Wearable computer
Encyclopedia
Wearable computers are miniature electronic devices that are worn by the bearer under, with or on top of clothing. This class of wearable technology
has been developed for general or special purpose information technologies and media development. Wearable computers are especially useful for applications that require more complex computational support than just hardware coded logics.
One of the main features of a wearable computer is consistency. There is a constant interaction
between the computer and user, i.e. there is no need to turn the device on or off. Another feature is the ability to multi-task. It is not necessary to stop what you are doing to use the device; it is augmented into all other actions. These devices can be incorporated by the user to act like a prosthetic. It can therefore be an extension of the user’s mind and/or body.
Many issues are common to the wearables as with mobile computing
, ambient intelligence
and ubiquitous computing
research communities
, including power management and heat dissipation, software architectures, wireless
and personal area network
s.
The International Symposium on Wearable Computers
is the longest-running academic conference on the subject of wearable computers.
Wearable computer items have been initially developed for and applied with e.g.
and other usage.
Today still "wearable computing" is a topic of active research, with areas of study including user interface
design, augmented reality
, pattern recognition
. The use of wearables for specific applications or for compensating disabilities as well as supporting elderly people steadily increases.
Depending on how broadly one defines both wearable and computer, the first wearable computer could be as early as the 16th century with the invention of the pocket watch
. However common understanding is computer as a software re-programmable item for complex algorithm
s, interfacing
and data management.
, better known as the inventor of the theory of card-counting for blackjack
, and Claude Shannon, who is best known as "the father of information theory." The system was a concealed cigarette-pack sized analog computer
designed to predict roulette
wheels. A data-taker would use microswitches hidden in his shoes to indicate the speed of the roulette wheel, and the computer would indicate an octant
to bet on by sending musical tones via radio to a miniature speaker hidden in a collaborators ear canal. The system was successfully tested in Las Vegas in June 1961, but hardware issues with the speaker wires prevented them from using it beyond their test runs. Their wearable was kept secret until it was first mentioned in Thorp's book Beat the Dealer (revised ed.) in 1966 and later published in detail in 1969.
that used a CMOS 6502 microprocessor
with 5K RAM to create a shoe-computer with inductive radio communications between a data-taker and better.
Another early wearable system was a camera-to-tactile vest for the blind, published by C.C. Collins in 1977, that converted images into a 1024-point, 10-inch square tactile grid on a vest. On the consumer end, 1977 also saw the introduction of the HP-01 algebraic calculator watch by Hewlett-Packard.
. Though perhaps not technically "wearable," in 1986 Steve Roberts built Winnebiko-II, a recumbent bicycle
with on-board computer and chorded keyboard
. Winnebiko II was the first of Steve Roberts' forays into nomadic computing that allowed him to type while riding.
In 1989 Reflection Technology marketed the Private Eye head-mounted display
, which scanned a vertical array of LEDs across the visual field using a vibrating mirror. This display gave rise to several hobbyist and research wearables, including Gerald "Chip" Maguire's IBM / Columbia University Student Electronic Notebook, Doug Platt's Hip-PC and Carnegie Mellon University's VuMan 1 in 1991. The Student Electronic Notebook consisted of the Private Eye, Toshiba
diskless AIX notebook computers (prototypes) and a stylus based input system plus virtual keyboard
, and used direct-sequence spread spectrum radio links to provide all the usual TCP/IP based services, including NFS mounted file systems and X11, all running in the Andrew Project environment. The Hip-PC included an Agenda palmtop used as a chording keyboard attached to the belt and a 1.44 megabyte floppy drive. Later versions incorporated additional equipment from Park Engineering. The system debuted at "The Lap and Palmtop Expo" on April 16, 1991. VuMan 1 was developed as part of a Summer-term course at |Carnegie Mellon's Engineering Design Research Center, and was intended for viewing house blueprints. Input was through a three-button unit worn on the belt, and output was through Reflection Tech's Private Eye. The CPU was an 8 MHz 80188 processor with 0.5 MB ROM.
