The Emotion Jacket

Paul Lemmens, a cognitive scientist in the User Experiences group of Philips, is researching the connection between emotion and touch, and how this can be used to evoke a wide range of emotions from excitement to relaxation. A jacket is worn by the user and it responds to signals encoded in a watched DVD. These signals trigger 64 independently controlled vibration motors that are distributed across the arms and torso.  This complex system of touch can then cause a shiver to go up a viewer’s spine or create butterflies in their stomach; and many other emotions to compliment the viewing experience. This kind of experience will heighten viewer empathy, by creating an emotional connection between them and the characters in the movie. Scientifically, this is a relatively unexplored territory, but as humans we have an intimate and innate connection between emotion and touch. Things look very promising for Philips as they strive to create a richer and more immersive entertainment experience for their customers.

The Hug Shirt™

This invention became famous when exhibited at Wired magazine’s NextFest and was named one of the best inventions for 2006 by Time Magazine. The Hug Shirt™ is worn and used to send and receive hugs over distance. Embedded in the shirt are sensors that feel the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the wearer. Actuators (receivers) also recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion of the hug that has been sent from the distant sender. This experience is created by sending data from the shirt (via Bluetooth) to your mobile device, which in turn delivers the hug data to your friend’s phone, and ultimately to their shirt.  Even if one of the two doesn’t have a shirt, the “shirtless” can create and send a virtual hug using HugMe™ software running on their mobile device. Apart from the technology itself being noteworthy, a user-centered approach including prototypes and user testing was part of the product’s design process. Furthermore, this approach moved it to market more quickly with better results.

Shape Shifting Garments

In the spring of 2007, fashion designer Hussein Chalayan exhibited a range of clothing which demonstrated the use of memory shape alloys in haute couture design. Shape memory alloys potentially allow for perfect fit adjustable shaped garments. When you run a particular current through a fabric, a shape is created which is ‘remembered’ when the current is switched off. Apply a different current and a different shape is created. In other words, you have programmable clothing. This allows zippers to be closed, cloth gathered, and hemlines to rise, without human assistance.  Now you have fashion as you see fit, literally.

The Kickbee

Corey Menscher, a father-to-be, has constructed a device called the Kickbee that notifies him when his unborn baby kicks inside the womb. The Kickbee is a stretchable band with attached sensors, and is worn by a pregnant mother over her stomach. A micro-controller in the band then captures the movement of the baby kicking, and transmits the signals wirelessly to an application on a nearby computer. The computer in turn broadcasts short messages of “I kicked Mommy!” on Twitter, which can be shared with family and friends. As an expecting father, I see this as some kind of surrogate experience, a substitute for the real thing.

Force Feedback Gamer’s Vest

TN Games® has come up with an incredibly immersive impact-generating technology that utilizes an air compressor system to fire pneumatic cells, each capable of delivering up to 5 lbs of force. These cells fire at their own rates, force, and duration, giving players a wide set of sensory experiences that include punches, kicks, stabs, bullets, blasts, G-force, and other types of environmental contact effects. So if you were playing your favorite First Person Shooter, and you got hit by a bullet, you would feel the physical impact of the round, just as the game character would. The 3rd Space vest is the first product to harness TN Games’ impact-generating technology. The vest communicates with compatible games to give precise, 3 dimensionally accurate impacts where it happens, as it happens. You have to wonder about the safety of technology like this, especially under prolonged use and its potential for modification.

The Kokoro

Anaid Gomez Ortigoza, a student at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, is working on a project called ‘kokoro’ which is a wearable play-list generator for the iPod. What really stands out is the device’s ability to play music based on the pace of the user’s heart-rate. The idea is that your heart-rate changes based on your emotion or activity, and through rate change, your heart becomes an interface between you and your iPod. Matching songs to these variable rates will ideally match songs to your emotional or physical state. And while you may want to rely strictly an automatic match, there is still the ability for the user to override their heart’s choice by choosing a faster or slower setting. This works by picking up the wearer’s heart-rate via a sensor, and then transmitting the data to the Kokoro electronic device, which is housed in a textile pouch connected to an iPod.  This is a pretty simple concept but it represents a much more complex idea. That is, our body interfacing with devices on a passive and emotional level, and in doing so, freeing up our attention to focus on work or activities that require cognitive effort.

