Mood sensing mobile phone wins Motorola student competition on seamless mobility

Seamless mobility links us to our world anytime, anywhere, and in the mind’s eye of John Finan, a Duke University graduate student and grand prize winner of Motorola’s first-ever MOTOFWRD competition, it may soon help interpret the tones and mood of every day life.

Designed to improve social interactions, especially for tens of thousands of people who suffer from a mild form of autism called Asberger’s Syndrome, Finan’s “Mood Phone’’ would light up in a spectrum of color – from warm reds to cool blues – based on the verbal patterns of everyday speech received through the handset. Seen through the corner of the eye, the visual stimulus would help users interpret the mood and inflection communicated through the words and phrases they hear.

The biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate’s concept was judged to be best among the scores of ideas presented through Motorola’s first-ever MOTOFWRD competition that asked college students to envision the future of seamless mobility. Concepts ranged from the fantastic to the practical: mobile technology that could access information, contacts, music and video with the blink of an eye, to location-aware cell phones that could lead to new friendships, inspire public debate, or help identify and book a vacant parking spot in a crowded downtown.

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