In defining what a Disruptive Technology is, Thornburg connects
the phrase to Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, who is credited
with coining the phrase ‘Disruptive Innovation’ in his 1997 book, The
Innovator’s Dilemma (Christensen, 1997; Laureate Education, 2014a). According
to Thornburg, a disruptive technology
is a newly emerging technology
that unexpectedly displaces an established one (Laureate Education, 2014a). Thornburg
further explains that Disruptive Technologies are a ‘Wildcard’ in that a
certain technology may be on an evolutionary path and all of a sudden a
Disruptive Technology or ‘Wildcard’ comes into the market that meets the same
criterion that the Evolutionary Technology does, but does it more efficiently,
has a lower cost, and has other benefits to it which leads it to displace the former technology (Laureate Education, 2014a). A current example of a
Disruptive Technology is the SixthSense project.
The SixthSense prototype is a wearable gestural interface
that augments its user’s physical world, with digital information, that the
user can interact with by using natural hand gestures (Mistry, 2009). By using
a web camera and a tiny projector mounted in a pendant like wearable device, the
SixthSense prototype perceives what the user perceives and visually enhances
any surfaces or objects the user interacts with (Mistry, 2009). The SixthSense prototype
displays digital data onto any surface, such as a wall or physical objects like
the palm of the user’s hand, which allows the user to interact with the displayed
digital information with natural hand or arm gestures, or user interaction with
the object itself (Mistry, 2009). Through the use of the SixthSense prototype,
the user attempts to free information from the confines of a computer or mobile
device by seamlessly integrating it with physical reality, and therefore making
the entire world the user’s computer (Mistry, 2009).
Both the pocket projector and the web cam connect to the user’s
mobile computing device, which is usually a smartphone. SixthSense works by
projecting visual information via enabled surfaces, such as a wall or the user’s
palm or through physical objects as interfaces. Meanwhile the web cam comprehends
and tracks the user’s hand gestures or physical objects using Mistry’s
open-sourced software. The software application processes the video stream data
captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers or visual
tracking fiducials, which is a point or line assumed as a fixed basis of
comparison, at the tip of the user’s fingers. The movements of the fiducials
are deciphered into gestures that act as interactive commands for the projected
applications interface (Motwani, Motwani, & Kasatwar, 2016). The maximum
number of tracked fingers is only constrained by the number of unique
fiducials, which allows the SixthSense’s open-source software to supports multi-touch
and multi-user interactions.
One of the major social benefits of the SixthSense
technology is that it can enabling its users to sense and share stories and
other personal attributes and information about people they are interacting
with in real time. Personal thought clouds, containing informational traits,
hobbies, etc., about the person the user is interacting with can be displayed
for the user to use in conversation, while retaining privacy and
anonymity. Whereas current social networking sites keeps the user separated
from the true reality of their physical world and the importance of remaining
human, SixthSense will make it easier to go out into the physical world and
interact on a higher societal level of living.
The social implications of using this sort of technology in
the classroom is very exciting. As the following video details beautifully, students
and educators can use SixthSense as a translation tool to collaborate with other
students and educators in different areas of the world seamlessly. There are
two additional ways the SixthSense technology can enhance the educational
experience, by encouraging student engagement and by stimulating self-directed
learning. As an experienced teacher, I have noticed that my students learn more
when they are actively engaged. Media can be a powerful tool, sparking
curiosity, promoting scientific enquiry and enlisting critical thinking, by
helping my students make engaging connections between their real world experiences
and the content they are learning (Quinones, 2010). Within self-directed learning, the student takes
the initiative and the responsibility for what occurs. By combining the
ability to share information with other learners and educators, as well as tap
into the world of data and information available on the Internet, through use
of the SixthSense technology, students are able to follow new paths of self-directed
enquiry that will expand their understanding of the topics they are studying (Looi
et al., 2016).
An
example of using the SixthSense technology to enhance student learning would be
using it on a field trip to the museum or zoo to collect information on a
certain subject for a group collaborative project. Learners would be able to
take pictures of the subject using their fingers and have them added to their
SixthSense device. Afterward, the students could use a flat surface in the
museum or zoo to post their pictures and work collaboratively on their project,
thereby enhancing student engagement and self-directed learning.