SmartLife HealthVest™

SmartLife® Technology have developed a textile based technology platform that monitors vital health signs such as ECG, heart rate, EMG, respiration, tidal flow and skin temperature. When worn, this technology continuously monitors a person’s vital signs throughout their daily lives on a 24/7 basis. The garments are designed in a very user-centric fashion, whereby the sensors are automatically in contact with the skin, their position is correctly located and the wearer requires little instruction for set-up or routine use. Data collected by the SmartLife HealthVest™ can be transmitted in real time via Bluetooth to a remote computer, PDA, or even a cell phone which in turn can alert medical personnel if necessary. The technology represents a paradigm shift from traditional high cost patient monitoring in hospitals to affordable unobtrusive remote personalized monitoring in the home or on the go; and is also an excellent example of how technology can enhance rather than disrupt life. SmartLife® stays true to their name by following a user-centered design, and turning health monitoring into a pleasant user experience. Now if only this replaced visits to the dentist!

“HAL” Robot Suit

Tsukuba University’s professor Yoshiyuki Sankai can stand tall as the inventor of this “Hybrid Assisted Limb®” or HAL. This technology is essentially a robot suit that can expand and improve the wearer’s physical capabilities.  When the wearer attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles. At this moment, HAL detects bio-signals on the surface of the skin and interprets the wearer’s intention before they actually move.  This enables HAL to move  as the wearer moves, in a synchronized non-delayed unison. Cyberdyne has embraced the overwhelming potential of HAL, and is expected to produce units for rehabilitation and physical training, disabled people, heavy labor, disaster rescue and entertainment. To own one will set you back nearly $60,000.

Soldier’s Suit

Whether we agree or not with how money is being spent on arms, the military is constantly looking to gain the edge through innovation. This desire provides a unique opportunity for technology and designers to save U.S. soldier’s lives. In 2020, the U.S. Army will roll out a suit that integrates nanotechnology, exoskeletons and liquid body armor. The suit’s helmet will house a GPS receiver, radio and network connections which enable each solider to be in constant contact with each other, and act either as individuals or as a collective. Closest to the body, a Warrior Physiological Status Monitoring System contains sensors that monitor physiological indicators such as heart-rate, blood pressure and hydration. This data is then relayed to medics who can determine whether to send in support, or provide feedback, and will be able to easily see where the solider is on a map. As protection, liquid body armor made of magnetorheological fluid protects the wearer. This fluid remains in a liquid state until an electrical pulse is applied. At this point, the armor changes from a soft state into a rigid state within thousandths of a second and protects the soldier by deflecting incoming bullets. Improving the soldier’s strength by 300% is made possible by a lower body exoskeleton made of lightweight composite devices attached to the wearer’s legs. The exoskeleton will also serve as a platform for mounting high-powered weapons. Researchers hope to see this developing technology mature in the next 15 to 20 years.

Invisibility Cloak

Firstly, as ridiculous as this sounds, inventing an invisibility cloak is based on physical laws. We see objects when the light falling on these objects is reflected back from their surface and into our eyes. The idea is to develop a device that prevents light from reflecting back into our eyes. Glass is already accomplishing such a thing, as we look right through it, but obviously wearing glass is not going to make us invisible. So what can possibly make the wearer invisible? Well according to researchers, the cloak design makes use of tiny needles to be fitted into a hairbrush shaped cone at angles and lengths that would force light to pass around the wearer. The major limitation of the current design is that it can bend light of a single wavelength and so only renders the object invisible under that specific wavelength of light. Developing a similar device that can bend lights of all wavelengths is still a technological challenge for researchers, but they have stated that it is possible according to the laws of physics. Even with invisibility under a single  light wavelength, the cloak could shield soldiers from night vision goggles. It could also be used to hide objects from laser designators used by the military to illuminate a target.  Sorry Harry Potter fans, you’re going to have to wait until technology catches up to you.

