HCI Research, Wearable Interaction, Prototyping

Team: Aakash Maddi, Archit Jha, Manu Suresh

4 Months

Introduction

Human beings are information omnivores who crave new information every minute. The urge to stay connected and updated led us to a world infested with wearables. However, these devices and the interactions used to attend to notifications emanating from them are still frowned upon owing to their attention-grabbing nature. Our study attempts to enhance the experience of receiving and attending to notifications by encouraging face-up interactions over their heads-down counterparts. We implement indirect light-based feedback using a wearable prototype at different physio-locations on the arm to notify users of incoming notifications and compare its acceptability in social contexts with the tactile vibration-based feedback. We also discuss a future implementation of our prototype using conductive fibers that potentially blend this novel feedback modality into our daily fashion. In an attempt to do so, we introduce a new gesture called the “brush-off technique” that makes the user interactions natural and inconspicuous.

The main objective of wearables is to not only convey the arrival or update of information but also to change our interactions from heads down to face up. However, they all demand significant user attention and disrupt the user activity when notifying the user of an incoming alert. The surge of interest in wearables and on-body technology could safely be attributed to the growing impact of mobile phones in disrupting social interactions.

Although, not just the visual appearance of the wearable but the interactions used to communicate with it also fall under the lens of social judgement. For example, twisting one’s legs to control a device may draw more flak than turning the wrists, as the former is physically inconvenient. Gestures need to be designed responsibly, especially for wearables since their position on the body may transition from one user pose to another, resulting in a change in the needs of the user. 

Approach

The study is designed based on the principles of user-centered design and is planned to be conducted in two stages.

1. Development of the prototype
2. User testing
   1. Effectiveness of the feedback modality in social contexts, with participants as observers.
   2. Effectiveness of the system with participants as users, wearing the prototype.

Concept

Our study aims to eliminate users’ disconnect from the physical world by conceptualizing a new feedback modality. The idea is to inform the users of notifications by providing a visual stimulus through glowing light under their clothes.

In this project, we present the concept of an inconspicuous wearable device that blends into our daily fashion and operates by notifying the users without disrupting their interaction with people around them. Also, we consider the idea of new gesture-based interaction techniques and suitable locations on the body to make them look and feel natural in a social context. We developed a study to capture the effectiveness of light-based feedback modalities versus vibration-based.

In our venture to develop a natural interaction that stays invisible in a social context, we propose a new interaction technique called the “Brush Off technique”. The motivation behind this technique is to eliminate the attention and incorporate a gesture that is common in our daily lives. Brushing off the dust from our clothes is one of the most intuitive actions to eliminate dirt and dust from the body.

Prototype

The project began with the exploration of suitable components and circuits. This idea required a system that enabled a connection through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. One of the best possible out-of-box options available that suited the requirements was Particle.io’s Photon, a lightweight Wi-Fi bundle.

In an attempt to create a more portable and usable prototype, we explored various designs to house the components. The final version of the housing was chosen to maintain the modularity of the concept while making it more portable to be worn on a user’s shirt using a slide-in clip-based design as shown below. 

While the other components were sewn into a faux sleeve that could be fastened on the user’s arm, the battery and the photon were encased in a 3D-printed housing clipped onto the same sleeve.

The faux sleeve prototype was designed to be worn inside the user’s layers of clothing. Both the vibration motor and the LEDs were on the inside of the sleeve and in contact with the user’s skin. LEDs were placed on the edge of the sleeve and a push-button switch was provided on the outside to turn off any vibration or light feedback from the prototype. The idea was to simulate the control of the circuit through conductive fibers woven into the user’s clothing that would act as a switch.

User Study

The user study was designed to capture the participant’s likeness and the perceived effectiveness of the feedback modalities in both a social setting and a personal setting. It consisted of two phases and was carried out in public spaces such as the library and the cafe at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Phase 1: The moderator put on the prototype under a full-sleeved t-shirt and struck a general conversation with the participant as the observers cycled through the 6 inputs by sending signals over Wi-Fi to the prototype (3 vibrational and 3 light-based) while observing the participant's responses from a distance. The participants weren’t informed about the prototype on the moderator’s hand but were debriefed about the prototype after the completion of the first phase.

Phase 2: The participants were asked to put on the prototype two physio-locations (the wrist and the upper arm) on their dominant hand. With the prototype on the wrist, the users were asked to draw basic shapes and concentric circles on a sheet of paper, and with the prototype on their upper arm, they were asked to read a book to summarize the contents for the moderator. The participants were asked to press the switch to turn off feedback from the prototype as soon as they noticed it but were requested not to consciously keep an eye out for it.

A total of 16 participants( 9 female, 7 male) were recruited from RIT in the age range of 20–27 years. 

FINDINGS

1. Prior to the study, 50%(8 out of 16) of our participants agreed to the notion that vibration-based feedback was disturbing during work while 15%(2) of them disagreed and 25%(4) were neutral.
2. The participants pointed out that emails and missed calls take a higher priority for them over social media and IM app notifications.
3. In the first phase of the study, 14 participants (87.5%) did not notice the illumination of light under the moderator’s sleeve, and none of them was able to identify any vibration during their conversation with the moderator.
4. During the second phase of the study, 10 participants believed that vibration was better in public places than light-based feedback. 

Challenges

My Role

1. Programmed the microcontroller
2. Designed and fabricated the electronic circuits
3. Contributed to the planning of and conducting of user testing sessions

What we learned

1. Hands-on experience with Photon and microelectronics prototyping.
2. Implementation of 3D printing and mechanical design using Google Sketchup and Cura printers. 
3. Recognizing one's strengths and weaknesses to effectively delegate work.