Smart Wearable Audio Recorder (SWAR)

References

1. Chat GPT prompting for making a picture of SWAR – "Generate an image of a wearable device suitable for kids and adults to be worn like a watch. The device should have two buttons on the face for power and recording with no screen. It has a button on the side to enable bluetooth connection and a small microphone/speaker as well as a small light indicator on the face."
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wearable_technology for research on wearable devices.

Have you ever been frustrated when you have a really long voice recording and you need one specific part of the recording? I have experienced this, because I need more time and have to note down points of interest. Regular recorders are very reliable, but the most frustrating part is finding the part in the recording that you need. When I record my singing class, it takes me a long time to find the part where my teacher was teaching me how to sing the new lesson. Many other people have this problem too. For example, kids may want to record a class or a club meeting or an adult might want to record an office meeting or a business conversation.

I intend to create a wearable audio recorder that will make it easier to find spots in the recording by asking questions to the recorder. For example, if you record your piano class, you can tell it to play where your teacher taught you Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in the previous session. You can also use it to remind you about the groceries your mom asked you to buy from the store. This smart recorder will be called SWAR which stands for Smart Wearable Audio Recorder. Interestingly “Swar” is a musical note in Indian classical music which aligns perfectly to how my idea originated.

There will be many parts to my recorder. First, we need a strap for wearing the device on the wrist. It can be customized to any color. Next, there will be 2 buttons - ON button and RECORD button. If you press ON once, the device will turn on. If you press ON twice, the microphone turns ON and you can start asking questions. If you press and hold the ON button continuously for 5 seconds, it will turn off. If you press RECORD once it records your voice. Pressing the RECORD again while it is recording makes the device stop recording. The speaker is for playing the answers to your questions. There will be a bluetooth button to connect earphones or headphones so the audio is clear and you won’t disturb other people. Audio version Chat GPT will be used to understand what the user is recording or talking, and for giving answers for the question(s) asked. SWAR uses memory to store the recordings on the device and batteries chargeable with a USB-C connector for power. There will be a small LED to indicate if the recorder is charged. This is how the recorder works - once the recorder is charged, audio can be recorded by turning on the device with the ON button and recording by pressing the RECORD button. Recording is stopped by pressing the RECORD button again. The recording will get stored in the memory. The user can then ask a question by pressing the ON button 2 times and speaking to the microphone. After it understands the questions with Audio version Chat GPT, it answers back in a conversation by saying “Okay” or “Here it is.” Finally, it plays the part where you wanted it to play. If there are no recordings, or if no recording that answers what the user asked is found, the device will say “Sorry, no matches were found for what you were looking for”.

Sometimes, people can try to misuse recorders by recording personal or private conversations without the knowledge of other people. We try to avoid this in SWAR in two ways: 1. A beep at the beginning of the recording will alert people about the recording. 2. Flashing indicator light when the recorder is recording can give a visual signal to the people around.

Additional extension features can be enabled too! Users can set a time period by saying “delete all the recordings more than 1 week old.” That will ensure privacy. The audio can be shared with others by email or uploading to the cloud. In the future, I plan to expand SWAR to provide these features for images and videos as well. That device will need a screen and a camera and more complicated controls. With a device that can record video as well, privacy policies will be even more important.

SWAR can improve many people’s day to day life and it will help many people do their work FASTER!