's wearable, based on Doug Platt's system and built from a kit from Park Enterprises, a Private Eye display on loan from Devon Sean McCullough, and the Twiddler chording keyboard made by Handykey. Many iterations later this system became the MIT "Tin Lizzy" wearable computer design, and Starner went on to become one of the founders of MIT's wearable computing project. 1993 also saw Columbia University
's augmented-reality system known as KARMA: Knowledge-based Augmented Reality for Maintenance Assistance. Users would wear a Private Eye display over one eye, giving an overlay effect when the real world was viewed with both eyes open. KARMA would overlay wireframe schematics and maintenance instructions on top of whatever was being repaired. For example, graphical wireframes on top of a laser printer would explain how to change the paper tray. The system used sensors attached to objects in the physical world to determine their locations, and the entire system ran tethered from a desktop computer.
In 1994 Edgar Matias
and Mike Ruicci of the University of Toronto
, debuted the "wrist computer." Their system presented an alternative approach to the emerging head-up display plus chord keyboard wearable. The system was built from a modified HP 95LX palmtop computer and a Half-QWERTY one-handed keyboard. With the keyboard and display modules strapped to the operator's forearms, text could be entered by bringing the wrists together and typing. The same technology was used by IBM researchers to create the half-keyboard "belt computer. Also in 1994, Mik Lamming and at Xerox EuroPARC demonstrated the Forget-Me-Not, a wearable device that would record interactions with people and devices and store this information in a database for later query. It interacted via wireless transmitters in rooms and with equipment in the area to remember who was there, who was being talked to on the telephone, and what objects were in the room, allowing queries like "Who came by my office while I was on the phone to Mark?" As with the Toronto system, Forget-Me-Not was not based on a head-mounted display.
Also in 1994, DARPA started the Smart Modules Program to develop a modular, humionic approach to wearable and carryable computers, with the goal of producing a variety of products including computers, radios, navigation systems and human-computer interfaces that have both military and commercial use. In July 1996 DARPA went on to host the "Wearables in 2005" workshop, bringing together industrial, university and military visionaries to work on the common theme of delivering computing to the individual. A follow-up conference was hosted by Boeing
in August 1996, where plans were finalized to create a new academic conference on wearable computing. In October 1997, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, and Georgia Tech
co-hosted the IEEE International Symposium on Wearables Computers (ISWC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. The symposium was a full academic conference with published proceedings and papers ranging from sensors and new hardware to new applications for wearable computers, with 382 people registered for the event.
's Project Cyborg, Warwick's wife, Irena, wore a necklace which was electronically linked to Warwick's nervous system via an implanted electrode array. The color of the necklace changed between red and blue dependent on the signals on Warwick's nervous system. Dr. Bruce H Thomas and Dr. Wayne Piekarski developed the Tinmith wearable computer system to support augmented reality. This work was first published internationally in 2000 in the ISWC conference. The worked was carried out of the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia
.
) leads to more various interfacing under the WPAN (wireless personal area network) and the WBAN
(Wireless body area network) offer new classification of designs for interfacing and networking.
The commercialization of general-purpose wearable computers, as led by companies such as Xybernaut
, and ViA Inc, has thus far met with limited success. Publicly-traded Xybernaut tried forging alliances with companies such as IBM
and Sony
in order to make wearable computing widely available, but in 2005 their stock was delisted and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection amid financial scandal and federal investigation. Xybernaut emerged from bankruptcy protection in January, 2007. After several key executives left the firm to start new corporations, ViA, Inc. filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and subsequently ceased operations. 1998 Seiko
marketed the Ruputer
, a computer in a (fairly large) wristwatch, to mediocre returns. In 2001 IBM developed and publicly displayed two prototypes for a wristwatch computer running Linux
. The last message about them dates to 2004, saying the device would cost about $250 but it is still under development. In 2002 Fossil, Inc.
announced the Fossil Wrist PDA
, which ran the Palm OS
. Its release date was set for summer of 2003, but was delayed several times and was finally made available on January 5, 2005. Timex Datalink
is another example of a practical wearable computer. Hitachi
launched a wearable computer called Poma in 2002. Eurotech
offers the ZYPAD, a wrist wearable touch screen computer with GPS, Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth
connectivity and which can run a number of custom applications.