Bullet Dodging Body Armor

IBM was recently granted a patent for bionic body armor, originally filed last March, that’s intended to enable the wearer to dodge bullets. The device works by constantly emitting electromagnetic waves that bounce off any fast-moving projectiles. If the object in question is determined to be a threat, muscle stimulators activate and cause the wearer’s body to contort in such way to avoid being hit. It works under the idea that a sniper typically fires from a distance, given the armor time to detect the oncoming bullet and react accordingly. You have to wonder if The Matrix was a source of this inspiration.

Wearable Agriculture Suit

The Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology has developed an agriculture robot suit tailored to the 40% of Japan’s farm workers who are over the age of 65. Shigeki Toyama, a professor in robotics who developed the robotic harvesting and pruning suit, sought to make it industry and task-specific in order to generate cost savings in producing the suit. With Japan’s aging population, this solution seems to present a transition between human workers and what will ultimately become fully robotic ones. So you want to retire at 65? Forget it! Put this suit on and get back to work!

So what does all of this mean to us as designers?

• Firstly, I think it means we need to be aware of what technology exists and what is being developed out there. Think creatively and figure out how it can be leveraged and harnessed appropriately.
• Big corporations appreciate the massive potential of wearable technology, and are already filing patents, building prototypes and releasing to market. Take note of emerging players and follow them closely.
• Identify which industries are hungry for this kind of innovation. So far, entertainment, health care, fashion, sports and the military are embracing wearable technology.
• As designers we should be looking for lifestyle and vocational problems to solve. We have the ability to create experiences that can dramatically improve productivity through highly functional and pragmatic design. Designs can literally save and improve the quality of lives.
• Conduct ethnographic research by observing users “in the wild”.  This should be done prior to design to get an idea of how they go about their daily lives, and then again once they’re wearing the technology to see how it’s positively or negatively affecting them.
• Understand that designing wearable technology might be about allowing users to express themselves. This is especially true in the fashion and lifestyle industries.
• For certain applications, users will expect to experience things emotionally and physically.
• Identify data points and triggers on the human body. Think of how the wearer’s anatomy can be an interface for technology, in both directions. We are after all, a wonderful showcase of biological, chemical and electrical technology.
• Become skilled at sketching concepts and storyboarding. There could be many visual ways to communicate an idea, but make sure to place emphasis on storytelling. We may be dealing with abstract user interfaces that do not need wireframes, but rather require visual explanations for how the interface is used and technology works.
• A new kind of designer will be needed to pioneer and support the advancement and design of wearable technology. A hybrid set of skills will be required, with ideal candidates possessing a deep understanding of user experience principles, industrial design, and perhaps a background in technology too. There might also be demand for designers from specific industries such as fashion, health care, sports, etc.  But either way, designers that are massively out-of-the-box thinkers, will be highly sought after by both start-ups and corporations alike.

With this emerging technology and rapidly evolving user experience frontier, we should not abandon a user-centered approach to designing wearable technology. Staying true to this philosophy will make the transition for both users and designers a less stressful and more enjoyable one.  Yet while we stay the user-centered course, as designers we need to adapt and evolve our skills. Who knows, it might not be long before we’re wearing technology to design wearable technology.

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Audi Conversations Visualization
Click on the “Conversations” link at the bottom of the page.  Here you’ll experience a social media visualization and aggregation of Audi related YouTube videos, Flickr Photos, Tweets and blog posts. Both pretty and functional, and not visualization for the sake of visualization.

Screen Resolution Template
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UX for videogame design: Gameplay Research
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INDEX: Award 2009 Winners
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Stunning Photos of the Wildfires in Southern California
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Write with a Knife
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In Revolutionary Color
Russian color photos taken 100 years ago, look as if they were taken yesterday.

