StartleCam: A Cybernetic Wearable Camera

StartleCam is a wearable video camera, computer, and sensing system, which enables the camera to be controlled via both conscious and preconscious events involving the wearer. Traditionally, a wearer consciously hits record on the video camera, or runs a computer script to trigger the camera according to some pre-specified frequency. The system described here offers an additional option: images are saved by the system when it detects certain events of supposed interest to the wearer. The implementation described here aims to capture events that are likely to get the user's attention and to be remembered. Attention and memory are highly correlated with what psychologists call arousal level, and the latter is often signaled by skin conductivity changes; consequently, StartleCam monitors the wearer's skin conductivity. StartleCam looks for patterns indicative of a "startleresponse" in the skin conductivity signal. When this response is detected, a buffer of digital im...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: ISWC
• Authors: Jennifer Healey, Rosalind W. Picard
• Keywords: Human Computer Interaction, ISWC 1998, Skin Conductivity, Video Camera, Wearer's Skin Conductivity