Wearable Technology

-Fashion meets Tech

What ?

• clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies

Why ?

• Portability, convenience, to stay healthy & fit by monitoring various biometrics,etc

How ?

• usually by the use of different kinds of body sensors

Wearable Technology

-Wearable technology, wearable devices, tech togs, or fashion

electronics are clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies.

-The designs often incorporate practical functions and features,

but may also have a purely critical or aesthetic agenda.

-The concept of wearable technology first emerged with the

introduction of calculator watch in the 1980’s

Design Principles of Wearable Technology

1. Solves a recurring problem for the person2. Starts from the human, not the machine3. Requests attention, not demand it4. Enhances human capabilities, not replace them5. Creates a net negative number of problems6. Enables deep and broad connectivity7. Serves the software8. Weniger, aber breiter (Less but broader)9. Capitalizes on existing behavior10. Augments the things we love, and automates the things we don’t

The following 5 wearable technologies have

been focused upon:

Re-Timer

Smart Eyelashes & fingernails

Google Smart Contact Lenses

Google Glass

LG lifeband & heartbeat Earphones

Re T imer

Fight Jet Lag with Re Timer

•Circadian Rhythm: body’s internal clock•Frequent travelers •Developed by Australian Flinder’s -a sleep research company •Wearable light device to regulate your body's internal clock•Battery rechargeable via USB

Working:•Soft green light by LED mimics natural sunlight.•Photoreceptors in eye detect sunlight, signal brain to be awake•When it becomes dark in the evening, body produces melatonin (the sleepy hormone) signaling body to sleep

Conclusion:Very useful for frequent flyers in fighting off the perennial problem of jetlagAlso very useful for prolonged winter or overcast daysTherapy for sleep disorder patients

Smart Eyelashes &fingernails

Smart Eyelashes & fingernails

•Wearing these, people can accomplish everyday actions like opening doors or flipping through TV channels by blinking their eyes or snapping their fingers. •Kanoi Vega, 30, Ph.D at Pontificial Catholic University Rio de Janeiro working on fingernails and conductive makeup

Working:•The fingernails are rigged with individual radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.•They can be applied the same wayas any other artificial nail.•The RFID readers in nails recognize tags within two centimeters, and can be programmed to open the door, say with a finger snap.

•The eyelashes and eyeliners work as switches.•When the user blinks, a microcontroller can activate things like lights, TV channels and even drones.

•The makeup uses conductive material in the form of eyeliner and fake eyelashes, turning basic eye and facial movements into programmable actions. The lashes are chemically metalized to mimic a natural, black color.

•Tech nails have been used to mix more than 25 tracks through a layer of water.

•The RFID readers recognize tags through different materials, such as water, glass and wood.

• A DJ Controller pad at the bottom of RFID chip a water container was able to pick up on hand movements.

ConclusionOverall, the project is just getting started. Research & experimenting with different uses of the nails and makeup is being done to make theproducts available for sale.

An RFID chip

Smart Contact Lenses

Google Smart Contact Lens

•Google has taken its reputation for innovation to a new level &released its new smart contact lenses.•Ultra-flexible and transparent electronic circuit developed by Swiss scientists at ETH Zurich•Blood sugar of diabetic people can rise suddenly & be fatal•Smart contact lens detects blood sugar levels in tears.•Immense medical benefits offered by this technology such as measuring glucose levels in tears & monitoring ocular health•Smart contact lenses, covered with light, transparent and flexible devices could serve to monitor intraocular pressure for glaucoma disease.

Conclusion:•No pain of pricking fingers several times in a day as is the traditional method of monitoring diabetes.•Scientists have tested the circuit on an artificial eye, but more research needs to be done before it can be sold commercially. Other components, including long-lasting batteries and sensors are needed to function outside of the lab.

Working:•A substance parylene is deposited onto vinyl polymer, which acts as a support system; then circuitry is printed onto the parylene.•Chip is submerged into water, which dissolves the polymer leaving the circuit behind.

Google Glasses

Google Glass• Google Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted

display (OHMD) developed by Google X under Project Glass.• Displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free

format, communicating with the Internet via natural language voice commands.

• Frames do not have lenses fitted to them Key features:

• Operating System: android 4.0.4• CPU: OMAP 4430 SoC, dual core• Memory: 1GB RAM • Storage: 16 GB flash drive• Display: prism projector • Camera: 5 mp• Connectivity: wifi, Bluetooth micro USB• Weight: 50g

Working

•Google Glass overlays the world with information beamed onto the retina by a prism that receives from a tiny projector inside the lens and redirects light into the retina. Both the physical world and all relevant data is seen.

•Google Glass contains the fundamental bits of any computer, including a CPU, sensors such as GPS, speakers, microphone and battery, a tiny projector and a prism.

•To keep the device as light as possible, most of the processing will actually take place in the cloud.

Pros• 1. Hands-free camera that shoots photos and video through voice

commands.• 2. Ability to connect to the Internet by tapping on the right frame of Glass

to turn it on and then swiping along the same side to scroll• 3. It still lets you be in the moment around you without being intrusive

Cons• 1. Very high price• 2. Short battery life• 3. Glass's speaker, relying on a bone conduction technology is inadequate.

The speaker, transmitting sound through the skull to allow for ambient noise, unfit to hear in noisy environment.

• 4. Privacy issues

Conclusion:No doubt the Google Glass has many fundamental & functional issues to deal with but it has enormous potential to be developed into perfection as Google is making its best efforts to rectify the drawbacks of the product.

LG Lifeband&

Heartbeat Earphones

LG Lifeband & Heartbeat earphones

LG Lifeband Touch

•A fitness wristband developed by LG•OLED provides view of incoming calls, the time, music controls, and biometrics•Touch screen to check how many steps have been taken, what distance is covered, speed, and how many calories have burned•Both compatible with Android and iOS, can be used with LG’s fitness app, or third-party apps like Runkeeper.•Battery life is touted at between two and five days.•Display comes to life when wrist is rotated.•Compatible with heart rate monitors. Wireless connectivity with smartphones or the Heart Rate Earphones via Bluetooth.

• Heart Rate Earphones

• Measures blood flow signals from the inner ear to calculate accurate biometric data on your heart rate and maximal oxygen consumption.

• Based on PerformTek sensor technology and a flexible ear piece which is designed to be more comfortable

• Can send data to the Lifeband Touch or directly to your smartphone via Bluetooth.

Conclusion:

These products from LG have excellent scope for further development & will be very useful for helping people maintaining a balanced & healthy life.

Wearable Technology is a field of immense scope & potential.Researchers & commercial vendors have started developing, manufacturing and marketing these devices.Clothing based computing will blur all boundaries between seeing and viewing and between remembering and recording.Within the next few years, we can expect entirely new modes of human — computer interaction. This will bring forward a new set of technical, scientific and social needs which will have to be addressed as we take the first step towards coexisting with wearable computers.

Conclusion

Referenceswww.google.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.ces.org

www.bbc.co.uk

www.digitaltrends.com

www.forbes.com

www.mashable.com

www.cbsnews.com

www.outbrain.com