The seven sins of usability
A user-friendly website is essential to keep people interested in what you have to say and ultimately keeps them coming back. Neil Walker, Chief Technical Officer at Just Search, looks at what usability nightmares marketers should avoid when designing a website to enhance their brand.

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Eleven years, twenty-five published titles, and eleven iPhone apps later, Coresoft, stands as an accomplished and nimble game development company that specializes in both computer and console video games. They have also achieved remarkable diversity within the gaming landscape, by developing for just about every game machine out there.

BRADLEY HEBDON: What were you doing before you started Coresoft?

DAVE CONNELLY: I was a lead programmer developing video games.

BH: Now that you’re head of Coresoft, what is your primary role?

DC: I go out and get the new business as well as make sure it gets done once we get it.

BH: What kinds of disciplines make up your team?

DC: Our development teams are mostly made up of producers, designers, artists and programmers.

BH: And what skills are important to make a successful game?

DC: The important skills for making a successful game are having a creative and reasonable design, accurate scheduling, and experienced developers to make the game.

BH: When hiring someone, what kind of qualities do you look for?

DC: We first look for developers with experience.  We develop titles very quickly so we usually need people to come on board that already know how to get things done fast and with quality.

BH: What kinds of tools do you and your team use?

DC: On the art side we primarily use 3D Studio Max and Photoshop.  On the programming side we typically code using Visual C++ and also code using objective C as well as Java.

BH: How do you come up with ideas for games?

DC: We all have a never ending amount of ideas.  We pitch dozens of ideas to publishers every year and amongst ourselves.  Publishers also come to us with their ideas and we give them our take on how we would develop them.

BH: Do you have any inspirations that you draw from?

DC: Anything that is fun inspires us, from other games to just life in general.  It’s the most fun when we find a genuine mechanic that is just natural and fun to do.

BH: Once you have an idea for a game, how do you go about kicking it off? Do you have a specific process and approach that you use for each project?

DC: It depends on the idea.  If it’s something we need funding for, we create a pitch document for it.  Then we send it out to publishers.  If they like it, then we embellish it and make it more complete and in some cases even make a prototype.  If it’s a smaller idea that we can develop ourselves, we compare it to some of our other ideas.  Then we choose which ones to make.  The process is different depending on who the title is for.

BH: What have been your biggest successes so far?

DC: We have had several big successes.  Our first big hits were hunting titles for the Playstation One which totaled over a million units.  Next we had a huge hit with a poker game for the Playstation 2 and Xbox which sold about 1.2 million units.  We next developed High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition for the PS3.  It’s available on the Playstation Network (PSN) and was the number nine best selling title last year.  Most recently we made Super Sniper for the iPhone and it made it all the way to the #2 paid app on iTunes.  We seem to have a great eye for what will sell well and continue to make titles with that in mind.

BH: Any particular games you’re proud of that weren’t necessarily the biggest sellers?

DC: Yes.  Most recently Blitz Football for the iPhone.  It has a really fun mechanic that anybody can enjoy.  I personally was very passionate about us making it. It’s a really fun game to play and I think if people just try it, they will like it.  It has not really taken off but I believe it will soon.  Currently it’s the #10 free sports app but is only the #50 paid sports app.

BH: On what platforms have you focused? Any particular reasons?

DC: We have amazingly covered almost every platform.  I say amazingly because our development team has never been very big.  We have read stories about other development houses creating for several years and not ending up with technology as good as we made within a few months.  We have developed games with our own technology on the Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Playtation 3, Playstation Portable, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, Personal Computers, Java, and the iPhone.  We have witnessed many development houses go out of business focusing on just two or three platforms and were not even able to finish their game engines.  We not only made engines for all those platforms but developed and shipped games at the same time.  The main platforms we have been focusing on lately are the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC and the iPhone.  We are also planning to develop for other smart phones soon.

BH: What are the biggest challenges working within the gaming industry?

DC: The biggest challenge is getting the business in the first place.  We pitch dozens of titles a year and also estimate and create many proposals for the ideas that publishers present to us.  We end up only developing a small portion of the titles we pitch and bid on.  Another challenge we are facing is marketing of our own titles.  The number of titles out there is increasing at an amazing rate and to get more eyeballs on our games is a challenge.

