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Steve Mann (inventor)

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Steve Mann
Steve Mann with EyeTap and MindMesh inventions
Born
Hamilton, Ontario
Known forWearable computers, High dynamic range imaging, Chirplet transform, Hydraulophone

Steven Mann (born in Hamilton, Ontario),[1] is a tenured 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.

Education

Mann holds degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD in Media Arts and Sciences '97) and McMaster University, where 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.[2] While at MIT, in then Director Nicholas Negroponte's words he "brought the seed" that founded the Wearable Computing group in the Media Lab.[3] In 2004 he was named the recipient of the 2004 Leonardo Award for Excellence for his article "Existential Technology," published in Leonardo 36:1.[4][5]

Ideas and inventions

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

  • Chirplet transform, 1991: Mann was the first to propose and reduce to practice a signal representation based on a family of chirp signals, each associated with a coefficient, in a generalization of the wavelet transform that is now referred to as the chirplet transform.
  • Video Orbits, 1993: Mann was the first to produce an algorithm for automatically combining multiple pictures of the same subject matter, using algebraic projective geometry, to "stitch together" images using automatically estimated perspective correction. This is called the "Video Orbits" algorithm.[6] See also patent US 5828793 , Method and apparatus for producing digital images having extended dynamic ranges.[7]
  • Comparametric Equations, 1993: Mann was the first to propose and implement an algorithm to estimate a camera's response function from a plurality of differently exposed images of the same subject matter. He was also the first to propose and implement an algorithm to automatically extend dynamic range in an image by combining multiple differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter.[8] See also patent US 5706416 , Method and apparatus for relating and combining multiple images of the same scene or object(s).[9]
  • Inverse kinematics, e.g. principles of negative derivatives (integrals) of displacement, such as absement (the area under the displacement-time curve), as embodied by hydraulophones (water-based instruments).[10] This work has been built-upon by others, and also forms the basis for a new way of understanding electrical engineering, based on using the electrical analog of absement as the base unit.[11]
  • Hydraulophone: Mann invented an experimental musical instrument that uses pressurized hydraulic fluid, such as water, to make sound. The instrument is played by placing the fingers in direct contact with the sound-producing hydraulic fluid, thus giving the musician a high degree of control over the musical expression in the sound.[12]
  • Telepointer, a wearable computer based on a pendant that contains a webcam and laser-based infinite depth-of-focus projector.
  • Sousveillance and cyborg-logging

Mann also works in the fields of computer-mediated reality. 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.[13]

  • Mann, together with Professor Ian Kerr at the University of Ottawa, have written extensively on surveillance, sousveillance, and equiveillance. "Sousveillance", a term coined by Mann, along with the concepts that he and Kerr have developed around these ideas, have created a new dialog for cyborg technologies, as well as related personal information gathering technologies like camera phones. He has created the related concept of Humanistic Intelligence.[14]
  • Joi Ito, a leading researcher in moblogging, credits Mann with having initiated the moblogging movement by creating a system for transmission of realtime pictures, video, and text. In particular, from 1994 to 1996, Mann continuously transmitted his life's experiences, in real time, to his website for others to experience, interact with, and respond to[15]

His CyborGLOGS ('glogs), such as the spontaneous reporting of news as everyday experience,[16] 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.

Mann as father of wearable computing

Mann has been described as the "father of wearable computing"[17][18][19] but the world's first wearable computer was created in 1961 by Edward O. Thorp, known as the father of wearable computers.[20] 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.[21].

Mann has been described as the founder of the field of wearable computing based on his early work in personal imaging, although there is controversy surrounding the exact definition of wearable computing, and whether any one person can be considered to have invented it. For example, wearable computer imaging systems were described by Vannevar Bush in his essay "As We May Think" in the Atlantic Monthly in July 1945 and wearable devices for timing the trajectory of the balls on a roulette table were built and used by Ed Thorp and Claude Shannon in 1961.[20]

Anonequity project (Mann, Kerr, and others)

Mann is presently 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.[22] Mann, together with Kerr and others, are doing a 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.[23]

Self-portraits of Mann with wearable-computing gear from 1980s to 1990s.

