Wearable Computing Editor: Thad E. Starner Georgia Institute of Technology [email protected]

Wearable : No Longer

Thad E. Starner, Georgia Institute of Technology

predicted that by 2007, 60 percent of EDITOR’S INTRO the European Union and US population aged 15 to 50 will carry or wear a com- By using devices carried on the body, wearable computers allow the exploration of the puting and communications device at principles of pervasive computing immediately instead of waiting for the deployment of the least six hours a day.2 By 2010, Gartner ubiquitous infrastructure often associated with the field. However, wearable computers are predicts that this number will grow to often misunderstood, both in their research and application. I’ve been wearing a over 75 percent. Bear Stearns and as part of my daily life since 1993, and in this column, I’ll explore the attributes that make Jupiter Communications forecast that wearable computers a unique approach to and discuss current topics computing devices worn on the body in the wearable computing field. If you’d like to contribute a short essay or idea, please con- and equipped with Internet access will tact me at [email protected]. —Thad E. Starner exceed 100 million units sold by 2003.3 Bear Stearns further reports that the market for point-to-point purchases made on such devices is expected to ne problem with developing per- hands-free use that are somewhat inde- reach US $1 trillion by 2003. O vasive computing is mak- pendent of the hardware implementa- Although these projections are often ing them, well, pervasive. To deploy tion, whereas market forecasters might difficult to compare and could be computers and networking services define a wearable computer as loosely affected by the 2001 market downturn, everywhere that users might travel as any computing device worn on the they hint of something afoot. The ques- requires prohibitive expenses in infra- body. We will explore these differences tion is, what? Pen computing was in a structure and maintenance. However, in perspective in future installments of similar state of flux in the early 1990s. there is an alternative: wearable com- this column, but for this first issue, I will Advocates, market analysts, and the puters. By carrying their own infra- don the mantel of an entrepreneur and press generated a lot of excitement, but structure, users are guaranteed a cer- examine wearable computing from the almost five years elapsed before the tain level of service wherever they go. commercial side. introduction of the highly successful, But what should a wearable computer horizontally positioned Palm Pilot. contain? What is the market for such a RUMBLINGS OF A NEW Many clues hinted where the markets device, and when will wearable com- INDUSTRY would develop before Palm’s introduc- puting products become profitable? Market forecasters predict that some tion, though. Wearable computing is still The answers to these questions vary form of wearable computing will waiting for a consumer-oriented hori- widely depending on if you ask the pub- become pervasive in the next several zontal platform, but several successful lic, commercial vendors, or academics. years, but there still is no consensus companies offer similar clues to potential Often the public equates wearable com- about the form of these devices or their markets and bear closer examination. puters with head-up displays, body-car- level of functionality. A 1999 Interna- ried computers, and speech or one- tional Data Corporation study esti- THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY handed keyboard interfaces. Academics mated a US $600 million market for a One example of a successful early often use the term to refer to a desirable “fully functional PC that a person could wearable computer is the portable dig- set of features such as context aware- wear as a to their clothing” ital music player, which sold over 3 mil- ness, proactivity, and hands-limited or by 2003.1 A recent Gartner Group study lion units in 2000.4 Some might ques-

