Electromechanical Human Machine Interaction | Electronics Seminar Topic
Electromechanical Human Machine Interaction
New interactive computing applications are continually being
developed in a bid to support people’s changing work and recreational
activities. As research focuses on one particular class of interactive systems,
high level models of interaction are formulated and requirements emerge that
reflect shared features or common functionality among those systems.
Within this seminar a new class of interactive system is
identified, based on shared requirements for detection, processing and
presentation of human physiological information. We have named these systems
electro physiologically interactive computer systems (EPICS) and describe in
this report both the physiological and technological details behind their
operation.
The technology behind this system is really a combination of
physiological sensing techniques with interactive computer applications. A
review is presented of existing research and development into this exciting new
area of human-computer interaction. It is envisaged that the work presented in
this seminar will serve as a jumping off point for others interested in
exploring the potential of incorporating physiological information into the
human-machine relationship.
In the modern era research is going on to develop techniques
to improve human computer interaction. The interactive system research is
beginning to breach the barrier between human and machine. Direct brain
computer communication is an emerging reality. EPIC is a technology being
developed to reach this goal.
Medical engineers developed technologies to gain access to
the subtle echoes of human body’s internal workings. Modern physiological data
detection relies on direct application of sensors to the body surface.
Different sensors collect various types of data such as heart and respiration
rate, peripheral body temperature, skin conductance, muscle contraction and
electrical brain activity. All these parameters are highly dependent on the
state and condition of the human mind.
EPICS combine physiological sensing techniques with
interactive computer applications. Thus the physiological parameters are monitored
the data stream obtained is processed which intern is linked with the computer
system which responds to the need.
Development of EPICS will enable the creation of truly
personnel computers –systems that read and understand their users’ signatory
physiology. EPICS will transform our interaction with computers as well as help
us know our physiological states. So this is what an EPIC is about. It’s almost
like a mind reader.
Mechanical control, where a user physically manipulates an
electromechanical device to initiate a computer operation, requires the
periodic dedication of one or both hands. Unfortunately, many people work in
environments where their hands are already fully occupied with other physical
tasks. Examples include surgeons, fitters and maintenance engineers, aircraft
flight crew and drivers of heavy goods, passenger and private vehicles. In all
of these situations, access to information or non-essential operation of
electronic devices would perhaps be better served by alternative, hands-free
access control.
A further limitation of existing mechanical models of
interaction is that they exclude access to those individuals for whom normal
physical control is either difficult or impossible. The needs of physically
disabled users are rarely considered during the design of new computer systems
and yet these individuals constitute the user group most likely to reap the
benefits of computer-based interactive technologies.
Add to this group an
ageing populace, with accompanying restrictions on physical abilities, and it
is clear that supplemental methods of human-machine interaction to those
currently available are needed.
