In the setup, a participant wore a backpack containing a laptop and a data acquisition device connected through a wire to a conductive pad on the back of the participant’s neck. The pad measured the voltages picked up by participants, who performed specific gestures around light switches. Software in the laptop generated positioning instructions and at each switch, the gesture order was randomized to eliminate bias.
The experiments showed that electromagnetic noise is so predictable that it can be used it to figure out where a person is standing, what the person is doing, and even where a hand is placed on a wall. The team used a simple sensor that was essentially just a piece of metal, but Morris said that ultimately a sensor could be placed in the user’s hand or anywhere else that the radio signals being picked up by the body can be gathered.
“Our bodies, it turns out, are actually really good and relatively colorful antennas,” Morris said. The team presented their results earlier this week in Vancouver at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
The researchers learned that in a typical house, the electromagnetic noise changes noticeably from room to room because of the various appliances in them. Then they applied artificial intelligence to the data.
“The noise is different enough in those different environments that the computer can actually use machine learning to tell the difference,” Morris said.
We are angry, frustrated, and in pain because of the violence and murder of Black people by the police because of racism. We are in the fight AGAINST RACISM. George Floyd was murdered, his life stolen. The Adafruit teams have specific actions we’ve done, are doing, and will do together as a company and culture. We are asking the Adafruit community to get involved and share what you are doing. The Adafruit teams will not settle for a hash tag, a Tweet, or an icon change. We will work on real change, and that requires real action and real work together. That is what we will do each day, each month, each year – we will hold ourselves accountable and publish our collective efforts, partnerships, activism, donations, openly and publicly. Our blog and social media platforms will be utilized in actionable ways. Join us and the anti-racist efforts working to end police brutality, reform the criminal justice system, and dismantle the many other forms of systemic racism at work in this country, read more @ adafruit.com/blacklivesmatter
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!
Maker Business — To make it through a tough business cycle, layoffs should be a last resort
Wearables — Battery wars
Electronics — Build It!
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: IEEE Rates Python Number 1, Discord 23K and more! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @circuitpython @micropython @ThePSF
Adafruit IoT Monthly — BLE Store Capacity Indicator, Aquarium Automation, and more!
Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Arcade Game Garden Jam!
EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 7/29/2020 featuring Black LED Diffusion Acrylic Panel 12″ x 12″ – 0.1″ / 2.6mm thick! (Video)
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.