Wearable Dots Could Unlock Mixed, Augmented, and Virtual Reality Accessibility

A trio of designers from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London have unveiled a gesture recognition system, based on wearable accelerometers, for amputees and the disabled — allowing them to use smart devices more smoothly.

"Dots is an inclusive interface for future spatial computing, which empowers the disabled people to design their way to interact with MR [mixed reality] and IoT [Internet of Things] based on their body conditions," writes designer Xiaohui Wang of the project. "[The] rising of ubiquitous technology like mixed reality and Internet of Things cause[s] the user interface starts to shift from the touch screens to the surrounding environment."

"In this context, the traditional inclusive interaction design method may no longer applicable and a new approach of interface design for accessibility need to be proposed. By conducting qualitative [analysis] of experiments and user research, this study provokes novel insights of customizable interaction design and present an inclusive natural user interface (NUI), which enables the people with physical disabilities interact with the spatial computing environment."

The Dots system is powered by the titular Dots, silicone discs containing an accelerometer, Bluetooth communication system, battery, and wireless charging functionality. Running in pairs, the Dot sensors are connected to any two body parts — so long as those two parts can carry out at least one of the recognized "interaction patterns." In testing, subjects attached Dots to the amputation points of limbs and even to their face — moving whatever they can move.

"By connecting Dots with mixed reality and Internet of Things devices, users can accomplish multiple tasks using their bodies," Wang explains. "We empowered everyone, especially disabled people, to interact with future technologies by letting them design their customized interaction ways based on their body conditions and their specific situations."

The Dots system has already been tested with everything from Microsoft's Hololens mixed reality system and Facebook's Oculus virtual reality to smart TVs, smartphones, and laptops, and has been shortlisted for the Dezeen Awards 2020. More information is available on Wang's website.