Here's a picture of my Xybernaut MA-V previously posted about, currently hooked up to a desktop monitor. I am still trying to find a compatible HMD, but I have a lot of setup to do before I'm ready for it anyway. You can see the wrist-size keyboard there, though, which is pretty sweet.
Currently, I am attempting to install Damn Small Linux, which is giving me some trouble. The OS is designed to run on a LiveCD or USB thumb drive, etc. so getting it to reside on my hard drive is proving difficult, despite DSL having at least three separate ways to do just that. Despite having the USB external CD drive listed as my first boot device, the computer has problems booting into DSL, without which I cannot work on partitioning my hard drive for Linux, or perform the install itself. For some reason, when I ran cfdisk the first time, and thought that I had successfully partitioned the drive, I rebooted the computer to find myself back in Windows. Now, when I try to boot back into the DSL LiveCD, it isn't letting me.
For now, as I am on vacation, this project is sitting still, but when I get back to it next week, and hopefully finally get DSL running on the hard drive, I can really get started and I will definitely keep you all up to date.
I recently bought a Xybernaut MA-V wearable computer off eBay, and I am working on building a wearable computer interface for everyday use. My aim is to have a wearable computer with the following capabilities: - Monocular Head-mounted Display (HMD)
- Voice-activated functionality
- Go-anywhere web access
- Bluetooth, and functionality to tie in your cell phone while wearing the device, so that you can make/receive calls, send SMS and MMS and whatnot all from the device
- Integrated camera(s) to capture what you are seeing. Also: low-light vision (thinking IR illumination right now, versus 'real' night vision), infrared, ultraviolet, 'full-spectrum'
- A simple interface built specifically for it's purposes. Lots of voice interaction and keyboard shortcuts (for my wrist-mounted keyboard).
Some of those (general) aims are long-term, and some are shorter. (E.g. I won't be affording FLIR anytime soon.) Other functionality thoughts I will be pursuing follow: - Advanced pattern recognition via the mounted camera. This is your classic sci-fi case of recognizing faces of people you know and offering additional information automatically. I will be pursuing smaller things first, as I am no genius AI programmer. For example, I have considered those apps that recognize UPC barcodes. With that, you could be looking at a package of something in a store and be offered additional information, such as prices at other retailers/online, manufacturer information, reviews, etc.
- GPS. With the above, you could combine these to create a function that gives you the menu, hours, and phone number of the restaurant you just looked at (pattern-recognition on sign, plus gps location, plus google maps/earth). You could also tweet a thought, a picture of what you are seeing, and your exact location at the time ("Look at that great sunset.").
- Enhanced memory/knowledge. E.g.: Storage of the video footage from the mounted camera for the past X amount of time.. allows 'instant-replay' functionality for your life, basically. You could also save something you just saw for later reference or for posting online. E.g.: Built in and quick access to reference materials, like Wikipedia, dictionaries, ebooks, etc. That way, when Harriet Bosse comes up in conversation, you know exactly who people are talking about.
- Enhanced vision. As stated above, I would like to implement various camera systems, including low-light vision, infrared, ultraviolet, 'full-spectrum,' etc. The added insights into the world around you gained by these additional filters would be interesting, at the least. It's difficult to even speculate, but imagine seeing temperatures around you. It's a type of ambient computing that I believe would be valuable. Digital zooming would also be very useful.
These are just the beginning, and as I progress through this project I expect my aims and goals to evolve. If you have ideas, feel free to leave a comment.
The MA-V came preloaded with Windows 2000, but the only preloaded software (other than the OS package) was a battery meter, which is easily replaced. I asked friends for suggestions for a small Linux distribution, which led me to Damn Small Linux (DSL). It looks like a great distro for my project, so in the coming days I will be testing it out, and I will continue updating you on my progress on this project.
