Abstract

For any social interaction, being able to put names to faces is an important mental task that usually takes time, and if not done correctly can have social consequences. This is especially true for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, in which case the inability to remember people can cause social isolation. To solve this problem, the goal for this project was to make a wearable camera capable of facial recognition with real time audio feedback. Since public perception of cameras is negative, a human-centered approach was used in the design and creation of the wearable camera. Participants (n = 40) were surveyed on topics regarding their memorization ability and experience with wearables and cameras. Subjects reported wanting a wearable to place near the ear and valued a modular and flexible design that could be worn in different ways. Taking these results into consideration, the research team began designing and prototyping different devices and their user interactions. In future work, the hardware will be modified to make a more compact and sleek device, and a mobile application will be developed to aid in memory augmentation.