Humane Ai Pin

Here’s a closer look at the Humane AI pin’s projection UI and gestural inputs. The Humane AI pin is a multi-modal wearable device that attaches to your clothing via a strong magnet. The pin allows you to access a voice assistant and also engage with a UI that’s projected from the pin onto your hand.

There’s been a lot of criticism about this first generation release but despite this there’s some really interesting interactions that work surprisingly well.

Depth Gesture Navigation

One interesting technique that the Humane AI pin uses is navigating a carousel by moving your hand towards and away from you. The UI reacts accordingly as the user moves their hand closer and further away. This ‘Rolodex’ type navigation is quite unusual but works surprisingly well.

Pinch

A pinch action is used to confirm selections. A pretty simple solution and something you can do with relative ease and quickness but at the expense of reducing your viewable area in the process.

Rotation navigation

Another very unique solution and one that feels quite intuitive. The user can rotate their hand to navigate a circular interface. The challenge here is doing it whilst keeping your UI in view and avoiding too much distortion.

Push

Users move deeper into menus by moving their hand forward in a push motion and close their hand into a fist to move backwards in the menu.

Projection Images

There is an option to view images in this projection UI but due to the limited detail and colour it doesn’t really work.

The initial release of the Humane AI pin has faced substantial criticism, largely stemming from comparisons to the capabilities of smartphones, which it currently cannot rival. It's a strange situation; had this technology been unveiled thirty years ago, it would have been hailed as a groundbreaking achievement, and in many ways, it still is. However, the rapid pace of technological advancement and widespread adoption over the past three decades has raised the bar significantly. Today, users expect frictionless experiences, especially within the market this product targets.

I don’t think it’s entirely fair for the Humane AI pin to endure so much criticism, because they did a lot of things right and are trying something completely new which is something HUDS+GUIS tries to celebrate and encourage. Yet, it's undeniable that developing such products has become increasingly challenging as user expectations have grown significantly.

Images are from Marques Brownlee extensive review of the Humane AI pin.