French McDonald's alleged assault

On July 17 2012, Mann claimed that on July 1st 2012 he and his family were eating dinner at BFI Champs Elysées, a McDonald's restaurant in Paris, France when three employees allegedly assaulted Mann, apparently objecting to his wearing of a type of digital glasses into the public bathroom, known as the EyeTap Digital Eye Glass. He claimed he was roughed up and tossed out of the restaurant and that the employees destroyed medical documentation that he had presented to them to explain his reason for wearing the device.[24][25] Due to the employees alleged rough handling of the device, which he claimed was soundly attached to his head, photos of these persons were stored in the glasses memory and published, with faces concealed, on a blog.[26] He also claims that his iPhone and the control board for the EyeTap were damaged after he was thrown out and his bladder released involuntarily, soaking the contents of his pockets.[27] Currently, McDonalds is still investigating this issue, according to their official statement. [28][29]

Publications

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

See also

References

  1. ^ ""Filmmaker has futuristic vision – Wants artificial eye equipped with camera" (Hamilton Spectator)". Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  2. ^ "www.mcmaster.ca/ua/alumni/gallery/mann.htm". Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  3. ^ "wearcam.org/nn.mpg". Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  4. ^ "2004 Leonardo Award for Excellence Given to Steve Mann". 2004-12-07. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  5. ^ Mann, Steve. "Existential Technology: Wearable Computing Is Not the Real Issue!". Leonardo. 36 (1). JSTOR 1577273. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  6. ^ "wearcam.org/orbits.htm". Archived from the original on 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  7. ^ ""Virtual bellows: constructing high-quality images from video.", In Proceedings of the IEEE First International Conference on Image ProcessingAustin, Texas, November 13–16, 1994".
  8. ^ "wearcam.org/comparam.htm". Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  9. ^ ""Compositing Multiple Pictures of the Same Scene", Proceedings of the 46th Annual Imaging Science & Technology Conference, May 9–14, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993".
  10. ^ Mann, S., Janzen, R., and Post, M. (2006). Hydraulophone design considerations: absement, displacement, and velocity-sensitive music keyboard in which each key is a water jet. In Proc. 14th annual ACM int. conf. on Multimedia, Santa Barbara, 519–528.
  11. ^ Memory Elements: A Paradigm Shift in Lagrangian Modeling of Electrical Circuits
  12. ^ "wearcam.org/acmmm2006/index.htm". Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  13. ^ "glogger.mobi". Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  14. ^ Mann, S. (2001). "Wearable computing:toward humanistic intelligence". Intelligent Systems. 16 (3): 10–15. doi:10.1109/5254.940020. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  15. ^ Joi Ito. "Joi Ito's Moblogging, Blogmapping and Moblogmapping related resources as of 6/10/2003". Retrieved 2007-08-03. February 1995 - wearcam.org as roving reporter Steve Mann (under 'about moblogging')
  16. ^ "wearcam.org/eastcampusfire.htm". Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  17. ^ "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.", "Google Project Glass: will we really wear digital goggles?"
  18. ^ Peter Clarke (02/08/2000, 9:12 p.m. EST). "ISSCC: 'Dick Tracy' watch watchers disagree". EE Times. 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... {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ From man to borg - Is this the future?, by Jack Schofield, The Guardian, Thursday 2 August 2001
  20. ^ a b "The Invention of the First Wearable Computer Online paper by Edward O. Thorp of Edward O. Thorp & Associates" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  21. ^ Cyborg: Digital Destiny, Randomhouse Doubleday, 2001
  22. ^ http://wearcam.org/glaw.htm
  23. ^ http://www.idtrail.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=212&Itemid=43
  24. ^ Stenovec, Timothy (12 July 2012). "Steve Mann, Inventor, Allegedly Attacked At Paris McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glass (PHOTOS)". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  25. ^ Duportail, Judith (17 July 2012). "Un malvoyant se plaint d'une agression dans un McDonald's". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Mann, Steve (16 July 2012). "Physical assault by McDonald's for wearing Digital Eye Glass". http://eyetap.blogspot.ca. Blogspot. Retrieved 18 July 2012. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  27. ^ Piltch, Avram (17 July 2012). "Cyborg Steve Mann details alleged McDonald's assault". Laptop Mag. MSNBC. Retrieved 18 July 2012. "The actual cause of the final stoppage (which happened shortly after he pushed me out the door) is a bit embarrassing as what happened also is that I had had to really use the toilet, at the time, and it was that I'd been going toward using the toilet but got attacked, so as a result, later, it turned out that my pants became the toilet," he said.
  28. ^ "McDonald's Statement on Dr. Mann Situation". AboutMcDonalds.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  29. ^ Piltch, Avram. "McDonald's claims employees didn't assault 'cyborg'". Laptop Mag. MSNBC.
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