Current gesture recognition efforts, such as vision and direct sensing based methods, are yet to be proven effective and practical. Similarly, human-computer interaction (HCI) methods, despite considerable research efforts, remain dominated by the traditional keyboard and mouse. Improving HCI is a critical area of need, especially for individuals with disabilities who find traditional methods cumbersome (at best) or unusable (at worst). The rapid development of radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies holds the potential to significantly advance current challenges in both gesture recognition and HCI. Advantages of RFID approaches include miniaturization of passive tags, the ability to safely implant tags, and the potential to remotely track multiple tags; these characteristics combine to support the definition, recognition, and development of interfaces based on (tagged) human movements, or gestures. The PI's goal in this project is to explore RFID solutions for the most challenging gesture recognition and HCI applications, including complex gesture recognition and effective computer interfaces for individuals with severe motor impairments. These objectives will be realized through a series of coordinated research, development, and evaluation efforts. First, RFID localization algorithms will be developed utilizing harmonic radar approaches and implemented using modified commercially available components; this approach will yield significantly higher resolution than current power loss techniques, and will be capable of tracking multiple tags in cost-effective implementations. Next, implementations for small and large workspace will be carried out. The small workspace implementation will address tongue-based HCI for individuals with severe disabilities, while the large workspace implementation will be used for hand gesture recognition and computer control. Finally, the algorithms, hardware, and implementations will be rigorously evaluated for fundamental accuracy, application performance, and user efficacy. Fundamental accuracy evaluations will characterize the performance and limits of spatial-temporal RFID tag tracking, while HCI and gesture recognition capabilities will be assessed through application performance and user efficacy evaluations.
Broader Impacts: This research addresses fundamentally important interface and communications issues faced by individuals with disabilities, and will include direct programmatic involvement by individuals with disabilities. Project outcomes will afford individuals with disabilities more effective interfaces and greater communications capabilities, thereby providing greater independence and, ultimately, improved social, educational, and economic opportunities. In achieving these objectives, the project will lay the foundation for a fundamentally new approach to capturing, characterizing, and exploiting human movement for HCI and gesture recognition applications. The results will have significant impact beyond the targeted applications, for instance in animal studies, human performance studies, and even security (e.g., monitoring fine movements of objects).
