While smart home devices have expanded to include speakers, security systems, lights, and thermostats, their control has mostly been limited to a remote, an app, or voice commands. Users can interact with their phones or speak to the technology. Still, these methods are often less convenient than the simple switches they replace, significantly since devices can frequently misinterpret voice commands.
Creating IRIS: A point-and-click solution
Researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, have developed IRIS, a smart ring with a small camera. It is like an Oura ring sans the data about your sleep cycles. Instead, IRIS users can point the ring at a device, press a built-in button, and transmit an image of the device to their phone, sending the control command. Users can rotate their hands to modify device output with adjustable settings, like speaker volume. IRIS (Interactive Ring for Interfacing with Smart Home devices) operates on a single charge for approximately 16–24 hours.
The IRIS hardware is housed in a 3D-printed enclosure, and when placed next to a quarter, the size comparison is clear. The battery is located within the ring’s band, measuring 17.5 mm in diameter and 2.9 mm in thickness.
Study findings and speed comparison
The team presented its research on October 16 at the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in Pittsburgh. IRIS is not currently available to the public.
“Voice commands can often be really cumbersome,” said co-lead author Maruchi Kim, a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering in an article on the Washington University website. “We wanted to create something that’s as simple and intuitive as clicking on an icon on your computer desktop.”
Overcoming technical challenges
The researchers designed the system as a ring because people can wear it all day. One challenge involved fitting a camera into a wireless smart ring without exceeding size and power limits. Another was ensuring that toggling devices took less than a second, as users might otherwise assume the system had failed.
To address these constraints, the ring compresses images before sending them to a phone. Instead of constantly streaming, the camera activates when the user presses the button and shuts off after three seconds of inactivity.
Study findings and speed comparison
In a study with 23 participants, IRIS was preferred by twice as many users compared to a voice command system (Apple’s Siri). On average, IRIS also controlled devices more than two seconds faster than voice commands.
“In the future, integrating the IRIS camera system into a health-tracking smart ring would be a transformative step for smart rings,” Kim said. “It’d let smart rings actually augment or improve human capability, rather than just telling you your step count or heart rate.”
Co-Lead authors and funding
Co-lead authors of the study include Antonio Glenn and Bandhav Veluri, both UW doctoral students in the Allen School. Shyam Gollakota, a UW professor in the Allen School, served as senior author. Additional authors include Yunseo Lee, a UW research assistant; Eyoel Gebre, a UW undergraduate; Aditya Bagaria, a UW master’s student; and Shwetak Patel, a UW professor, all at the Allen School. This research was supported by a Moore Inventor Fellow award and the National Science Foundation.
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