Researchers present prototype of interactive device that can be worn in the mouth

The research project in which ChewIt was developed was led by Dr Suranga Nanayakkara, an associate professor at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute who made international headlines in recent years with another prototype device, the FingerReader. Wearing it on a finger, the user points at words, such as those on the spine of the book or in a restaurant menu, and these are then translated to voice.

The custom-made flexible printed circuit board of the tiny ChewIt is fully encased, allowing users to pop it into their mouths. It allows for discreet and hands-free interaction with a phone, computer and smartwatch, among other devices, even while riding a bicycle. The wearer can use it to cancel a phone call or even to control a wheelchair. During the pilot test, users kept the device in their mouths for 30 minutes and reported no discomfort.

In his research, Nanayakkara wishes to address what he says is a mismatch between what technology has to offer and innate human behaviour. Owing to this, his research is focused on developing technologies that are more responsive to innate human behaviour instead of obliging humans to adjust to the requirements of the technology. “We want to design and develop systems that can understand the user, rather than us having to tell the technology what to do every time—technologies that can understand us much better than technology currently does,” he said.

He considers such technologies “assistive augmentation”: “It’s when the system understands the abilities, behaviours and emotions of the user, and when the system is unobtrusive and integrated with our body or our behaviour,” Nanayakkara explained. According to him, assisted augmentation should be concerned with strengthening and extending the users’ physical and sensorial abilities while allowing them to do what they could not do before.

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