BH: What games in the industry do you think have raised the bar in recent years?

DC: God of War 3.  I saw a lot of footage of the game at E3 and was quite impressed.  You can easily tell there is a huge budget for that title.  Games of that nature are like feature films along with the feature film budgets.

BH: Where do you see gaming going in the next 10 years?

DC: I see games going in all directions.  There are going to be the top dollar AAA titles and also the casual titles that will be successful.  The market is huge and even niche titles will find success since the distribution is global.  There is so much room for growth in all areas, casual, top of the line, educational etc.  Also, all the innovation with respect to motion devices and cameras will greatly improve the gaming experience.

BH: How do you see your profession evolving?

I think the level of graphic and interactive quality of the games are going to greatly increase.  The power of the new computers, consoles, and motion devices are just going to improve and make the experience more and more realistic and immersive for the consumers.

BH: What titles are you currently working on now?

DC: We just shipped 3D Super Sniper 2.  Super Sniper was a huge hit becoming the #2 paid app on iTunes and we have taken the game to a new level making it in 3D and adding a lot of content.  We have a few other titles on the fire but are keeping our cards close to the chest with respect to them.

BH: Any advice to folks wanting to get into this industry?

DC: Yes, go for it if you are passionate about it.  I got into the industry because I loved games and loved the idea of making games.  The best ideas and work come from really being into it.  I do however have to say that this can be a tough industry to be in, and it’s not easy to get into.  People always say you have to work in the industry to get in the industry.  Many companies demand you work very long hours fairly regularly because the ship dates are so important.  There are not many companies such as ours that make it a point to not work crazy hours and try to keep family hours.  There are definitely upsides to the industry such as flexible hours, casual dress, and it can be quite fun developing games especially since the industry is filled with very interesting and creative people.

BH: Thanks for the great insights Dave! Good luck with the latest installment of Super Sniper.

As Dave pointed out, Super Sniper 2 is live and ready to be played on your iPhone or iPod touch. Already, rave reviews are coming in from the fans and the game currently has a 5 star rating.

A bit about the game
The sequel to the SMASH HIT Super Sniper is finally here and it’s incredible.

We listened to our thousands of Super Sniper: War on Terror fans and have made this sequel knowing exactly what Sniper game fans want in the ultimate Sniper Game.

The action now takes place in glorious 3D and features the latest version of our groundbreaking Touch ‘n’ Tilt controls, allowing players to play EXACTLY as they like!

Back from your last mission to take out the Somali pirates, you find your city once again under seige by crazed terrorists. This time however it isn’t a small sleeper cell, but an entire army of AK wielding madmen.

Their M.O. is take over buildings forcing the inhabitants to flee onto the streets, they then pick them off one by one from their vantage points. These guys are pure evil.

You are the Super Sniper. The best there is, and you have been flown into the city with one goal. Take out these bastards and save as many civilians as you can.

Doesn’t sound too hard right? WRONG, these terrorists mean business and have acquired military grade armored helicopters, vast amounts of C4 explosive, and have highly trained bomb makers and operatives. They also have an almost unlimited supply of suicide bombers willing to die for “the cause”.

Good luck soldier. You’re gonna need it……

Screenshots: Features:

• WORLDWIDE All Time and Monthly Leaderboards for all control modes.
• Story Mode that ups the ante with each new mission.
• Incredible 3D City Zones
• Amazing Movie Quality sound effects and music.
• Realistic Blood splatter bullet effects
• Building destruction on a MASSIVE scale.
• Window snipers
• Rooftop snipers
• Bomb planters
• Bombs
• Choppers
• Repelling Terrorists re-taking cleared buildings
• Civilians running for their lives on the street as snipers pick them off one by one…

Download it now!

Want to download it for FREE?
Dave has generously allocated me 10 FREE download promos, which I’ll be handing out to the readers of UXbyDesign.  Leave your comments, and you might get lucky!

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