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| The Dawn of the Cyborg |
January 19, 2004 |
By Jason Rodham
Professor Steve Mann is no ordinary human being. In fact, many people would argue he’s not a human being at all. At least not anymore.
That’s because for almost every waking minute of the last 20 years, this mild-mannered professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Toronto has been hooked up to the world’s most advanced wearable computer.
In other words, when it comes to pushing the very limits of technology, or fulfilling our collective image of what a modern cyborg might look like, Hamilton, Ont.-born Steve Mann is it.
Mann created his system, appropriately dubbed WearComp, when he was a doctoral student at MIT. Early models of the system were bulky, giving the impression of an upside-down colander with TV rabbit ears stuck on top.
Just like every other digital device, WearComp has evolved considerably, becoming lighter, more capable and much less conspicuous. Today’s system is almost completely unobtrusive — although the goggles do tend to resemble the shades David Hasselhoff wore on Knight Rider.
Today’s WearComp system gives the professor 24/7 access to voicemail, the Web, e-mail and applications such as word processing. He’s also got significant video broadcasting and video capture capabilities, as well as full-time access to massive databases of information. A pocket keyer allows him to input data and send messages in a form of Morse code.
“Saving time is probably the most important aspect,” Mann said. “Ironically, because of the WearComp’s ability to save me time, I am asked to give a large number of lectures, presentations, etc., many of which I don’t have enough time to do!”
In his most recent book, Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer, Mann describes a virtual keynote speech he gave to the DEFCON-7 hackers and radicals convention in Las Vegas in July 2001. The speech was broadcast live from his office thousands of kilometres away, while Mann walked around responding to questions using a small computerdriven notepad. In answering questions he was able to split the screen and broadcast images directly from his visor, giving the audience a peek into his world. At the same time, the audience was able to observe him giving the presentation.
Other applications supported by WearComp include on-board radar, which gives Mann the ability to sense faraway objects. “I can feel walls and other obstacles pressing against my body long before I’ve made physical contact with them.”
Mann can even transform the most mundane of human activities — grocery shopping — into a rich virtual experience.
When his wife is still at the office, for example, he’ll broadcast images directly from a grocery store while he’s shopping to her computer, allowing the couple to select fruits and vegetables together.
SECOND SKIN
Although he envisions the day when a commercial version of WearComp will hit the stores, Mann said his system was never intended to be a part-time tool that’s turned on and off or hung in the closet at the end of the day. On the contrary, WearComp is specifically designed to function as a type of mechanical overlay, or second skin.
According to Tim Shea, senior analyst with research firm Venture Development in Natick, Mass., the counterpart to WearComp can already be found within industry.
Wearable computers are in warehouse pick and pack applications, ship and airplane repair yards, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and, of course, the United States military. One of the top manufacturers and designers of wearable systems is Xybernaut of Fairfax, Va.
Xybernaut has sold an early test model to Bell Canada, which outfitted 19 of its technicians with the Xybernaut Mobile Assistant, a small, rugged and lightweight wearable computer with the processing power of a desktop PC. Field technicians using the Mobile Assistant saved almost an hour a day in what Xybernaut creatively calls “non-value-added activities,” allowing them to spend more time making repairs and providing customer service.
Shea expects “pockets of vertical niche applications” like these, in which there is an associated and definable profit value, will force smart clothing down the same evolutionary path as other popular technologies.
Once industrial users have recognized a monetary return, “you’re going to have early adopter, higher-discretionary income users” moving into the field.
These are the people who will buy smart clothing or a wearable computer system “just to say they have it.” While they’re showing off, more R&D and product development will be pumped in, bringing with it ever greater innovation. “That’s where you start to see a larger potential.”
Shea and his contemporaries estimate the market for smart clothing and wearable computers — any digital device worn on the wrist, belt and ear or built into fabric — will reach US$563 million by 2006. “But,” he cautions, “it will take some time for price and functionality to come into alignment.”
“If the functionality is there and people see there’s a tangible payback that makes life easier, then you’ll see that curve of adoption start to increase and prices come down. Then hopefully companies will continue to innovate.”
MAN IN MACHINE?
With all the time he’s spent connected to WearComp, it’s extremely difficult to tell where Mann begins and WearComp ends.
Certainly, the extended use has brought some important physiological changes.
Mann can boast entirely unique sensory perceptions, such as his on-board radar, unmatched efficiency and mobility, as well as a hugely increased storehouse of knowledge. WearComp, he believes, has even altered the very chemical composition and neural pathways of his brain.
But, Mann contends, there is already little difference between cyborgs like him and high-end users who can’t live without Palms, laptops or cellphones. “Such a person is already a cyborg to some degree.”
That’s because people who immerse themselves in a particular technology are already becoming accustomed to living in an alternate, “mediated” reality, where “the real and virtual worlds become intertwined.”
Despite his achievements, one gets the sense that being a cyborg hasn’t been easy for Mann. Throughout his career he has faced some serious intellectual and social resistance to his research. But with a wife and child, he could reasonably claim to be more settled and adjusted than many of us humans.
As the system has evolved to become smaller and less bizarre-looking, and as people have become more comfortable with unique technology, Mann said he receives much less open hostility.
“Many inventors face a resistance from society in general,” he explained.
“Twenty or 30 years ago, when I was working on my WearComp invention, people thought the idea of one computer for one person was crazy.”
When viewing some of his early models, for example, observers couldn’t accept that Mann was wearing an actual computer on his body.
“They could not imagine how, for example, a computer could be made to run off a battery. Once I showed them that what I was wearing was a computer and
that it could run without being plugged into an electrical outlet, they did not see the reason a person would want a computer to be portable.”
Web wearables
Steve Mann http://wearcam.org/steve.html
Venture Development http://www.vdc-corp.com
Xybernaut http://www.xybernaut.com
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