Welcome to the December 2019 SIGCHI edition of ACM TechNews.

ACM TechNews - SIGCHI Edition is a sponsored special edition of the ACM TechNews news-briefing service focused on issues in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). This service serves as a resource for ACM-SIGCHI Members to keep abreast of the latest news in areas related to HCI and is distributed to all ACM SIGCHI members the first Tuesday of every month. ACM TechNews is a benefit of ACM membership and is distributed three times per week on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays to over 100,000 ACM members from over 100 countries around the world. ACM TechNews provides timely coverage of established and emerging areas of computer science, the latest trends in information technology, and related science, society, and technology news. For more information on ACM TechNews and joining the ACM, please click. The Interactions mobile app is available for free on iOS, Android, and Kindle platforms. Download it today and flip through the full-color magazine pages on your tablet or view it in a simplified low-bandwidth text mode on your phone. And be sure to check out the Interactions website, where you can access current and past articles and read the latest entries in our ever-expanding collection of blogs.

Device Enables Battery-Free Computer Input at the Tip of your Finger
Waterloo News
November 28, 2019

Scientists at the University of Waterloo in Canada developed a device for wearable computer input that is enabled by touching fingertips together in a variety of ways. The battery-free Tip-Tap employs radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to sense when fingertips touch, allowing, for example, augmentation of surgical gloves so surgeons could access preoperative planning diagrams in an operating theater. Waterloo's Daniel Vogel said surgeons could use Tip-Tap to navigate computers without affecting actions like picking up a scalpel. Tip-Tap's development involved mapping the most comfortable parts of the index finger for people to touch with their thumb and testing various different designs for the input points, like bumps or magnets. Said Vogel, “This is the only device of its kind that we’re aware of that doesn’t require a battery or cumbersome wires to make it work.”

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VR Could Help Flu Vaccination Rates
University of Georgia
Sarah Freeman
December 2, 2019

Researchers at the University of Georgia and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) in Oak Ridge, TN, have demonstrated that more people could be encouraged to get a flu vaccination if they participate in a virtual reality (VR) simulation to show how flu spreads and its impact on others. The researchers used an immersive VR system as a communication tool for improving flu vaccination rates among "flu vaccine avoidant" adults. Said ORAU researcher Karen Carera, "The findings suggest that for virtual reality to change beliefs and behaviors, the presentations used need to do more than deliver a story. They need to get users to feel like they are actually in the story."

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Transforming Thoughts to Movement Offers Hope for Spinal Cord Injury Patients
News@TheU
Scott Roy
November 4, 2019

Researchers at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine are employing a brain-machine interface (BMI) to help restore function to patients paralyzed by spinal cord injuries (SCIs). Research showed that the brain signals of both healthy and SCI patients contained sufficient data to accurately determine when they wanted to initiate movement. The researchers stimulated different areas of a quadriplegic participant's brain to identify the precise region controlling his dominant right hand, then surgically implanted sensors on that specific area. The researchers trained a computer to read the signals coming from the sensors and identify thoughts of hand movement. When algorithms determined such thoughts were present, the system sent electrical impulses to an external orthosis that stimulated the participant's hand muscles and caused them to move.

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EduSense: Like a FitBit for Your Teaching Skills
Carnegie Mellon University
November 14, 2019

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) researchers have developed an inexpensive, scalable real-time classroom sensing system, to continuously evaluate instructors' teaching skills. EduSense examines visual and audio cues that align with effective instruction via wall-mounted cameras facing students and the instructor. The platform can detect students' posture to assess their engagement levels, and the length of the instructor's pauses before they call on a student. The system automatically identifies where students are looking, how often they raise their hands, and whether the instructor moves through the room or stays behind a podium. Said CMU's Chris Harrison, "It's like you're wearing a virtual motion-capture system while you're teaching."

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Warehouses Tracking Workers' Every Muscle Movement
Bloomberg
Joshua Brustein
November 5, 2019

Warehouses are using new technology to keep tabs on employees in order to enhance worker safety. Startup StrongArm Technologies makes a wearable device that tracks employees' motions, vibrating to alert wearers of imminent injury. Although the device raises concerns about workplace surveillance, the company said its products are designed exclusively to boost safety, and cited a study that found employees using its devices suffered 20% to 50% fewer injuries. Transportation and logistics firm Geodis is testing productivity tracking software and other means of collecting data on employees, which Geodis' Mike Honious thinks eventually could be integrated into a safety- and efficiency-augmenting system.

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'Smart Skin' May Let You Reach Out, Virtually Touch Anyone
CNN
Sandee LaMotte
November 12, 2019

Northwestern University researchers have developed a wireless smart skin that could imbue virtual experiences with tactile sensations. The skin is a soft, flexible material that conforms to the body’s contours with an array of embedded vibrating disks to deliver sensory input. Northwestern's John Rogers said the smart skin would allow users to feel how much force they are applying when grasping objects, as well as objects' temperature. According to a study by the researchers, applications could include social media, entertainment, virtual reality and video gaming, sensory feedback for amputees, and even telemedicine. Said Rogers, "You can also deploy multiple devices at different areas of interest across the body and you can control all of them wirelessly and simultaneously."

