- DOCOMO Eyes a Future that Wears Well -

The headphones sitting on the NTT DOCOMO researcher's head, looking anything but "state-of-the-art," are an awkward mess of sensors, cameras and wires. Is this clumsy-looking device really the future of computing?

Maybe.

The researcher, staring at a large screen, rolls his eyes clockwise and a digital music player on the screen responds by increasing the volume of the music track being played. Then a kind of visual ping pong begins as the scientist's eyes dart one way and the player fast forwards to the next song, then they dart in another direction and the music skips back to the previous track.

Controlling the operation of remote devices with the flick of an eye may sound like science fiction, but it's all in a day's work for Dr. Masaaki Fukumoto, Executive Research Engineer at NTT DOCOMO's Frontier Technology Research Group, where ongoing research promises to revolutionize the way we interact with technologies to make our daily lives more convenient and enjoyable.

Unlocking Existing Potential

This invisible connection between human and machine is just one of many possible applications for eye-movement sensor technology, explains Fukumoto.

In another experiment, the researcher casts his gaze on an optical code. Mirroring the eye's movements, the eye-sensor system locks onto the code and captures the image and its imbedded data. Someday this may be how we acquire product information, discount coupons, etc. for storage in our cell phones.

These are not very far-fetched ways to imagine us reading and managing e-mail, buying songs and products, and much more, says the DOCOMO scientist, because all he is doing is unlocking the potential of today's technology.

In the case of the headset, for example, he has adapted a medical device for measuring eye response, called an electrooculogram (EOG), which uses sensors to measure the electrical potential of the cornea and track where the eye is moving. Besides operating a music player, the technology can be used to direct headset-mounted cameras to follow the eyes and show what the wearer is looking at.

As the first company to employ the technology in this way, "DOCOMO hopes someday to interpret the intentions of users to provide them with highly personalized services," Fukumoto says.

Wearable Computing

Fukumoto envisages, and his work presages, a foreseeable future of "wearable computing," when seamlessly linked discrete devices will help to break down barriers between humans and machines.

While DOCOMO's advanced, multifunctional mobile phones can operate as keys, credit cards, entertainment and information devices, and of course communication tools—representing the cutting edge of technological convenience—the fact remains they still do not have sufficient space for a full keyboard, a barrier that needs to be overcome.

For several years, the company has been researching and developing multifunctional devices that transcend barriers by expanding the human-machine interface. Think of the UbiButton, DOCOMO's prototype wristwatch that detects finger movements, which could be adapted for a virtual keyboard, or the Yubi-Wa, a wearable device that turns the finger into a phone receiver.

"Our research is focusing on wearable computing, in other words, multifunctional mobile phones designed as wearable gadgets. Someday we will wear very small devices that become part of us, much like fashion accessories," he says.

Fukumoto even envisages wearable mobile phones serving as core computing devices, possibly even hubs, providing us with broad information and communication capability via tiny yet powerful devices that we interact with seamlessly.

Putting it All Together

From the look of it, much of Fukumoto's work doesn't seem to be on the verge of commercialization. The current version of the headset, for example, is both unwieldy and unsightly. And when a group of foreign media visited the lab recently, the music player demonstration went well, but the code reader missed several times and the sensors, although mostly working fine, seemed a bit sluggish and error-prone.

Is this technology really ready to market?

Well, firstly, points out Fukumoto, improving the accuracy and responsiveness of the EOG technology is more a matter of degree than a major issue, as the core concepts and functions have been proven already.

The current test device is no more than an assemblage of items available at any good electronics shop. "What we have here is more like a homemade project. But with custom parts, it would not be difficult to shrink this and turn it into something marketable," he explains. A stylish headset capable of controlling other devices and reading codes could easily be on the market in "a few years."

Before this happens, of course, viable business models will have to be developed along with the necessary systems and infrastructure. But if DOCOMO does decide to proceed to commercialization, a first generation of tomorrow's wearable info-communication products could be closer than you think.

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