Katia Vega

Beauty tech nails: interactive technology at your fingertips

Looking for wearables that are fashionable, smart and augment human interaction, we introduce the term Beauty Technology as an emergent field in Wearable Computing. It is an on-body computing approach that turns non-invasive, wireless and without power required electromagnetic devices into beauty products for interacting with different surfaces and devices. This paper describes the materials and the prototyping process used in the making of Beauty Tech Nails exemplifying its application in everyday beauty products.

Beauty Technology: Body Surface Computing

As wearable technology assumes an increasingly important function in daily life, sensors and other electronic devices applied directly to the skin, in forms like artificial nails and makeup, might further revolutionize human experience.

Beauty technology as an interactive computing platform

Just blink and levitate objects, just move your fingernails and open the door. Chemically metalized eyelashes, RFID nails and conductive makeup are some examples of Beauty Technology products, an emergent field in Wearable Computers. Beauty Technology embedded electromagnetic devices into non-invasive beauty products that could be attached to the human body for interacting with different surfaces like water, clothes, the own wearers body and other objects, just blinking or even without touching any of these surfaces.

Empowering Electronic Divas through Beauty Technology

The evolution of Wearable Computers is making it possible for wearers to move and interact freely with the world with nearly invisible technology embedded into clothing. Our aim is to create technology that is not just in clothing but on the skin surface as removable and hidden electronics. In this paper, we introduce the term ‘Beauty technology’ as an emerging field in Wearable Computing that hides electronic components within beauty products. This work outlines the technology used to hide electronic components in eyelashes, make-up, tattoos and nails, and it presents examples of the use of Beauty Technology in everyday beauty products.

FX e-Makeup for Muscle Based Interaction

Our aim with Beauty Technology is to transform our body in an interactive platform by hiding technology into beauty products for creating muscle based interfaces that don’t give the wearer a cyborg look. FX e-makeup is a Beauty Technology prototype that applies FX makeup materials embedded with electronics for sensing the face’s muscles. This work presents Winkymote and Kinisi as proof of concept of the FX e-makeup.

Hairware: The Conscious Use of Unconscious Auto-contact Behaviors

Beauty Technology is a wearable computing paradigm that uses the bodys surface as an interactive platform by integrating technology into beauty products applied directly to ones skin, fingernails and hair. Hairware is a Beauty Technology Prototype that connects chemically metalized hair extensions to a microcontroller turning it into an input device for triggering different objects. Hairware acts as a capacitive touch sensor that detects touch variations on hair and uses machine learning algorithms in order to recognize users intention. Normally, while someone touches her own hair, unconsciously she is bringing comfort to herself and at the same time is emitting a non-verbal message decodable by an observer. However, when she replays that touch on Hairware, she is not just emitting a message to an observer, because touching her hair would trigger an object, creating in this way, a concealed interface to different devices. Therefore, Hairware brings the opportunity to make conscious use of an unconscious auto-contact behavior. We present Hairwares hardware and software implementation.

Prototyping Games for Training and Education in Second Life: Time2Play and TREG

The purpose of this paper is to report the experience in prototyping 2 games for education and training in Second Life, Time2Play and TREG. Starting from a prototyping process, it was adapted for getting better results in the development of the games. Based on our experience, Second Life provides a sound platform for the step-by-step prototyping evolution.

Hairware: Conductive Hair Extensions as a Capacitive Touch Input Device

Our aim is to use our own bodies as an interactive platform. We are trying to move away from traditional wearable devices worn on clothes and accessories where gestures are noticeable and remind cyborg looking. We follow Beauty Technology paradigm that uses the bodys surface as an interactive platform by integrating technology into beauty products applied directly to ones skin, fingernails and hair. Thus, we propose Hairware, a Beauty Technology Prototype that connects chemically metalized hair extensions to a microcontroller turning it into an input device for triggering different objects. Hairware acts as a capacitive touch sensor that detects touch variations on hair and uses machine learning algorithms in order to recognize users intention. In this way, we add a new functionality to hair extensions, becoming a seamless device that recognizes auto-contact behaviors that no observers would identify. This work presents the design of Hairwares hardware and software implementation. In this demo, we show Hairware acting as a controller for smartphones and computers.

Training in Requirements by Collaboration: Branching Stories in Second Life

Training by playing is believed to be an effective strategy for learning. Training games combine educational and technological techniques that help learners to get involved, collaborate and learn in a practical and interactive way. Collaboration is inherent to software requirements elicitation which involves customers, users and developers to achieve an overall goal. In this article, a game entitled TREG that simulates various activities in software requirements workshop is proposed. The trainee interacts with Non-Player Characters and according to the trainee’s choice the game reenacts a specific scenario. The social simulation in the game is based on the branching stories genre. Each branching node is described using a scenario-based template. The game was prototyped in Second Life, a virtual world that gives the possibility to create an immersive collaborative educational experience.

Exploring the power of feedback loops in wearables computers

Touch, sight, smell, hearing and taste - our senses link us to the outside world. Reflexes react to all stimuli arriving simultaneously to our sensory environment. But there are lapses in awareness of seemingly obvious stimuli to temporary losses of attention and lapses that we are not aware of in the form of reflexes. The main motivation of this research is to plug these lapses with the power of feedback loops in environments where human and wearable computers are intertwined and explore their application as tools for self-modification and sustainable change. This work proposes a combination of body worn objects and hidden technology to create compelling, aesthetic solutions that not only appeal to our senses, but which fuse seamlessly with our everyday lives. In order to exemplify this exploration, we created Blinklifier, a wearable device that senses our reflex of blinking through conductive makeup and metalized eyelashes, and amplifies it.