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Turns Out Humans Want Self-Driving Cars to Possess Personality
CNet
Sean Szymkowski
November 7, 2019

A study by University of Michigan (U-M) researchers found humans favor traveling in autonomous vehicles imbued with an ideal personality, which includes such traits as agreeableness, consciousness or self-control, emotional stability, openness to experience, and extroversion. Participants initially scored their own personalities, then underwent an immersive video of a trip in a driverless vehicle programmed to exhibit a range of personalities in various weather conditions. The results demonstrated that even if the passenger had below-average scores for agreeableness, consciousness, and emotional stability, they still preferred a vehicle that displayed these traits. Passengers gave higher safety scores if the car exhibited one of those three ideal traits; riders who felt least safe scored high in these traits, but felt the vehicle lacked them.

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This System from Garmin Can Land a Private Plane When Your Pilot Can't
Ars Technica
Eric Tegler
November 13, 2019

Researchers at Garmin have developed an emergency autopilot system that can autonomously land a private aircraft and bring it to a stop on the runway, safely. The Autoland system is featured on Garmin's G3000 integrated fight deck, which comes with 3-axis autopilot, auto-throttles, and automatic stability and descent capabilities. If a passenger recognizes that the pilot is in distress, he or she can press the Autoland button, after which the airplane declares an emergency to air traffic control via automated voice radio messages and sets the transponder to squawk 7700 (mayday signal). Autoland also leverages special routing and destination-selection algorithms and is aware of all airports bypassed on a flight, as well as those immediately proximate. About 70% of U.S. airports are suitable Autoland destinations as long as they have a GPS approach with vertical guidance, according to Garmin.

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Apple Opens Health Records Service to Veterans with iPhones
CNBC
Christina Farr
November 6, 2019

Apple and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have announced that veterans can now use Apple's health records service to access their medical data via iPhone. Veterans also can use the service to share their information with doctors—including inoculations, medications, laboratory results, and data gleaned from health-tracking apps. Apple's health initiatives have concentrated on health-tracking devices like the Apple Watch, and aggregating health information for consumers; government deals like this could help Apple reassure users of their data's security. The company said earlier this year it will bring aggregated medical data to the iPhone with the VA's participation, and encrypt and safeguard the information through the user's iPhone passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID.

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The Rise of Microchipping: Are We Ready for Technology to Get Under the Skin?
The Guardian
Oscar Schwartz
November 8, 2019

Supporters hail microchips implanted under the skin for adding convenience and simplicity to digital identification and online access, cashless payments, and data collection—but they must overcome concerns of the technology's potential for surveillance and exploitation of employees. Microchip implants are basically cylindrical bar codes that transmit a unique signal through the wearer's skin when scanned. The Swedish company Biohax offers implants to replace passwords, keys, cards, and other tools for digital identity and access, while Dsruptive, also in Sweden, envisions microchipping to ease health monitoring. Meanwhile, Cornell University's Ifeoma Ajunwa said it is critical to consider microchipping's ethical ramifications because microchips "have the potential for constant and intimate surveillance—they literally go with the worker wherever the worker goes. This seems to blur the line between work and family life."

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Can Our Thoughts Alter Our Brains?
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
November 5, 2019

A study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, the Technical University of Berlin in Germany, and Spain's Public University of Navarre found that training with a brain-computer interface (BCI) directly impacts the brain's neuronal structure and function. The researchers trained two cohorts: one tasked with imagining they were moving their arms or feet, the other required to recognize and select onscreen letters. Results revealed quantifiable alterations in brain areas required to execute tasks within just one hour of using BCI, implying the method could yield therapeutic effects. MPI's Arno Villringer said, "Customized reading of the BCI will be decisive in determining whether the technology can be used in rehabilitation systems in the future."

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Scientists Help Soldiers Figure Out What Robots Know
U.S. Army
November 21, 2019

Researchers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the University of Minnesota, the University of Central Florida, and Carnegie Mellon University have developed algorithms and novel artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to support the development of a shared context between team members through effective bidirectional communication. The algorithms helped to fill in knowledge gaps about how robots contribute to teams and what they know about their environment and teammates. Integration of context-driven AI is important for future robotic capabilities to support the development of situational awareness, calibrate appropriate trust, and improve performance in human-robot teams. Said Army Research Laboratory researcher Kristin Schaefer-Lay, "It is important to understand the impact these have on effective teaming across operations."

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LSU Is Winning the Weight-Room Arms Race With Real-Time Data
The Wall Street Journal
Laine Higgins
December 4, 2019

The Louisiana State University (LSU) college football team is ranked second in the nation, and its success can be linked in part to a technological advance in the weight-room. LSU has been collecting data this season on "velocity-based training," a weightlifting technique in which coaches prescribe and measure how fast athletes move a weighted barbell in addition to total weight and repetitions; this kind of training increases power and explosiveness. The device, developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology startup Perch, uses a camera on top of a weight rack to track an athlete's movements and load data to the cloud in real time, in order to allow coaches and trainers to see the results on a tablet. Said Perch CEO and co-founder Jacob Rothman, “What we’re doing is essentially making a weight rack smart.”

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