Steve Mann (inventor)

Last updated
Steve Mann
SteveMann with Generation-4 Glass 1999.jpg
Steve Mann with Generation-4 EyeTap
Born
William Stephen George Mann

(1962-06-08) 8 June 1962 (age 61)
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanada
Alma mater McMaster University (B.Sc., B.Eng., M.Eng.)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
Known for
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions University of Toronto
Thesis Personal imaging  (1997)
Doctoral advisor Rosalind Picard
Website https://www.eecg.utoronto.ca/~mann/

William Stephen George Mann (born 8 June 1962) is a Canadian engineer, professor, and inventor who works in augmented reality, computational photography, particularly wearable computing, and high-dynamic-range imaging. Mann is sometimes labeled the "Father of Wearable Computing" for early inventions and continuing contributions to the field. [2] [3] [4] He cofounded InteraXon, makers of the Muse brain-sensing headband, [5] [6] [7] [2] [3] [8] and is also a founding member of the IEEE Council on Extended Intelligence (CXI). [9] [10] Mann is currently CTO and cofounder at Blueberry X Technologies and Chairman of MannLab. Mann was born in Canada, and currently lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife and two children. In 2023, Mann unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Toronto.

Contents

Early life and education

Mann holds a PhD in Media Arts and Sciences (1997) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.Sc., B.Eng. and M.Eng. from McMaster University in 1987, 1989 and 1992, respectively. He was also inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Hall of Fame, Alumni Gallery 2004, in recognition of his career as an inventor and teacher. [11] While at MIT, in then Director Nicholas Negroponte's words, "Steve Mann … brought the seed" that founded the Wearable Computing group in the Media Lab [12] and "Steve Mann is the perfect example of someone … who persisted in his vision and ended up founding a new discipline." [13] [14] In 2004 he was named the recipient of the 2004 Leonardo Award for Excellence for his article "Existential Technology," published in Leonardo 36:1. [15] [16]

He is also General Chair of the IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, [17] Associate Editor of IEEE Technology and Society, is a licensed Professional Engineer, and Senior Member of the IEEE, [18] as well as a member of the IEEE Council on Extended Intelligence (CXI). [19]

Career

Mann is a tenured full professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with cross-appointments to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto, and is a Professional Engineer licensed through Professional Engineers Ontario.

Ideas and inventions

Mann with three of his inventions: EyeTap Digital Eye Glass, Smartwatch, and SWIM (Sequential Wave Imprinting Machine) phenomenological augmented reality. SteveMann SequantialWaveImprintingMachine.gif
Mann with three of his inventions: EyeTap Digital Eye Glass, Smartwatch, and SWIM (Sequential Wave Imprinting Machine) phenomenological augmented reality.

Many of Mann's inventions pertain to the field of computational photography.

Surveilluminescent wand: When moved through space in a long-exposure photograph, it makes the sightfield of a surveillance camera visible. Surveilluminescent Lights in Motion handwash faucets 03.jpg
Surveilluminescent wand: When moved through space in a long-exposure photograph, it makes the sightfield of a surveillance camera visible.

Mann also works in the fields of computer-mediated reality. [35] He is a strong advocate of privacy rights, for which work he was an award recipient of the Chalmers Foundation in the fine arts. His work also extends to the area of sousveillance (a term he coined for "inverse surveillance"). Mann and one of his PhD students, James Fung, together with some of his other students, have been building a cyborg community around the cyborg-logging concept. [36]

His CyborGLOGS ('glogs), such as the spontaneous reporting of news as everyday experience, [39] were an early predecessor of 'blogs and the concept of blogging, and earlier than that, his pre-internet-era live streaming of personal documentary and cyborg communities defined cyborg-logging as a new form of social networking.

Anonequity project

Mann is currently collaborating with a number of researchers including Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law & Technology, University of Ottawa, who teaches a course on "Cyborg Law" that uses Mann's book. [40] Mann, together with Kerr and others, are doing an SSHRC-funded project to study the Ethics, Law & Technology of anonymity, authentication, surveillance, and sousveillance, in addition to issues related to cyborg-law. The anonequity project is ongoing, and collaborator Kerr has also researched and lectured widely on implantable technologies. [41]

Media coverage

Mann has been referred to as the "father of wearable computing", [42] [43] [44] having created the first general-purpose wearable computer, in contrast to previous wearable devices that perform one specific function such as time-keeping (e.g. wristwatch); calculations (e.g. wearable abacus); or Edward O. Thorp and Claude Shannon's wearable computers, which were timing devices concealed in shoes or cigarette packs and designed for cheating at a game of roulette. [45] [46]