Since
SixSense is still considered a project and has not come to fruition as a self-contained,
all in one device. Therefore, it is difficult to predict how many years it has
before another emerging technology or disruptive technology will replace it. In
the following video Maes, head of MIT’s Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces Group, speaks
to the SixSense technology arriving in the form of a human brain implant that
may emerge in 10 years of so (Maes & Mistry, 2009). SixthSense is a concept
and not an actual viable consumer product yet. For this technology concept to
become available in the consumer market numerous factors will have to come
together, chief among them will be enhanced battery technology, more efficient versions
of the web cam hardware, improvements in wireless data networks and most
importantly, the untethering of the smartphone needed to connect to the
internet. The technology will most likely germinate as a more fashionable
all-in-one wearable pendant device or set of glasses or goggles. As the hardware
concept of tethering several devices involved to implement this technology’s
conceptual use continues to develop, such devices as Google Glasses, Hololens or slimmed down versions of the Oculus Rift, employing Mistry’s open-sourced software, will most likely replace the current daisy-chained version of the SixthSense technology.
How to build your personal SixSense device
In
conclusion, Mistry has invented an amazing technological concept with the SixthSense
Project. The permutation of devices and the open-source software combined
create a user-friendly reality in which the user’s digital world is joined with
their physical world (Balamurugan, 2010). This technology can be used in a
plethora of positive ways, to enhance daily tasks. Being able to easily learn
information about products while shopping, find instructions while building or
constructing, and being able to easily identify areas while travelling are all
extremely positive results of the Sixth Sense technology project. Mistry (2009)
tells us that the SixthSense technology is essentially a wearable computer that
can surf the web, make phone calls, and even connect to other computing devices
(Mistry, 2009). It is more portable and more interactive than any smartphone,
laptop, or tablet available today, while costing about the same as a smartphone
or tablet. It does, however, pose a threat to society in the form of privacy
issues. It allows for the user to easily record and photograph anything without
being noticed, and it can also allow the user to gain available online information
about anything just by glancing at it and performing an online search. This may
lead to social, legal, ethical, and security concerns. Sixth Sense technology
is significant in its intended purpose for daily task efficiency and
interactive computing, but it may prove to not be practical due to the societal
issues it may raise and the portability of hardware involved.
Resources
To learn more about the SixthSense Project please follow
this link:
http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/
For more history on the SixthSense Project please use this
link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SixthSense
References
Balamurugan, S, (2010). Sixth sense technology, proceedings
of 2010 international
conference on communication and computational intelligence
(pp. 336-339). Chennai: Scitech publications (India).
Christensen, C. M. (1997). The Innovator's Dilemma: The
Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business (Collins Business
Essentials).
Dhingra, S, (2009, October). Sixth sense technology will
revolutionize the world. The
Viewspaper. Retrieved February 28, 2012, from http://www.theviewspaper.net/
sixth-sense-technology-will-revolutionize-the-world/
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014a). David
Thornburg: Disruptive technologies [Video file]. Baltimore, MD:
Author.
Looi, C. K., Lim, K. F., Pang, J., Koh, A. L. H., Seow, P.,
Sun, D., ... & Soloway, E. (2016). Bridging Formal and Informal Learning
with the Use of Mobile Technology. In Future Learning in Primary Schools
(pp. 79-96). Springer Singapore.
Maes, P. and Mistry, P. (2009, February). Pattie Maes and Pranav
Mistry: Meet the SixthSense interaction [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense
Mistry, P. (2009, November). Pranav Mistry: The thrilling
potential of SixthSense
technology. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistr
Motwani, C., Motwani, D., & Kasatwar, A. (2016). Six
Sense Technology Using Hand Gesture. International Journal of Research, 3(5),
93-99.
Quinones, D. (2010). Digital media (including video!)
Resources for the stem classroom and collection. Knowledge Quest, 39(2), 28-32.
Wilson-Richter, L, (2009, March 13). Pattie Maes’ sixth
sense technology: what’s
stopping this?. Lucas Wilson-Richter. Retrieved February
28, 2012, from http://www.lucasrichter.id.au/2009/03/13/pattie-maes-sixth-sense-technology-whats-stopping-this/
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