ENGR110/210: Perspectives in Assistive Technology

Abstract: Minsky, Kurzweil, and Mann [2013] define the sensory singularity in terms of Humanistic Intelligence (HI: intelligence that arises by having the human being in the feedback loop of a computational process). The sensory singularity will be discussed in the context of "sousveillant systems", with an emphasis on the need for accessibility. This leads us to sousveillance as a design requirement of HI, in the context of the Code of Ethics on Human Augmentation. HARCAD (Haptic Augmented Reality Computer Aided Design) will be presented as an embodiment of HI, with an application to the design of freeform systems like the hydraulophone.

Biosketch: Professor Steve Mann, PhD (MIT), P.Eng. (Ontario), is widely regarded as "The Father of Wearable Computing". His work as an artist, scientist, designer, and inventor made Toronto the world's epicentre of wearable technologies back in the 1980s. In 1992 Mann moved from Toronto to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founding the MIT Media Lab's Wearable Computing Project as its first member. In the words of the Lab's founding Director, Nicholas Negroponte: "Steve Mann is the perfect example of someone ... who persisted in his vision and ended up founding a new discipline".

Mann also invented the smartwatch videophone (wearable computer) in 1998, which was featured on the cover of Linux Journal in 2000, and presented at IEEE ISSCC2000.

Some of Mann's other inventions include HDR (High Dynamic Range) Imaging, now used in nearly every commercially manufactured camera, and the EyeTap Digital Eye Glass which predates the Google Glass by 30 years. Now as the Chief Scientist at Meta, a California-based startup, wearable AR glasses will be brought to a mass market. Recently, Steve (as one of the co-founders, and as the Chief Scientist) and his team successfully raised $73 million in funding to support MetaVision digital eye glass.

In 2013, Mann brought together the world's leading thinkers in cyborg ethics, veillance (surveillance and sousveillance), and HI for the IEEE ISTAS, resulting in the world's first set of ethical principles for transhumanistic intelligence and metasensory augmentation.

Steve received his PhD from MIT in 1997 and then returned to Toronto in 1998 where he is now a tenured full professor at the University of Toronto in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments. During his early years at U of T he created the world's first Mobile Apps Lab (1999) as a part of his wearable computing and AR course. He is also the Chief Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab at Rotman's School of Management. Mann holds multiple patents, and has contributed to the founding of numerous companies including InteraXON, makers of Muse, "The Most Important Wearable of 2014".

Contact Information:: Steve Mann - University of Toronto

Lecture Material:: Pre-lecture slides - 579 Kb pdf file; Slides; Photos - 333 Kb pdf file; Arne's photos - 787 Kb pdf file; Steve's photos - 306 Kb pdf file - online; Video - 1:12:59