INNOVATION SPECIAL..How to Put Humans at the Centre of Networks

Innovation Inc: How to Put Humans at the Centre of Networks

Mary Fernandez, assistant vicepresident for research at the AT&T Labs in New Jersey, United States, shares an anecdote about how one of the Lab’s researchers forgot his driving licence on a visit to a local drugstore and didn’t realise it for couple of weeks. 

This problem of forgetting mundane but must-have things like a mobile phone charger, sunglasses, wallet, office keys and credit cards is common. The researcher who forgot his licence, Don Henderson, got thinking : What if his car knew he didn't have his licence with him? 

That solution called Got My Stuff is a new application being developed by the telecom conglomerate AT&T. Initially AT&T sees this working within cars — to remind people when they get behind the steering wheel if they have forgotten any essentials. 

The system Henderson designed is simple. Attach a small RFID (radio frequency identification) sticker to any item you wish to track — like your phone, house keys, licence, iPad, or anything else you don't want to leave home without. Once those RFIDs are registered with the Got My Stuff application — a simple matter of scanning a QR (Quick Response) code — your car will warn if you're leaving home without any of those must-have items. In case you left the sunglasses home, the car will beep.
Got My Stuff uses ultra-high frequency RFID technology to place the tags on personal items. This allows the system to alert you via mobile device or in-car display if you haven forgotten something. AT&T Labs, which has more than 200 scientists working on machine learning, mobile computing, networking and related technologies, sees Got My Stuff as part of its research portfolio comprising ‘human empowering applications’. 

Says Fernandez: “We’re working to change the way people interact with devices with cloud-based IP services that are connected and personalised across all environments and on-the-go”.
Another project AT&T is testing is a location-based messaging system that could be part of any mobile phone network’s basic SMS service. The program allows someone to send a text that will be delivered when the recipient arrives at a specific location. 

The application can be used to receive messages only from a specific group (say, parents), when you are off with kids and wife on a holiday. 

Yet another innovation focuses on improving driving safety. Researchers at the AT&T Labs displayed a gaming console as a makeshift steering wheel with 20 actuators or small motors fitted on it (see prototype picture). The actuators are fed information from the car’s GPS (global positioning systems) system and set off vibrations so drivers aren’t distracted by on-screen instructions or turn-by-turn GPS commands. If the GPS is about to say ‘turn left’ it results in a counter clockwise pattern of vibrations on the steering wheel, alerting the driver on the turn ahead without distracting.
While the initial focus has been on improving delivery of GPS navigation instructions, other applications are under development, such as notifying drivers if cars are in their blind spots or they are over-speeding. AT&T calls it the haptic -- technology relating to touch systems -- steering wheel. Says Fernandez, “Haptics enhanced steering wheel helps understand what connected devices are trying to tell.”

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