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 10.