Wearable Information Devices

If you are under the impression that wearable information devices are the latest idea to hit the computing world, your guess is off the mark by about 46 years! The idea of wearable computers was first conceived in 1955 by Edward Thorp and Claude Shannon of MIT. Of course, it was supposed to be a wearable analog computer, as the digital computer was not born yet.

The prototype was built in the year 1961. This first wearable prototype device was supposed to predict the movement of a roulette wheel.

Later in 1965, the idea of wearable information devices was set forth by Robert Hooke to enhance human information processing capabilities. He proposed that such devices could serve as additional artificial organs in addition to the natural -- like glasses, which we can call wearable vision enhancing devices!

Wear it, use it

Wearable devices are not just portable devices; they are wearable in the real sense. Take for example a pocket watch, which is a portable information device, and that you need to carry in your pocket.

But a wrist watch is a wearable information device, which has become almost a part of your body. It allows you to see the time without stopping whatever work you are doing -- even if you are doing it with both hands.

The ability to get the information without stopping the work in hand has in fact driven the evolution of things like wristwatches, wearable eyeglasses, and even the modern day walkman which you can just wear as a wearable music

system.

The idea of wearable devices had caught on well by 1991. The international research community has taken serious note of the potential of wearable computers and wearable information devices. The IEEE Computer Society now has a technical committee on this subject.

The 5th International Symposium on Wearable Computers was held on 8th and 9th October 2001 in Zurich. The topics, which were discussed in the seminars, dealt with a range of interesting aspects of wearable computing:

• Applications -- Including augmented reality, computer-supported collaborative work, computer-supported cooperative living, ubiquitous computing, personal imaging, consumer, industrial, medical and military applications and software agents
• Hardware -- including head-mounted display technologies, batteries, power management, heat dissipation techniques, industrial design techniques, clothing and manufacturing and packaging issues.
• Human interface -- including hands-free user speech recognition, mobility-challenged users, user modeling, user evaluations and health issues
• Networks -- including wireless networks, on-body networks, the world wide Web and networked as against stand-alone computers
• Operating systems
• Social implications
• Privacy issues
• Software architectures
• Ergonomics
• Wearable training
• Future of wearable computing

The impact of wearable computers and information devices is expected to be so all embracing, the agenda even included topics like Digital Clothing and Smart Fashion!

Indian ingenuity

When so much is happening in the field of wearable computers, aren't you surprised that there is no mention of an Indian computer scientist here? Well, one of the scientists in the forefront of these exciting developments is Chandra Narayanaswami (an alumnus of IIT Bombay), Manager, Wearable Computing, IBM TJ Watson Research Center. Under his leadership, the research team has developed the first and smallest self-powered high function wristwatch computer running Linux.

Designed to communicate wirelessly with PCs, cell phones and other wireless-enabled devices, this wrist watch computer will have the ability to view condensed email messages and directly receive pager-like messages. In addition, the watch will provide users with calendar, address book and to-do list functions.

Future enhancements will include a high-resolution screen and applications that will allow the watch to be used as an access device for various Internet-based services such as up-to-the-minute information about weather, traffic conditions, the stock market, sports results and so

on.

The watch contains a powerful processor along with eight megabytes of flash memory and another eight megabytes of DRAM. Users can interact with the watch through a combination of a touch-sensitive screen and a roller wheel. The watch also has both IR and RF wireless connectivity.

There already are wristwatches that contain medical monitors and pagers; eyeglasses with embedded computer displays that only the user can see, and mobile phones with Internet connectivity and tiny teleconferencing cameras.

The integration of wearable devices into our lifestyles will be really complete when we are able to use them while without being aware of their presence. Once you get on with your work, you don't even remember that you are wearing the eyeglasses. That is the ultimate

integration.

When that kind of integration with the lifestyle takes place - such wearable information devices can become the means to make a fashion statement! They will be designed into the clothes and will become invisible like the contact lenses. The participants in the Miss Universe Contest can use a wearable information device embedded into their contact lenses to answer any difficult questions.

Small is powerful

Wearable information devices are also expected to become situation-aware and location-aware in the future. They will provide only selective information to you depending on your location and the situation.

Let's assume you are passing by a theater. Your computer can inform you about the movie playing in that theater. When you are passing by a shopping center, it can give you information about the hottest deals available there and so on. Through integrated use of the global positioning system satellites and wearable information devices, no one will ever get lost.

These devices will also be capable of learning your choices as you go on using them, by building up a knowledge base about your choices. With built-in speech recognition capability, the device can also be trained by the user through spoken commands.

However, these devices can have one drawback. When the batteries are down and you forget to replace them - your intelligence can vanish in a flash! A smart manager or CEO in the middle of a meeting can suddenly start looking completely dumb.

The solution to this will be the energy scavenging devices, which will capture energy from the user's movements. And the best way to capture the energy from movements is to use an embedded energy conversion device in the user's shoes!

The MIT Media Lab has developed one such device that can be embedded into the user's shoes and derives electricity from the pressure exerted on the shoe during the walking movement of the user. A specially designed Piezoelectric foil is used to convert the mechanical pressure into electrical energy.

This works exactly in the opposite manner of the Piezo Buzzer found in the telephone instruments and alarm clocks, which convert electrical signal into mechanical energy, generating the beeping

sound.

The wearable computers and information devices will revolutionize the way we live, like the mobile phones have proved beyond doubt today. When they will become commercially viable is the only thing that remains to be seen.

Ashok Dongre is an advertising and marketing professional, specializing in Internet/Intranet strategies and web site design.