86 PERVASIVEcomputing 1536-1268/02/$17.00 © 2002 IEEE tion whether we should think of these motion made when reaching for a pack- players as wearable computers, but age. Because the user no longer has to they are designed for mobility, and they fumble with a desk-tethered scanner, contain many appropriate components: these devices increase the speed at which a processor, mass storage (such as flash the user can manipulate packages and or hard disk), earphones, and primitive decrease the overall strain on the user’s displays and keyboards. body. Symbol’s success did not come Although portable MP3 players are overnight; it spent over US $5 million to commonly viewed as a replacement for develop this new class of device and was the portable compact disk player, com- surprised repeatedly by human factors panies began exploiting the computa- and usage problems during initial test- tional aspects of these players to use ing. However, the resulting product is a them for museum tour guides or audio notable success, providing the company books. Computer enthusiasts have been with a unique differentiator and prof- known to rewrite an MP3 player’s itable new markets. interface software to upload and down- Pittsburgh-based Vocollect also load any type of data, effectively turn- focuses on package manipulation—in ing the device into the equivalent of a particular, the warehouse-picking prob- Figure 1. Symbol’s WSS 1000 series wrist- large . lem. In this scenario, a customer places mounted wearable computer with ring More recently, these devices are merg- an order consisting of several different scanner. ing with PDAs and cell phones to create items stored in a supplier’s warehouse. a wide variety of products. IDC expects The order transmits from the ware- sales of portable devices with digital house’s computer to an employee’s audio playback capability to grow to 15 wearable computer. In turn, each item million units by 2005.4 In a sense, these and its location are spoken to the devices demonstrate a future market in employee through a pair of headphones. wearable computers as flexible con- The employee can control how this list sumer electronics devices. Imagine a is announced through feedback via processor and hard disk encased in a speech recognition and can also report pocket-sized base unit. The software inventory errors as they occur. The downloaded to the device and the employee accumulates the customer’s added to it would then deter- order from the warehouse’s shelves and mine the machine’s functionality. In such ships it. This audio-only interface also a way, a wearable might morph between frees the employee to manipulate pack- a portable music player, cell phone, or ages with both hands, whereas a pen- Web browser as the user desires. based would be considerably Another ongoing success story is Sym- more awkward (see Figure 2). As of bol, which has sold approximately December 2000, Vocollect had approx- 100,000 units from its WSS 1000 line of imately 15,000 users and revenues wearable computers (see Figure 1). between US $10 and $25 million. Figure 2. Vocollect’s audio-based Depending on configuration, the WSS Wearable computers are also suc- wearable computer. 1000 series costs between US $3,500 and cessful as mobile medical aids. Modern $5,000 and consists of a wrist-mounted heart pacemakers use a computer and wearable computer that features a laser sensor package that adjusts the heart Fitsense and BodyMedia now sell wear- scanner encapsulated in a ring rate based on the user’s level of exer- able computers that help monitor a worn on a finger. This device frees both tion. Some pacemakers even include user’s health during exercise or every- hands so that the user can perform tasks screen output so that a patient can day life. while scanning . They are often monitor his or her unit’s effectiveness. used in warehouse receiving and picking, Using a short-range network, shelf inventory, point-of-sale checkout, deep brain stimulators are programmed earable computer markets are package tracking, baggage handling, and to provide the proper signals to help Wdeveloping in inspection, repair, parts assembly. Scanning a package or control tremor in Parkinson’s patients. and maintenance. Carnegie Mellon item with the ring scanner is part of the More commonly, companies such as University has shown that major time

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USEFUL URLs and cost savings occur when using and industrial possibilities, wearable wearable computers instead of paper computers will become a larger market manuals to maintain equipment and force in the near future. However, given IEEE International Symposium on infrastructure. Charmed Technology, that the first wearable computers were Wearable Computers: with whom I am affiliated, provides made in the 1960s, why has it taken so http://iswc.gatech.edu open hardware and software wearable long to reach this stage? What is so hard platforms that let corporate research about making a wearable computer? Charmed Technology’s wearable and development agencies customize What are the next breakthroughs, and computers for research and development: wearable computers to new tasks rap- what does academia see in these de- www.charmed.com idly. Wearable manufacturers such as vices? In each installment of this col- Via and Xybernaut support case stud- umn, we will examine a different wear- Via wearable computers: ies with industrial partners to prove the able computing issue in an attempt to www.flexipc.com value of wearable computers for such answer these questions and demon- tasks. For example, Via recently com- strate this new field’s richness. Xybernaut wearable computers: pleted a study with McDonald’s restau- www.xybernaut.com rants, showing how its wearable com- puters can help reduce customer wait time and improve order accuracy. REFERENCES Undoubtedly, between the consumer 1. C. Arrington, Alternative Computing De- vices Report Series: Wearable Computing, tech. report #W19020, Int’l Data Corp., Framingham, Mass., 1999.

2. J. Fenn and A. Linden, Wearing IT Out: The Growth of the Wireless, Wearable World, COMING NEXTCOMING NEXT COMING NEXT tech. report SPA-13-2057, Gartner, Stamford, Conn., 2001.

3. J. Neff and W. Bean, iAppliances, Bear A look into the Stearns, New York, 2000.

4. S. Kevorkian and B. Ma, MP3 Players and research labs More: Forecast and Analysis of the World- wide Compressed Audio Player Market, 2000-2005, tech. report #W24064, Int’l Wearable computers have held an under- Data Corp., Framingham, Mass., 2001. ground niche with researchers since the early 1960s when Ed Thorp and created a wireless wearable computer that

could predict the game of . However, Thad E. Starner is an assistant professor of com- in the 1990s, independent university projects puting at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he directs the Contextual Computing began to shape an academic field of wearable Group in the Institute’s College of Computing. His research interests include wearable computing, computing. The process continues today with , machine and human vision, active academic groups in Europe, Asia, and intelligent agents, and . He received four degrees, including his PhD, from the Australia. In the next issue, we will examine Massachusetts Institute of Technology while work- why wearable computing makes such a com- ing with the MIT Media Laboratory. He also cofounded the IEEE International Symposium on pelling research topic. Wearable Computers and is a cofounder of Charmed Technology. Contact him at the Col- lege of Computing, ., Atlanta, GA 30332-0280; [email protected].

88 PERVASIVEcomputing http://computer.org/pervasive