Evidence of the allure of the wearable computer and the weak market acceptance is evident with market leading Panasonic
Computer Solutions Company's failed product in this market. Panasonic has specialized in mobile computing with their Toughbook
line for over 10 years and has extensive market research into the field of portable, wearable computing products. In 2002, Panasonic introduced a wearable brick computer coupled with a handheld or armworn touchscreen. The brick would communicate wirelessly to the screen, and concurrently the brick would communicate wirelessly out to the internet or other networks. The wearable brick was quietly pulled from the market in 2005, while the screen evolved to a thin client
touchscreen used with a handstrap.
system, which will eventually be merged into the Future Force Warrior
system. Now U.S.A. army experimenting with wearable computers for detecting the positions of opposition and taking snaps of their camps without using the camera too.
Wearable technology
Wearable technology, tech togs, or fashion electronics are clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies...
has been developed for general or special purpose information technologies and media development. Wearable computers are especially useful for applications that require more complex computational support than just hardware coded logics.
One of the main features of a wearable computer is consistency. There is a constant interaction
Interaction
Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect...
between the computer and user, i.e. there is no need to turn the device on or off. Another feature is the ability to multi-task. It is not necessary to stop what you are doing to use the device; it is augmented into all other actions. These devices can be incorporated by the user to act like a prosthetic. It can therefore be an extension of the user’s mind and/or body.
Many issues are common to the wearables as with mobile computing
Mobile computing
Mobile computing is a form of human–computer interaction by which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage. Mobile computing has three aspects: mobile communication, mobile hardware, and mobile software...
, ambient intelligence
Ambient intelligence
In computing, ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s for the time...
and ubiquitous computing
Ubiquitous computing
Ubiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems...
research communities
Scientific community
The scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science. Objectivity is expected to be achieved by the scientific method...
, including power management and heat dissipation, software architectures, wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
and personal area network
Personal area network
A personal area network is a computer network used for communication among computer devices, including telephones and personal digital assistants, in proximity to an individual's body. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters...
s.
The International Symposium on Wearable Computers
International Symposium on Wearable Computers
The International Symposium on Wearable Computers or ISWC is one of the most prominent academic conferences on wearable computing and ubiquitous computing....
is the longest-running academic conference on the subject of wearable computers.
Areas of applications
In many applications, user's skin, hands, voice, eyes, arms as well as motion or attention are actively engaged as the physical environment.Wearable computer items have been initially developed for and applied with e.g.
- behavioral modelingBehavioral modelingIn behavioral science, system theory and dynamic systems modeling, a behavioral model reproduces the required behavior of the original analyzed system, such as there is a one-to-one correspondence between the behavior of the original system and the simulated system. That namely implies that the...
, - health careHealth careHealth care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
monitoringMonitoringTo monitor or monitoring generally means to be aware of the state of a system. Below are specific examples:* to observe a situation for any changes which may occur over time, using a monitor or measuring device of some sort:...
systemSystemSystem is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole....
s, - service managementService managementService management is integrated into supply chain management as the joint between the actual sales and the customer. The aim of high performance service management is to optimize the service-intensive supply chains, which are usually more complex than the typical finished-goods supply chain...
- mobile phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s - smartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s - electronic textiles
- fashion designFashion designFashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
and other usage.
Today still "wearable computing" is a topic of active research, with areas of study including user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
design, augmented reality
Augmented reality
Augmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...
, pattern recognition
Pattern recognition
In machine learning, pattern recognition is the assignment of some sort of output value to a given input value , according to some specific algorithm. An example of pattern recognition is classification, which attempts to assign each input value to one of a given set of classes...
. The use of wearables for specific applications or for compensating disabilities as well as supporting elderly people steadily increases.
