Redefining Human Interaction with Wearable Tech and AI

Research and innovation combining wearable technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) could soon revolutionize how we engage with the world—creating smarter, more intuitive systems that not only understand their environment, but are able to respond to said environment in real time.

Yang Bai, a fifth-year computer science doctoral student at the University of Maryland, is active in this area, developing micro-robotic systems and advanced wearable devices that are based on sensing technologies. Her research, which consistently pushes the boundaries of what’s possible, could have a big impact, from making person-to-person communication easier to helping locate survivors in disaster situations.

One project involves earphones able to instantly detect the direction from which people are speaking—without relying on bulky microphone arrays or power-hungry systems. Instead, Bai’s devices use microstructures—various materials that can play a crucial role in sound generation and absorption—to track audio sources with remarkable accuracy, all in real time.

This technology might soon allow users to ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Meta AI’s Llama questions like: “Can you summarize the opinions of the person sitting on my left in this meeting?” With environmental data fed directly from wearable devices, the AI could provide live, context-aware summaries, effortlessly integrated into daily life.

Bai’s interest in combining sensing technology with AI began during her undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Dalian Maritime University in China. However, it was not until earning her master’s degree at Rutgers University that she discovered her true calling.

The lightbulb moment came during a graduate course, wherein Bai learned how wireless signals could be used to sense the environment and track human movement. 

“That’s when I realized the vast potential to change how we interact with technology,” she says.

This newfound passion led her to the University of Maryland, where she began her Ph.D. studies under the guidance of Nirupam Roy, an assistant professor of computer science with an appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.

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