Wearable Computing: Possibilities and People Tom Martin Virginia Tech Electronic Textiles Laboratory & the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology May 2018
Wearable Computing:
Possibilities and People
Tom Martin
Virginia Tech Electronic Textiles Laboratory
&
the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology
May 2018
2
Courtesy of Dan Ledger
Wearable technology market
• IDTechEx: $30B in 2016, growing to
$150B in 2026
• Gartner 2017 forecast: $30B in 2017, $50B
in 2021
• IDC forecast:
220 million units in
2021 at average price
of $185 ($40B)
3 https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43408517
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How did we get here?
• A short history of electronic computing:
Eniac
IBM 7090 IBM PC
DEC VT100 terminal
One computer, many users One computer, one user
Take information to computer Take computer to information
Many computers, one user
Laptop PDA
Cell phone Glass
Smartwatch
How did we get here?
Carnegie Mellon University’s
wearables from the early 90s
Five Generations of Wearable Computers
Navigator 2 used
for aircraft
maintenance
VuMan 1 VuMan 2 Navigator 1
VuMan 3 Navigator 2
Left, a look through the
head mounted display.
The user not only sees
the aircraft maintenance
interface, but also their
work environment.
© 2010-2017 Daniel P. Siewiorek
25 years later
• Three companies:
– BodyMedia: acquired by Jawbone in 2013 for
over $100M
– Morewood Design Labs: designed the
electronics for first five wearables from FitBit
– Inmedius: acquired by Boeing in 2012
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• Boeing wiring harness app (early 90’s)
© Boeing
25 years later
8 Google Glass Enterprise and Skylight © 2018 Upskill
Lessons from the first 25 years…
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Ideal wearable computer
• Infinite battery life
• Small and lightweight
• Access to information anywhere anytime
• Socially acceptable
• Distraction-free
• Tailored to an individual
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Research challenges
• Manufacturing: – Bridging gaps between tech and apparel/fashion
industries
– Designing for mass customization
• Consumer: – Fitting into a person’s daily routine, molding to a
person’s needs
– Providing meaning rather than just measurement
– Enabling access to information without distracting
Context-awareness
• Sensing context: Where am I? What people
or resources are nearby? What am I doing?
How do I feel?
• Remembering context: What do I usually do
when…?
• Responding to context…
• Predicting future contexts…
Possibilities
Extrapolating
• Now for some examples, mainly clothing
– Keep your mind open, think forward from
them…
14 © Medtronic
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Physiological monitoring
• Georgia Tech Smart Wearable Motherboard: Wound detection for soldiers (1999)
• NuMetrex sports bra: Woven heart rate sensors (2005)
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Posture/position detection
• Upper body posture detection shirt, ETH Zurich (2007)
• Moven motion capture suit, Xsens (2007)
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Fashion
• Despina Papadopoulos, musical Masai dress and ClickSneaks (2005)
https://pixelpeppy.com/
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Consumer apparel • Philips Research
sensor jacket (1999)
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/806681/
• Google Project Jacquard Levi’s jacket (2017)
https://atap.google.com/jacquard/
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Crafts and DIY
• Leah Buechley, Electric Tank Top (2006)
http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/
~ctg/Previous_Projects.html
• Lilypad Arduino (2007)
https://store.arduino.cc/usa/ lilypad-arduino-main-board
Wearables for service animals
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• Facilitating Interactions for Dogs with Occupations (FIDO) project,
Georgia Tech (2013)
Presentation at
International Symposium on Wearable Computers 2013
Manufacturing
• Automobile manufacturing training system, ETH Zurich (2008)
T. Stiefmeier, et al, “Wearable Activity Tracking in Car Manufacturing,”
IEEE Pervasive Computing, April-June 2008.
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Personal protective equipment
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• Collision alerts for roadside workers, Virginia Tech (2015)
https://vt.edu/spotlight/innovation/ 2015-08-31-beacon/safetyvests.html
• Carbon monoxide poisoning monitor, Virginia Tech (2013)
https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/08/081913-engineering-constructionhelmetsensor.html
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Fitting into clothing: E-textiles
• Electronic textiles (e-textiles): Fabric where network and electronics are intrinsic to the cloth
• Goal: Wearable computers that look like everyday clothing, “smart” fabrics for pervasive computing environment
• Advantages: – Flexible
– No dangling wires to snag
– Large surface area for sensing
– Invisible to others
– Cheap manufacturing
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Virginia Tech E-Textiles Lab
• Design e-textiles that work across a wide range of user population and environments
• Devise a computing architecture that permits reliable execution of diverse applications in a dynamic environment: fabric as a platform
• Develop tools for application domain experts
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E-textile pants
• E-textile pants: Fabric, e-TAGs, finished pants
• Garment as a platform
• Applications:
Activity classification,
gait analysis, health monitoring
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Medical monitoring journal
• Automatic activity/environment journal for
medical monitoring
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Activity classification for
ambulatory medical monitoring
• Recently collaborated with U. of Minnesota on NSF project for garments that classify activities for ambulatory medical monitoring
• Fine-grained activity classifier works for everyday activities (e.g., brushing teeth, brushing hair)
– User-independent, sensor-independent
People
Farm to…wearable?
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Funding along the way
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1985 (high school)
Ball State University
Analog and Digital Electronics camp
Funded by NSF at various times
1992-1999 (grad school)
Carnegie Mellon University
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship,
DARPA micro-displays program
Growing the next generation of
innovators
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National Science Foundation:
CAREER, Information Technology Research,
Computing Research Infrastructure, Smart and Connected Health,
Research Experience for Undergraduates
Growing the next generation of
innovators
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National Science Foundation:
Engineering Education and Centers
Growing the next generation of
innovators
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Virginia Space Grant Consortium,
Wearable Technology Symposium at
NASA Johnson Space Center
Parting thoughts
• Bridging the gap between industries
• Designing for individuals
• Wearable tech as service enabler
• Not just about technology: It’s about
educating people and providing them with
opportunities to explore… 34
Acknowledgements
• Funding: National Science Foundation,
NASA, Virginia Space Grant Consortium,
Intel
• Thanks to Dan Sieworek, Dan Ledger, Leah
Buechley, Stacey Burr, and Tricia Wilson
Nguyen for their input
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