The Accessibility Of Google Soli

I was reading an article by Tony Aubé: https://medium.com/swlh/no-ui-is-the-new-ui-ab3f7ecec6b3, where he goes in-depth about how the future of UI is potentially, no UI at all. That is you are not really interacting with an interface as we conventionally know it. Instead, you use voice commands, messaging, or your own body motions to control the technology.

What made my mind start whirring, was his discussion of Google ATAP’s Project Soli. Watching the short embedded video demonstrating how the technology used radar technology to sense micro-movements of the hands, I could not help but think about the immensely uncomfortable feeling of my pinky finger seizing up when I played the violin for too long. Ugh. More on that soon.

I looked up information on recent implementations of the Soli chip in Google’s Pixel phones, and how people have received the technology. What I gathered was that most people find it extremely promising in fields like healthcare. There would be less of a need to disinfect devices in hospitals, and the new ability to interact with devices even within a sterile environment. There is potential to use the technology in other kinds of devices to help curb Covid spreading through surfaces. There are possible applications in music, allowing the manipulation of music software with your hands to capture musical intent. So, I have the positives in mind while I write this piece.

At the beginning of the video, Ivan Poupyrev says the following: “The hand is the ultimate input device. It’s extremely precise, it’s extremely fast, and it’s very natural for us to use it.”

I’m not very sure about it being the ultimate tool, however.

The moment I saw the motion shown in the image above, I instinctively tried it myself. My hand felt stiff and uncomfortable. Now, I have no diagnosed issues with my hands, I never feel pain, and at most I feel stiffness when it’s cold. It did make me think, however, about family members who have arthritis, and even young friends that have it. It seems like a nightmare to anyone who struggles with hand movements.

There are far too many accessibility issues I think, with a dependency on intricate hand movements.

Of course, there are ways to help this. Broadening the focus to make the technology intelligent enough to capture specific intent in broad hand movements. That is being able to capture human intent even if fingers are not being used, but the whole hand is at once.

Pixel 4 from 2019 incorporated Soli gesture controls for basic functions such as switching songs, but no devices have come into the commercial just yet that reflect the extent of use as the video from 2015. As it gains more traction, I hope to see more discourse on its accessibility.

Related posts:

Gurgaon is a hub of commercial and residential development. Over time it has attracted many IT industries and real estate investors. People residing in Gurgaon have a dream of buying a home in this…

Like thousands of international students, if you are aiming to study in Australia, you will definitely need to have comprehensive knowledge about the top universities in Australia. According to the…

With increased attention recently focused on the narcissists in the world around us, we are all familiar with the trope of an immoral, raging lunatic, hell-bent on causing pain and suffering to those…