Wearable Computing

Alexander Nelson March 28th, 2018

University of Arkansas - Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering Wearable Computing

Wearable Computing – Body-borne computers Computers worn under, with, or on top of clothing

1 History of Wearable

Wristwatch – 1530

Ring Abacus – 1600s Claude Shannon Roulette – 1961 2 History of Wearable

More notable events: • 1970 – Pocket calculators • 1977 – HP Calculator Watch • 1977 – CC Collins wearable camera-to-tactile vest for the blind • 1979 – Sony Walkman • 1990 – Olivetti Active Badge • 1993 – Thad Starner wearable computer – becomes the Lizzy • 1997 – Cr´eation/Pentland Smart Clothes Fashion Show

More at https://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/lizzy/timeline.html

3 Form Factors

Wearable computers are typically: • Wrist Mounted – e.g. Watches • Head Mounted – e.g. Helmet, Earphones, Glasses • Worn from Neck – e.g. Necklace • Strapped to arm/leg – e.g. Smartphone exercise band, pipboy • Part of clothing – e.g. Integrated into fabrics, Belt, Shoe, etc...

4 Applications of Wearables

5 Application Specific vs. General Purpose

Application Specific – Wearable meant to perform a single task General Purpose – Wearable able to perform many different tasks

Why have wearables been application specific until recently?

6 Function determines Form

Some interaction patterns can only occur at specific body locations Examples: • Wrist-mounted accelerometer activity monitor is more accurate than pocket-borne • Heads-up-display must be head-mounted • Pulse meter must have skin contact

7 Form determines Function

The form of a wearable can similarly determine the function

What interactions are possible given a certain form? How do users expect to interact with a system based on its form? Perceptual expectation of wearable computing to conform to analogues based on location e.g. Look at watch, glasses record video

8 Resource Constraints

The form of a wearable greatly determines the available resources Example: Apple Watch Series 3

• Sensors – Accel/Gyro/HR/Barometer • Actuators - Haptic, Speaker • Communications – WiFi, Bluetooth, Cellular • Displays – 39mm LCD screen • Storage – 16GB Flash, 728MB RAM • Computation – Apple S3 processor (>780MHz dual-core) • Power – 1.07 Watt hours – “Up to 18 hours”

9 Available Development Tools

No good commercial development kits for general purpose wearables until Android/Apple Watches Research Kits: • MIT Lizzy (Head mounted 1997) – https://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/lizzy/ • MIT MIThril (Vest 2003) – https://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/mithril/ • Hexiwear (2016 Watch) – Open source smartwatch kit

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