Exploring the Power of Feedback Loops in Wearables Computers Katia Vega Department of Informatics, PUC-Rio Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Gávea, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil kvega@inf.puc-rio.br ABSTRACT 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. Author Keywords Feedback loops; wearable computers; humanistic intelligence; bodily affordances; haptic interface. ACM Classification Keywords H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces - Haptics I/O, Interaction styles. General Terms Human Factors; Design. INTRODUCTION Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) is credited with the traditional classification of the five sense organs: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing [1]. As far back as the 1760's, the philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed that our knowledge of the outside world depends on our modes of perception [2]. But even if our perception is immediately aware to changes in our environment, our attention to specific targets is limited to the brain's ability to process these stimuli sequentially. Biodata is not expected to predict all future behaviors but it is useful in personnel selection in that it can give an indication of probable future behaviors based on an individual’s prior learning history [3]. The power of feedback loops has been used to change human behavior [4], and it has been explored in the fields of psychology, engineering, economics, social science, systems theory, education, biology, environmental science, control theory, and so forth. But never before in our history have sensors been so readily available. With the cost, size and weight of sensors so low, we can now afford to play and discover the full potential of feedback loops in ways that were previously unthinkable. Humanistic Intelligence (HI) proposed by Mann [5] describes a framework wherein the natural capabilities of our human body and mind interact in synergy with one another and wearable computers become an integral part of the feedback loop. Blinklifier [6] is our HI proposal, a wearable computer that amplifies voluntary and involuntary eyelid movement. Besides developing wearables that visualize psychological and physiological states, we developed a communication interface to amplify the natural muscle contraction and relaxation and to create expressions commanded by the user. PROPOSAL As technologies become cheaper and more readily available, the potential to embed sensors into the fabric of everyday objects and materials is enabling a form of aesthetic thinking to emerge. By harnessing the power of techno-sensual feedback loops, everyday objects can become reflective tools that stimulate us to modify our behaviors in ways that feel natural and unobtrusive. They may encourage us to play and explore the extended environments that become tangible spaces created in the interface between real-time information and haptic materiality. In order to explore feedback loops in everyday objects, we propose the use of wearable computers that amplifies human reflexes to stimuli and minimizes the use of intrusive devices such as heavy glasses and electromyography. Our interest is to create wearables with hidden technology like conductive makeup for face motion recognition, black fake eyelashes that are chemically metalized to understand blinking, conductive tattoos for reading bio pulses, RFID tags into gel nails and jewelry to Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. TEI 2013, Feb 10-13, 2013, Barcelona, Spain. Copyright 2013 ACM 978-1-4503-1898-3/13/02....$15.00.