History
The development of wearable items has taken several steps of miniaturization from discrete electronics over hybrid designs to fully integrated designs, where just one processor chip, a battery and some interface conditioning items make the whole unit.Depending on how broadly one defines both wearable and computer, the first wearable computer could be as early as the 16th century with the invention of the pocket watch
Pocket watch
A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...
. However common understanding is computer as a software re-programmable item for complex algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s, interfacing
Interface
-Academic journals:* Interface: a journal for and about social movements* Interfaces * Journal of the Royal Society Interface* The Technology Interface Journal-Science:* Biointerface* Interface , boundary surface...
and data management.
1960s
The first device that would fit the modern-day image of a wearable computer was constructed in 1961 by the mathematician Edward O. ThorpEdward O. Thorp
Edward Oakley Thorp is an American mathematics professor, author, hedge fund manager, and blackjack player. He was a pioneer in modern applications of probability theory, including the harnessing of very small correlations for reliable financial gain.He was the author of Beat the Dealer, the first...
, better known as the inventor of the theory of card-counting for blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
, and Claude Shannon, who is best known as "the father of information theory." The system was a concealed cigarette-pack sized analog computer
Analog computer
An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved...
designed to predict roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
wheels. A data-taker would use microswitches hidden in his shoes to indicate the speed of the roulette wheel, and the computer would indicate an octant
Octant
An octant is one of eight divisions.-Octant in the plane :Traditionally wind direction is given as one of the 8 octants because that is more accurate than merely giving one of the 4 quadrants, and the wind vane typically does not have enough accuracy to bother with more precise indication.-Octant...
to bet on by sending musical tones via radio to a miniature speaker hidden in a collaborators ear canal. The system was successfully tested in Las Vegas in June 1961, but hardware issues with the speaker wires prevented them from using it beyond their test runs. Their wearable was kept secret until it was first mentioned in Thorp's book Beat the Dealer (revised ed.) in 1966 and later published in detail in 1969.
1970s
The 1970s saw rise to similar roulette-prediction wearable computers using next-generation technology, in particular a group known as Eudaemonic EnterprisesEudaemons
The Eudaemons were a small group headed by graduate physics students J. Doyne Farmer and Norman Packard at the University of California Santa Cruz in the late 1970s. The group's immediate objective was to find a way to beat roulette, but a loftier objective was to use the money made from roulette...
that used a CMOS 6502 microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
with 5K RAM to create a shoe-computer with inductive radio communications between a data-taker and better.
1980s
The 1980s saw the rise of more general-purpose wearable computers. In 1981 Steve Mann designed and built a backpack-mounted 6502-based computer to control flash-bulbs, cameras and other photographic systems. Mann went on to be an early and active researcher in the wearables field, especially known for his 1994 creation of the Wearable Wireless WebcamWebcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
. Though perhaps not technically "wearable," in 1986 Steve Roberts built Winnebiko-II, a recumbent bicycle
Recumbent bicycle
A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position. Most recumbent riders choose this type of design for ergonomic reasons; the rider's weight is distributed comfortably over a larger area, supported by back and buttocks...
with on-board computer and chorded keyboard
Chorded keyboard
A keyset or chorded keyboard is a computer input device that allows the user to enter characters or commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a "chord" on a piano...
. Winnebiko II was the first of Steve Roberts' forays into nomadic computing that allowed him to type while riding.
Head-mounted display
A head-mounted display or helmet mounted display, both abbreviated HMD, is a display device, worn on the head or as part of a helmet, that has a small display optic in front of one or each eye .- Overview :...
, which scanned a vertical array of LEDs across the visual field using a vibrating mirror. This display gave rise to several hobbyist and research wearables, including Gerald "Chip" Maguire's IBM / Columbia University Student Electronic Notebook, Doug Platt's Hip-PC and Carnegie Mellon University's VuMan 1 in 1991. The Student Electronic Notebook consisted of the Private Eye, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
diskless AIX notebook computers (prototypes) and a stylus based input system plus virtual keyboard
Virtual keyboard
A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows a user to enter characters. A virtual keyboard can usually be operated with multiple input devices, which may include a touchscreen, an actual keyboard and a computer mouse.- Types :...
