Computers could soon issue warnings of bad posture

THERE YOU are, hunched over a keyboard when your computer lets out a warning chirp and flashes a message: "You're slouching, sit up straight!"

University College Dublin, Dublin City University and the Tyndall National Institute in Cork are partners in the undertaking, dubbed Clarity and announced yesterday in Dublin by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin. The project received €11.4 million from research funder Science Foundation Ireland and another €4.6 million from seven industry partners.

The consortium will specialise in the development of new kinds of sensor networks that will monitor human health, measure air and water pollution, and even give us timely reminders to avoid back pain by sitting up straight, explained Clarity's new director, UCD's Prof Barry Smyth.

The Clarity team is strongly interdisciplinary and includes all the expertise needed to develop sensor applications from start to finish, stated deputy director, DCU's Prof Alan Smeaton.

These sensors can appear anywhere and probably soon will. Clarity has joined with US firm Foster-Miller to develop a vest fitted with sensors that will help back-pain prone knowledge workers to improve their seated posture, pushed along with timely on-screen warnings.

Clarity has also teamed up with Tennis Ireland, the governing body for the sport here. The goal is to wire up players to provide coaches with real time information about on-court performance.

The players will be fitted out with motion sensors to capture limb movements and positional sensors to identify where they are on the court. This information will be blended with computerised video recordings and then sent through processing software to give the coach unprecedented information about performance.

The early research focus will be on environmental monitoring and health monitoring, Prof Smyth said. The Clarity approach is to install a web of interconnected sensors that benefit from a level of artificial intelligence. They will talk to one another and keep each other informed, say as a pollution event unfolds, or to track the progress of floodwaters heading downstream after heavy rains.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times