DARPA on health tracking: ‘Who cares about that stuff?’

By

Never mind Touch ID, this could be the best way of unlocking future phones.
"Hey, Siri, what am I thinking right now?".

If you think it’s amazing that your iPhone can recognize your thumbprint and take your pulse, apparently you’re in for some future shocks.

Dr. Justin Sanchez, program manager of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says that these basic biometrics are just the beginning for how our bodies could one day interact with technology.

“Many of you are just getting things back like, ‘This is what your heart rate is right now’ or ‘You took 6,000 steps today,'” Sanchez said at DARPA’s annual conference last month. “Who cares about that stuff? What you really want to do is use that information to help you interact with machines in a much deeper way.”

You can see the full presentation below.

https://youtu.be/UtyZAD_35A4

Sanchez describes DARPA’s work to integrate people with technology in meaningful ways. A big part of that is prosthetic limbs with neural interfaces, but he also presents a couple of everyday applications for future users.

“Many people love the Nest thermostat because it’s more interactive in nature,” he said. “The Nest learns how you are turning up and down the thermostat. [. . .] Now take that idea another step: What if that thermostat was tied into your physiology?”

His proposed thermostat would reacts to changes in your body instead of the room, automatically turning on when whatever sensor apparatus you’re wearing (or have implanted in your brain) registers that you are too hot or too cold. I’m not sure if that’s any more convenient than actually recognizing that you are too hot or too cold and then adjusting the thermostat with your hands like a caveman, but then again, I don’t work at DARPA.

And this tech sounds pretty far off, but DARPA is already working with cranial hardware to treat mental illness like depression and PTSD.

On a much smaller, everyday scale, neural interfaces could do basic things like unlock your future iPhone.

Hopefully, this far-fetched cyborg future looks as little like the opening scene from The Terminator as possible.

Via: KSL

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.