, and used direct-sequence spread spectrum radio links to provide all the usual TCP/IP based services, including NFS mounted file systems and X11, all running in the Andrew Project environment. The Hip-PC included an Agenda palmtop used as a chording keyboard attached to the belt and a 1.44 megabyte floppy drive. Later versions incorporated additional equipment from Park Engineering. The system debuted at "The Lap and Palmtop Expo" on April 16, 1991. VuMan 1 was developed as part of a Summer-term course at |Carnegie Mellon's Engineering Design Research Center, and was intended for viewing house blueprints. Input was through a three-button unit worn on the belt, and output was through Reflection Tech's Private Eye. The CPU was an 8 MHz 80188 processor with 0.5 MB ROM.
1990s
In 1993 the Private Eye was used in Thad StarnerThad Starner
Thad Eugene Starner is a founder and director of the Contextual Computing Group at Georgia Tech's College of Computing, where he is an Associate Professor, and one of the pioneers of wearable computing as well as human-computer interaction, augmented environments, and pattern recognition...
's wearable, based on Doug Platt's system and built from a kit from Park Enterprises, a Private Eye display on loan from Devon Sean McCullough, and the Twiddler chording keyboard made by Handykey. Many iterations later this system became the MIT "Tin Lizzy" wearable computer design, and Starner went on to become one of the founders of MIT's wearable computing project. 1993 also saw Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's augmented-reality system known as KARMA: Knowledge-based Augmented Reality for Maintenance Assistance. Users would wear a Private Eye display over one eye, giving an overlay effect when the real world was viewed with both eyes open. KARMA would overlay wireframe schematics and maintenance instructions on top of whatever was being repaired. For example, graphical wireframes on top of a laser printer would explain how to change the paper tray. The system used sensors attached to objects in the physical world to determine their locations, and the entire system ran tethered from a desktop computer.
In 1994 Edgar Matias
Edgar Matias
Edgar Matias is the President of Matias Corporation. On 3 August 1990, Matias founded the Corporation together with Steve McGowan and James McGowan.He invented the "Half Keyboard"....
and Mike Ruicci of the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, debuted the "wrist computer." Their system presented an alternative approach to the emerging head-up display plus chord keyboard wearable. The system was built from a modified HP 95LX palmtop computer and a Half-QWERTY one-handed keyboard. With the keyboard and display modules strapped to the operator's forearms, text could be entered by bringing the wrists together and typing. The same technology was used by IBM researchers to create the half-keyboard "belt computer. Also in 1994, Mik Lamming and at Xerox EuroPARC demonstrated the Forget-Me-Not, a wearable device that would record interactions with people and devices and store this information in a database for later query. It interacted via wireless transmitters in rooms and with equipment in the area to remember who was there, who was being talked to on the telephone, and what objects were in the room, allowing queries like "Who came by my office while I was on the phone to Mark?" As with the Toronto system, Forget-Me-Not was not based on a head-mounted display.
Also in 1994, DARPA started the Smart Modules Program to develop a modular, humionic approach to wearable and carryable computers, with the goal of producing a variety of products including computers, radios, navigation systems and human-computer interfaces that have both military and commercial use. In July 1996 DARPA went on to host the "Wearables in 2005" workshop, bringing together industrial, university and military visionaries to work on the common theme of delivering computing to the individual. A follow-up conference was hosted by Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
in August 1996, where plans were finalized to create a new academic conference on wearable computing. In October 1997, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, and Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
co-hosted the IEEE International Symposium on Wearables Computers (ISWC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. The symposium was a full academic conference with published proceedings and papers ranging from sensors and new hardware to new applications for wearable computers, with 382 people registered for the event.
2000s
In 2002, as part of Kevin WarwickKevin Warwick
Kevin Warwick is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom...
