InSight identifies personal information on sight
What seems like science fiction is becoming a reality for Srihari Nelakuditi.
The associate professor in USC’s College of Engineering and Computing and three researchers from Duke University are in the process of developing a Google Glass application called InSight that would allow users of the upcoming computer eyewear to recognize and virtually communicate with others in person.
According to Nelakuditi, the recipient of an unrestricted $15,000 Google Faculty Research Award, Google Glass technology attempts to bring an augmented reality to the masses. Images and information would essentially be projected in the Google Glass wearer’s vision. With hand-held devices like smartphones, Nelakuditi said, users must look down to observe the screen, but with Google Glass, “you’re interacting very naturally with the environment.”
The InSight application creates personalized “fingerprints” through everyday smartphone use, he said. The phone’s camera, using the concept of “spatiograms,” recognizes distinct coloring or patterns of the user’s clothing and identifies that person’s presence to Google Glass wearers.
“The fingerprint aspect is describing yourself visually,” Nelakuditi said. “The next thing is, ‘What can I do with it?’ There are a lot of possibilities. I can see your Facebook page, Google Plus profile, your tweets — whatever you’re willing to share.”
Nelakuditi compared one use of the InSight application to wearing a name badge at a conference so people can identify each other, but his goal for the application is to go beyond physical recognition and offer virtual communication.
“For example, at a job fair, I can share my skill set, or someone can specify the skills they’re looking for, and I can approach and talk to them,” he said. “Imagine tweets in the air, as thought bubbles, so I can see what you want to share.”
He said the application could be useful in any setting where personal interaction based on common interests is encouraged.
“When people tweet, they are sharing online,” Nelakuditi said. “Now, imagine I want to do that kind of sharing in a physical space with people I want to meet. Sometimes my tweets may not be meaningful to someone in India, but it may apply to someone around me.”
As far as the public’s potential concerns about user privacy and anonymity, Nelakuditi assured that he and the other developers are conscious of those issues. Google Glass wearers would only be able to view what InSight users willingly display, he said, and because recognition is based on clothing, fingerprints aren’t permanent.
“One way to enable this kind of application is through facial recognition. In that case, the problem is that the face is a permanent biometric, so we’re looking for some kind of temporary fingerprint,” he said. “We are providing an ability to change your clothing, and then the fingerprint isn’t valid anymore.”
According to Nelakuditi, he and his fellow researchers haven’t even scratched the surface of InSight’s potential benefits.
“We can only imagine what people can do with it,” Nelakuditi said. “We’re only enabling those possibilities.”
One of the possibilities brought to his attention could apply to people with facial dyslexia — those who have difficulty remembering and recognizing people’s faces.
“Our goal is not to develop an app. Our goal is to do research,” Nelakuditi said. “We typically do a certain amount of research and then let it go — someone else takes it from there.”
That initial research addresses the application’s basic functions, such as how to fingerprint people from varying viewing angles and distances, whereas further research would involve “next-level issues” like a user’s ability to filter visual messages.
“There’s a lot of push from the university to have more patents and startups, which is a good thing,” he said. “It benefits not only the school but the whole community and keeps the talent local.”
Nelakuditi said Google Glass, set to cost $1,500, may be on the market by the end of this year.