Category: Lenovo 2 – Bryan F & Jack P

These past two weeks of researching has been tremendously rewarding for me. Not only have I learned a ton about biometrics and their applications, but I have also gained insight into how a company like Lenovo functions and encourages innovation. In addition, I accomplished the goal that I came into this WEP with, which was to see what a career in such a tech company would look like.

But without a doubt, my greatest takeaway would be my project on a biometric-focused solution to mental health problems. I created a lean start-up template of my idea, and I’d love to have the opportunity to refine it further. Also, I would like to explore the possibility of presenting my project to a manager/director at Lenovo.

After meeting with Mr. Holroyd to talk about my idea, I started working on a presentation of my solution and information about the existing technology that could make it work. I also talked with him over email to see how I should format my findings. He told me to use a lean start-up template, the same template that Lenovo employees use to propose new innovations, and I quickly got to work on my presentations.

I met with Mr. Holroyd to talk about my research and get some of his insights. The problem that I sought to find a biometric solution for was to use biometrics to read heat maps and facial expressions to determine the emotions of the user, and then using that data to provide services to bring them to a more positive mood. Mr. Holroyd liked the idea, and he added that alternative ways to confirm the readings on emotions would be beneficial, such as measuring the force put on the keys when typing, or other biometric factors.

Today was another independent research day. I decided to research the pathway to implementing my solution. Mr. Holroyd (my organizer) described Lenovo as owning Motorola and this being a path for my idea to be implemented. I researched more into how I could make a demo for Motorola phones and started preparing a presentation for Mr. Holroyd to present.

Although, a time couldn’t be sorted to meet virtually with Mr. Holroyd about my research topic idea I went ahead and picked the idea regarding the TPM like log in system. During my research I found that 90% of Microsoft’s IT team now signs in completely without passwords because of the dangers that humans are to cybersecurity. Many of them choose to use a USB device that you can plug in to log in. However, I felt like to be adapted by the public the USB device would have to go because the likelihood and convenience of everyone carrying USB’s around isn’t really there. Additionally from personal research I had known about an upcoming technology called Trusted Platform Module (TPM). These are hardware chips that ensure your computer’s security and enable functionality for certain biometric login features. However, I felt like finding a way to port a similar chip to software authentication on your computer rather then using a username and password would be an improvement.

Today was more of an independent research day so I spent it looking into my project ideas. Mr. Holroyd asked me to come up with 3 ideas to pitch to him in a meeting of possible projects that I can look into. The ideas all had to answer: “to research how biometrics can help Lenovo users lead a healthy lifestyle.” The first idea I came up with combines 2 technologies that I know of exist currently, USB passwords and TPM. It would be a chip inside of your computer that can be used to login to software rather than ensuring hardware security. The second idea would be to use the sensors in phones used to detect the spread of COVID-19 to use them to research and inform the public of the spreads of other diseases. The third idea would be to find a convenient way to move away from fingerprint or face authentication because of the risks present in information being obtained from these methods. Tomorrow, I will talk to Mr. Holroyd about which idea to pursue.

Today, I met with William Holroyd to go over the project expectations as well as possible ideas for an individual research project. He discussed how we are going to have to look for problem that can be solved using biometrics and this got me thinking of how I can tie it back into cybersecurity. Specifically when he described how biometrics are used in computers and phones already like to log you in I started thinking about what I could do with that. He said that they had all originated from technology that he had worked on with Microsoft in the Xbox 360 called the Kinect an image is linked.

Our first meeting was canceled due to our host having their power cut out. Still, Jack and I continued to brainstorm ideas to solve the fundamental problem that our WEP is focused towards: to research how biometrics can help Lenovo users lead a healthy lifestyle. We got off on a rough start but we will be fully prepared to dive right in tomorrow.