The use of wearable technology, like smartwatches and Fitbits, has more than tripled in the last four years, in tandem with consumers’ increased interest in monitoring their own healthand vital signs. Many of these devices record sleep, heart rate, steps taken, calories burned and include prompts to stand, move and exercise.  

Aaron Quigley hopes that embracing this kind of technology, and others that follow, will “encourage people to take more ownership of their own health”.

He adds: “These sorts of interfaces can give us a certain amount of agency over our own health, empowering the individual to have an understanding of how they can change their behaviours to improve their own health. They can do this by making small changes over a period of time to avoid the situation where you need to rely on the healthcare system.”

Quigley uses machine learning and AI techniques to analyse datasets that have been collected from large groups of people over long periods of time to identify patterns of behaviour that might call for specific health interventions. One of his research projects uses wearables and computer vision to analyse human gait and predict potential changes in walking patterns; another uses radar technology and machine learning to help visually impaired people to identify objects like the food on their plates.

At the heart of his work is a desire to help people to help themselves in an increasingly complicated healthcare landscape. 

“We do not have enough people working in the healthcare system to cope with our ageing population. If everyone acts the way they do now our healthcare system is going to be overwhelmed and only able to deal with extremely serious cases. That system of relying on GPs and current healthcare, that’s all going to disappear.”

The silver lining is emerging technology designed to give people more oversight of their health and longevity. 

“It’s personalised health. With these interfaces we want people to feel, ‘It’s me and my tech, me and my data’. We need to make sure that data is understandable and interpretable. We need to hold their attention and empower them to interact with these digital technologies. It’s about understanding what these sensors and data can help you to understand about your own health. And not waiting 10 or 20 years when it’s expensive, it’s too late and it’s all about medicine.”

His work explores potential human-computer interfaces that might urge people to manage their own diets, fitness, physical and mental health. 

“These are going to have to be not very complicated health interfaces for the general public. Interfaces like something you have on an Apple watch, in a future digital kettle, in a future smart mirror or smart fridge. These interfaces might be very regular places in your home environment that just contain that extra bit of information that you need to inform your decisions for the day ahead. They will be situated interfaces, personalised and placed around the home; inconspicuous and peripheral to your day-to-day interactions.”

Aaron Quigley is the newly appointed (Jan 2023) Science Director at CSIROData61, the data and digital specialist arm of Australia’s national science agency. The Dubliner speaks in person about Global Human Computer Interaction and Global Health on Tuesday, 21 March, 18:15 – 19:00 GMT in the Moore Auditorium, O’Brien Centre for Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, followed by a wine and cheese networking reception.