Mann has also been described as "the world's first cyborg" in Canadian popular press such as NOW , The Globe and Mail , National Post , and Toronto Life , but has himself rejected the term "cyborg" as being too vague. [47]

In 2023, Steve Mann ran for Mayor of Toronto. [48] As part of his campaign he advocated for recreational swimming in Lake Ontario, and supported a petition to save the beach at Ontario Place. [49] [50]

Publications

Mann is author of more than 200 publications, including a textbook on electric eyeglasses and a popular culture book on day-to-day cyborg living. Selected works:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wearable computer</span> Small computing devices worn with clothing

A wearable computer, also known as a body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body. The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sousveillance</span> Recording of an activity by a participant

Sousveillance is the recording of an activity by a member of the public, rather than a person or organisation in authority, typically by way of small wearable or portable personal technologies. The term, coined by Steve Mann, stems from the contrasting French words sur, meaning "above", and sous, meaning "below", i.e. "surveillance" denotes the "eye-in-the-sky" watching from above, whereas "sousveillance" denotes bringing the means of observation down to human level, either physically or hierarchically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EyeTap</span> Wearable computer worn in front of the eye

An EyeTap is a concept for a wearable computing device that is worn in front of the eye that acts as a camera to record the scene available to the eye as well as a display to superimpose computer-generated imagery on the original scene available to the eye. This structure allows the user's eye to operate as both a monitor and a camera as the EyeTap intakes the world around it and augments the image the user sees allowing it to overlay computer-generated data over top of the normal world the user would perceive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer-mediated reality</span> Ability to manipulate ones perception of reality through the use of a computer

Computer-mediated reality refers to the ability to add to, subtract information from, or otherwise manipulate one's perception of reality through the use of a wearable computer or hand-held device such as a smartphone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gesture recognition</span> Topic in computer science and language technology

Gesture recognition is an area of research and development in computer science and language technology concerned with the recognition and interpretation of human gestures. A subdiscipline of computer vision, it employs mathematical algorithms to interpret gestures. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or state, but commonly originate from the face or hand. One area of the field is emotion recognition derived from facial expressions and hand gestures. Users can make simple gestures to control or interact with devices without physically touching them. Many approaches have been made using cameras and computer vision algorithms to interpret sign language, however, the identification and recognition of posture, gait, proxemics, and human behaviors is also the subject of gesture recognition techniques. Gesture recognition is a path for computers to begin to better understand and interpret human body language, previously not possible through text or unenhanced graphical (GUI) user interfaces.

Equiveillance is a state of equilibrium, or a desire to attain a state of equilibrium, between surveillance and sousveillance. It is sometimes confused with transparency. The balance (equilibrium) provided by equiveillance allows individuals to construct their own cases from evidence they gather themselves, rather than merely having access to surveillance data that could possibly incriminate them.

High dynamic range (HDR), also known as wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, or expanded dynamic range, is a dynamic range higher than usual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydraulophone</span> Hydraulic musical instrument

A hydraulophone is a tonal acoustic musical instrument played by direct physical contact with water where sound is generated or affected hydraulically. The hydraulophone was described and named by Steve Mann in 2005, and patented in 2011. Typically, sound is produced by the same hydraulic fluid in contact with the player's fingers. It has been used as a sensory exploration device for low-vision individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanistic intelligence</span>

Humanistic Intelligence (HI) is defined, in the context of wearable computing, by Marvin Minsky, Ray Kurzweil, and Steve Mann, as follows:

Humanistic Intelligence [HI] is intelligence that arises because of a human being in the feedback loop of a computational process, where the human and computer are inextricably intertwined. When a wearable computer embodies HI and becomes so technologically advanced that its intelligence matches our own biological brain, something much more powerful emerges from this synergy that gives rise to superhuman intelligence within the single “cyborg” being.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lifestreaming</span> Act of documenting and sharing aspects of ones daily experiences online

Lifestreaming is an act of documenting and sharing aspects of one's daily experiences online, via a lifestream website that publishes things of a person's choosing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lifelog</span> Personal record of ones daily life

A lifelog is a personal record of one's daily life in a varying amount of detail, for a variety of purposes. The record contains a comprehensive dataset of a human's activities. The data could be used to increase knowledge about how people live their lives. In recent years, some lifelog data has been automatically captured by wearable technology or mobile devices. People who keep lifelogs about themselves are known as lifeloggers.

Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of questions, including ethics and justice, language and trans-species communication, social systems, and the intellectual aspirations of interdisciplinarity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyborg</span> Being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts

A cyborg —a portmanteau of cybernetic and organism—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. In contrast to biorobots and androids, the term cyborg applies to a living organism that has restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on feedback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SixthSense</span> Gesture-based wearable computer system

SixthSense is a gesture-based wearable computer system developed at MIT Media Lab by Steve Mann in 1994 and 1997, and 1998, and further developed by Pranav Mistry, in 2009, both of whom developed both hardware and software for both headworn and neckworn versions of it. It comprises a headworn or neck-worn pendant that contains both a data projector and camera. Headworn versions were built at MIT Media Lab in 1997 that combined cameras and illumination systems for interactive photographic art, and also included gesture recognition.

In computing, a natural user interface (NUI) or natural interface is a user interface that is effectively invisible, and remains invisible as the user continuously learns increasingly complex interactions. The word "natural" is used because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices whose operation has to be learned. Examples include voice assistants, such as Alexa and Siri, touch and multitouch interactions on today's mobile phones and tablets, but also touch interfaces invisibly integrated into the textiles furnitures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telepointer</span> Gesture-based wearable computer system

Telepointer is a neck-worn gestural interface system developed by MIT Media Lab student Steve Mann in 1998. Mann originally referred to the device as "Synthetic Synesthesia of the Sixth Sense". In the 1990s and early 2000s Mann used this project as a teaching example at the University of Toronto.

Mobile journalism is a form of multimedia newsgathering and storytelling that enables journalists to document, edit and share news using small, network connected devices like smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smartglasses</span> Wearable computers glasses

Smartglasses or smart glasses are eye or head-worn wearable computers that offer useful capabilities to the user. Many smartglasses include displays that add information alongside or to what the wearer sees. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that are able to change their optical properties, such as smart sunglasses that are programmed to change tint by electronic means. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that include headphone functionality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absement</span> Measure of sustained displacement of an object from its initial position

In kinematics, absement is a measure of sustained displacement of an object from its initial position, i.e. a measure of how far away and for how long. The word absement is a portmanteau of the words absence and displacement. Similarly, absition is a portmanteau of the words absence and position.

Egocentric vision or first-person vision is a sub-field of computer vision that entails analyzing images and videos captured by a wearable camera, which is typically worn on the head or on the chest and naturally approximates the visual field of the camera wearer. Consequently, visual data capture the part of the scene on which the user focuses to carry out the task at hand and offer a valuable perspective to understand the user's activities and their context in a naturalistic setting.