's Project Cyborg, Warwick's wife, Irena, wore a necklace which was electronically linked to Warwick's nervous system via an implanted electrode array. The color of the necklace changed between red and blue dependent on the signals on Warwick's nervous system. Dr. Bruce H Thomas and Dr. Wayne Piekarski developed the Tinmith wearable computer system to support augmented reality. This work was first published internationally in 2000 in the ISWC conference. The worked was carried out of the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia
University of South Australia
The University of South Australia is a public university in the Australian state of South Australia. It was formed in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology and Colleges of Advanced Education. It is the largest university in South Australia, with more than 36,000...
.
2010s
The current moves in standardization with IEEE, IETF and several industry groups (e.g. BluetoothBluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
) leads to more various interfacing under the WPAN (wireless personal area network) and the WBAN
Body Area Network
Body area network , wireless body area network or body sensor network are terms used to describe the application of wearable computing devices. This will enable wireless communication between several miniaturized body sensor units and a single body central unit worn at the human body...
(Wireless body area network) offer new classification of designs for interfacing and networking.
Commercialization
Xybernaut
Xybernaut Corporation is a provider of wearable / mobile computing hardware, software and services, bringing communications and full-function computing power in a hands-free design. Its products included the Atigo tablet PC, Poma wearable computer, and the MA-V wearable computer...
, and ViA Inc, has thus far met with limited success. Publicly-traded Xybernaut tried forging alliances with companies such as IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
in order to make wearable computing widely available, but in 2005 their stock was delisted and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
protection amid financial scandal and federal investigation. Xybernaut emerged from bankruptcy protection in January, 2007. After several key executives left the firm to start new corporations, ViA, Inc. filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and subsequently ceased operations. 1998 Seiko
Seiko
, more commonly known simply as Seiko , is a Japanese watch company.-History and ongoing developments:The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the...
marketed the Ruputer
Ruputer
The Ruputer was a wristwatch computer developed in 1998 by Seiko. In the US, it was later marketed as the OnHand PC by Matsucom.The Ruputer had a 16-bit, 3.6 MHz processor and 2 MB of non-volatile storage memory and 128 KB of RAM. Its display was a 102×64 pixel monochrome LCD. Its main...
, a computer in a (fairly large) wristwatch, to mediocre returns. In 2001 IBM developed and publicly displayed two prototypes for a wristwatch computer running Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. The last message about them dates to 2004, saying the device would cost about $250 but it is still under development. In 2002 Fossil, Inc.
Fossil, Inc.
Fossil, Inc. is a designer and manufacturer of clothing and accessories, primarily watches and jewelry, but also sunglasses, wallets, handbags, belts, shoes and clothing, based in Richardson, Texas, United States...
announced the Fossil Wrist PDA
Fossil Wrist PDA
The Fossil Wrist PDA is a specialized wristwatch that runs Palm OS. The newer incarnation, which does not include Palm OS, is called the Fossil WristNet watch.- Product history :...
, which ran the Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
. Its release date was set for summer of 2003, but was delayed several times and was finally made available on January 5, 2005. Timex Datalink
Timex Datalink
Timex Datalink or Timex Data Link was a line of watches manufactured by Timex. As the name implies datalink watches are capable of data transfer through linking with a computer...
is another example of a practical wearable computer. Hitachi
Hitachi
Hitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...
launched a wearable computer called Poma in 2002. Eurotech
Eurotech
Eurotech is a company dedicated to the research, development, production and marketing of miniature computers and high performance computers .-Description:...
offers the ZYPAD, a wrist wearable touch screen computer with GPS, Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
and Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
connectivity and which can run a number of custom applications.
Evidence of the allure of the wearable computer and the weak market acceptance is evident with market leading Panasonic
Panasonic
Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...
Computer Solutions Company's failed product in this market. Panasonic has specialized in mobile computing with their Toughbook
Toughbook
Toughbook is a trademarked brand name owned by Panasonic Corporation and refers to its line of rugged computers. The Toughbook is designed to withstand vibration, drops, spills, extreme temperature, and other rough handling....
line for over 10 years and has extensive market research into the field of portable, wearable computing products. In 2002, Panasonic introduced a wearable brick computer coupled with a handheld or armworn touchscreen. The brick would communicate wirelessly to the screen, and concurrently the brick would communicate wirelessly out to the internet or other networks. The wearable brick was quietly pulled from the market in 2005, while the screen evolved to a thin client
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
touchscreen used with a handstrap.
