-users-write-words-and-numbers-thumb","title":"Using a Ring to Draw and Write"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2017\/11\/29\/wearable-computing-ring-allows-users-write-words-and-numbers-thumb","title":"Controlling Smartwatch with Breaths and Swipes"}],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"10353","name":"wearable computing"},{"id":"1944","name":"Thad Starner"},{"id":"177958","name":"cheng zhang"},{"id":"11002","name":"Gregory Abowd"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDavid Mitchell\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:david.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Edavid.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}