References

  1. McNeil, Mark (2008-11-24). "Filmmaker has futuristic vision". Hamilton Spectator . Retrieved 2008-11-24.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 Tech Giant "Father of Wearable Tech" Steve Mann "Goes for The Ride" to YYD ROBO!, YYD Corporate News, 2017-07-31
  3. 1 2 "Father of Wearable Computing, Steve Mann, to Keynote FITC Wearables", by Nikolas Badminton, 2014-11-11, Toronto, Medium
  4. Mitchell, Marit (2013-03-13). "Meet Steve Mann, father of wearable computing". University of Toronto. Retrieved 2020-11-28. Professor Steve Mann is known as the father of wearable computing...
  5. "Steve Mann". Archived from the original on 2019-10-14. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  6. "Inventrepreneurship", by Matias Gutierrez, 19 November 2018
  7. Bloomberg, Company Overview of InteraXon Inc., April 24, 2019 9:24 AM ET
  8. Robarts, Stu (March 11, 2015). "Hands-on: Staying focused (or not) with the Muse brain-sensing headband". New Atlas. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023.
  9. CXI - Council on Extended Intelligence, IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA), 2017
  10. The Case for Extended Intelligence - IEEE, Technological Advancement in Service of People and Planet, Pages 1-48, Piscataway, New Jersey, 2018.
  11. "Mann, Steve". McMaster University. Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  12. "Video Interview". Wearable Computing and Interaction Design. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  13. Bangor Daily News – Sep 26, 1997
  14. Part man, part machine – all nerd `Wearable computer' pioneer Steve Mann keeps one eye locked on the future, Toronto Star, Eric Shinn, July 8, 02:32 EDT
  15. "2004 Leonardo Award for Excellence Given to Steve Mann". 2004-12-07. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  16. Mann, Steve (2003). "Existential Technology: Wearable Computing Is Not the Real Issue!". Leonardo . 36 (1): 19–25. doi:10.1162/002409403321152239. JSTOR   1577273. S2CID   4495269.
  17. "ISTAS'13". Veillance.me. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2013-01-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. "CXI - Council on Extended Intelligence | IEEE SA & MIT Media Lab". IEEE CXI. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  20. Mann, Steve (November 2012). "Eye Am a Camera: Surveillance and Sousveillance in the Glassage". TIME.
  21. "Comparametric Equations". Wearable Computing and Interaction Design. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  22. US 5706416 "Method and apparatus for relating and combining multiple images of the same scene or object(s)"
  23. ""Compositing Multiple Pictures of the Same Scene", Proceedings of the 46th Annual Imaging Science & Technology Conference, May 9–14, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993". Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  24. Robertson; et al. (2003). "Estimation-theoretic approach to dynamic range enhancement using multiple exposures". Journal of Electronic Imaging. 12 (2): 220, right column, line 26. Bibcode:2003JEI....12..219R. doi:10.1117/1.1557695.
  25. Davies, Chris (2012-09-12). "Quantigraphic camera promises HDR eyesight from Father of AR". Slashgear.com. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
  26. 1 2 Mann, Steve; Janzen, Ryan; Post, Mark (2006). "Hydraulophone Design Considerations: Absement, Displacement, and Velocity-Sensitive Music Keyboard in which each key is a Water Jet". Proceedings of the 14th ACM international conference on Multimedia. MM'06. pp. 519–528. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.131.2778 . doi:10.1145/1180639.1180751. ISBN   978-1-59593-447-5. S2CID   14740177. QID   30473775 . Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  27. Memory Elements: A Paradigm Shift in Lagrangian Modeling of Electrical Circuits arXiv : 1201.1032
  28. "Integral Kinematics (Time‐Integrals of Distance, Energy, etc.) and Integral Kinesiology", by Steve Mann, Ryan Janzen, Mir Adnan Ali, Pete Scourboutakos, and Nitin Guleria, in Proceedings of the IEEE GEM2014, pp 627-629, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 22–24, 2014
  29. Intelligent Image Processing, John Wiley and Sons, 2001
  30. Mann, Steve (June 2014). "The Sightfield: Visualizing Computer Vision, and Seeing Its Capacity to "See" (Keynote Address)". IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops (CVPRW). IEEE: 618–623. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023.
  31. "High-resolution stills and environment maps from video using the projective group of coordinate transformations". Wearcam.org.
  32. "Video Orbits of the Projective Group". EyeTap. Archived from the original on 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  33. US 5828793 "Method and apparatus for producing digital images having extended dynamic ranges"
  34. ""Virtual bellows: constructing high-quality images from video.", In Proceedings of the IEEE First International Conference on Image Processing". Eyetap.org. Austin, Texas. November 16, 1994. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  35. "Committee of IEEE ISTAS – Social Implications of Living in a SmartWorld" . Retrieved 2012-11-08.[ permanent dead link ]
  36. "About Us". Glogger.mobi. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  37. Mann, S. (May–June 2001). "Wearable computing:toward humanistic intelligence" (PDF). Intelligent Systems. 16 (3): 10–15. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.62.4991 . doi:10.1109/5254.940020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09.
  38. Ito, Joi. "Joi Ito's Moblogging, Blogmapping and Moblogmapping related resources as of 6/10/2003". Archived from the original on 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2007-08-03. February 1995 – wearcam.org as roving reporter Steve Mann (under 'about moblogging')
  39. "wearcam.org as roving reporter; (c) Steve Mann, Feb. 1995" . Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  40. "Cyborg Law Course". Wearable Computing and Interaction Design. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  41. "Co-investigators & collaborators". On the Identity Trail. Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  42. Schofield, Jack (2012-04-05). "Google Project Glass: will we really wear digital goggles?". The Guardian . Retrieved 2012-07-23. Steve Mann, a Canadian known as the father of wearable computing, has been developing systems since the 1980s with obvious industrial, medical and military applications.
  43. Clarke, Peter (2000-02-08). "ISSCC: 'Dick Tracy' watch watchers disagree". EE Times . Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2012-07-23. Steve Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, was hailed as the father of the wearable computer and the ISSCC's first virtual panelist, by moderator...
  44. Schofield, Jack (2001-08-01). "From man to borg – Is this the future?". The Guardian . Retrieved 2012-07-21.
  45. "The Invention of the First Wearable Computer Online paper by Edward O. Thorp of Edward O. Thorp & Associates" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  46. Ballingall, Alex (2013-02-13). "Google Glass, smart watches could help spawn wearable computer age". Toronto Star . Archived from the original on 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2016-01-03. Garten also noted a remarkable similarity between the Google Glass and the eyewear technology developed by Steve Mann, a University of Toronto professor known as the "cyborg" for constantly wearing his version of the wearable computer glasses. He's often referred to as "the father" of the wearable computer and augmented reality vision.
  47. Mann, Steve; Hal Niedzviecki (2001). Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer. Randomhouse Doubleday. ISBN   978-0-385-65826-3.
  48. "Steve Mann for Mayor".
  49. "SwimOP".
  50. "Save the Beach".