Military use
The most extensive military program in the wearables arena is the US Army's Land WarriorLand Warrior
Land Warrior is a United States Army program, cancelled in 2007, that was to use a combination of commercial, off-the-shelf technology and current-issue military gear and equipment designed to:* integrate small arms with high-tech equipment;...
system, which will eventually be merged into the Future Force Warrior
Future Force Warrior
Future Force Warrior is a United States military advanced technology demonstration project that is part of the Future Combat Systems project. The FFW project seeks to create a lightweight, fully integrated infantryman combat system. It is one technology demonstration project in a series of...
system. Now U.S.A. army experimenting with wearable computers for detecting the positions of opposition and taking snaps of their camps without using the camera too.
See also
- Active tag
- Calculator watchCalculator watchA calculator watch is a watch with a calculator built into it.- History :Calculator watches first appeared in the Mid 1970s introduced by Pulsar and Hewlett Packard. Several watch manufacturers have made calculator watches over the years, but the Japanese electronics company Casio produced the...
- Dog tagDog tagA pet ID tag, or pet tag is a small flat tag worn on pets' collars or harnesses.Humane societies and rescue organizations recommend that dogs and cats wear these tags, which contain information to enable someone encountering a stray animal to contact the owner.Some people object to pet id tags...
- EyeTapEyetapAn EyeTap is a device that is worn in front of the eye that acts as a camera to record the scene available to the eye as well as a display to superimpose a computer-generated imagery on the original scene available to the eye....
- FrogPad
- Futuristic clothing
- Head-up displayHead-Up DisplayA head-up display or heads-up display is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints...
- Heart beat monitorHeart BeatHeart Beat is a 1980 film written and directed by John Byrum, based on the autobiography by Carolyn Cassady. The film is about seminal figures in the Beat Generation...
- Identity tag
- Mobile phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
- OQOOQOOQO was a U.S. computer hardware company that was notable for manufacture of handheld computers. Its systems possess the functionality of a tablet PC in a form factor slightly larger than a personal digital assistant . According to Guinness World Records, the "OQO" was the smallest full-powered,...
- Personal digital assistantPersonal digital assistantA personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
- Pocket computerPocket computerA pocket computer is a small calculator-sized handheld programmable computer.This specific category of computers existed primarily in the 1980s. Manufacturers included Casio, Hewlett-Packard, Sharp, Tandy/Radio Shack and many more.The programming language was usually BASIC, but some devices...
- Signature tagSignature tagSignature tags or sig tags are small digital images that are used to accompany an HTML-formatted email or Internet forum post. They are also often used on social networking pages...
- SmartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
- staff locatorsReal-time locating systemReal-time locating systems are a type of local positioning system that allow to track and identify the location of objects in real time. Using simple, inexpensive badges or tags attached to the objects, readers receive wireless signals from these tags to determine their locations...
- Tablet PCTablet computerA tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
- Virtual retinal displayVirtual retinal displayA virtual retinal display , also known as a retinal scan display or retinal projector , is a display technology that draws a raster display directly onto the retina of the eye. The user sees what appears to be a conventional display floating in space in front of them...
- Wristwatch computerWristwatch computerA wristwatch computer is a wearable computer that fits like a wristwatch. It may offer features similar to a PDA, palmtop or tablet computer. Similar terms which refer to the same concept are wrist computer, computer watch, wrist-top, wrist PDA and Wrist Worn PC .Such devices may include features...
External links
- A brief history of wearable computing
- Wearable Computing Laboratory, University of South Australia
- Wearable Computing Laboratory, ETH Zurich
- WearIT@work: a large European research project on wearable computing at work
- IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers (Academic Conference)
- The Tummy PC: A Practical Wearable Computer
- Wearable Computers for the Emergency Services, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom