Note to Viewers
editMuch of this is copied from the source page, edits are made below, and can be found easier within the edit history. It is sort of sparse but that is due to the realization that the sources gathered are insufficient. Information has been added from those, but more sources are needed for the history and modern tech sections. My adds are bolded. Also I plan to add a section about the growth of the wearable technology sector. Feedback is welcome on that. Also anything beyond the bolded sections is not my content but if there are things I can fix there let me know.
Wearable technology, wearables, fashionable technology, wearable devices, tech togs, or fashion electronics are smart electronic devices that can be worn on the body as implants or accessories.[1][2][3][4]
Wearable devices, such as activity trackers, are an example of the Internet of Things, since "things" such as electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity are effectors that enable objects to exchange data (including Data Quality) through the internet with a manufacturer, operator, and/or other connected devices, without requiring human intervention.
Wearable technology has a variety of applications which grows as the field itself expands. It appears prominently in consumer electronics with the popularization of the smartwatch and Activity tracker. Outside of commercial uses wearable technology is being incorporated into navigation systems[5], advanced textiles, and healthcare.
History
editWearable technology is related to both ubiquitous computing and the history and development of wearable computers. Wearables make technology pervasive by interweaving it into daily life. Through the history and development of wearable computing, pioneers have attempted to enhance or extend the functionality of clothing, or to create wearables as accessories able to provide users with sousveillance—the recording of an activity typically by way of small wearable or portable personal technologies. Tracking information like movement, steps, and heart rate are all part of the quantified self movement.
The origins of wearable technology are influenced by both of these responses to the vision of ubiquitous computing.[6] One early piece of widely adopted wearable technology was the calculator watch, which was introduced in the 1980s. An even earlier wearable technology was the hearing aid.
In 2004, fashion design label CuteCircuit unveiled a Bluetooth-connected electronics called the HugShirt at the CyberArt Festival in Bilbao, Spain, where it won the Grand Prize at the festival.[7] The HugShirt, designed for tele-transmitting touch over distance, differs from previous early wearable technology examples (e.g. watches or the helmet designs of Wearable Computing in the 1990s) because the product is the first wearable technology that took the form of a garment of clothing,[8] as such it is also marks the first piece of Bluetooth-connected and internet-connected clothing. This product was included by Time Magazine in the "Best Inventions of the Year" special issue.[9]
In 2008, Ilya Fridman incorporated a hidden Bluetooth microphone into a pair of earrings.[10][11] Around the same time, the Spy Tie appeared, a "stylish neck tie with a hidden color camera".[12]
A survey conducted by Vanson Bourne in the UK in 2015 found that almost half (56%) of those surveyed said that wearable tech was a fad.[13]
Fitbit released its first wearable around 2009; The List of Fitbit products have primarily focused upon activity tracking.
In the following years smartwatches began to be released by major electronics companies. One of the first offerings was the Samsung Galaxy Gear which dropped in September of 2013. Apple quickly followed suit with the Apple Watch in April 2015.[14]
Prototypes
editBack in 2009, Sony Ericsson teamed up with the London College of Fashion for a contest to design digital clothing, and the winner was a cocktail dress with Bluetooth technology making it light up when a call is received,[15] and Zach "Hoeken Smith" of MakerBot fame made keyboard pants during a "Fashion Hacking" workshop at a New York City creative collective. The Tyndall National Institute[16] in Ireland, developed a "Remote non-intrusive patient monitoring" platform which was used to evaluate the quality of the data generated by the patient sensors and how the end users may adopt to the technology.[17]
More recently, fashion company CuteCircuit created costumes for singer Katy Perry featuring LED lighting so that the outfits would change color both during stage shows and appearances on the red carpet. In 2012, London-based CuteCircuit created the world's first dress to feature Tweets, as worn by singer Nicole Scherzinger.[18] In 2014, graduate students from the Tisch School of Arts in New York designed a hoodie that sent pre-programmed text messages triggered by gesture movements.[19] Around the same time, prototypes for digital eyewear with heads up display (HUD) began to appear.[20] The US military employs headgear with displays for soldiers using a technology called holographic optics.[20]
In 2010, Google started developing prototypes[21] of its optical head-mounted display Google Glass, which went into customer beta in March 2013.
Wearable events
editAmsterdam's 5 Days Off festival included a free show called "Wearable Technology: Powered Art and Fashion".[22] In 2014, the Fashion Law Institute held a panel discussion, which focused on patents, about wearable technology.[23]
In 2015, a number of other events related to wearable technology are also planned, such as the Enterprise Wearable Technology Show in Houston, the Wearable Technology Show in London and the Wearable Tech Conference and Exhibition in Moscow. In the UK, Carl Thomas runs a thriving Wearables London networking group which meets monthly.
Usage
editWearable technology usage can be categorized into two major categories;[24]
- personal usage
- business usage
Whether for personal or business use, wearable tech gadgets are primarily used for any one of the following functions;
- As a fashion statement
- As a fitness tracker
- As a treatment for hearing impairments
- For remote treatment of speech and voice disorders such as those in patients with Parkinson's diseases[25]
- As a sport tracker
- To synchronize data and communication from other gadgets
- For specific health issue monitoring, for example stress management[26]
- As a gauge for alertness and energy levels
- As navigation tools
- As media devices
- As communication gadgets
Wearable devices are rapidly advancing in terms of technology, functionality, and size, with more real-time applications.[27]
Wearable technology is on the rise in both personal and business use. In the consumer space, sales of smart wristbands (aka activity trackers such as the Jawbone UP and Fitbit Flex) started accelerating in 2013. One out of five American adults have a wearable device according to the 2014 PriceWaterhouseCoopers Wearable Future Report.[28] Smartwatches are a second high-profile sector and while wearable devices have been around for years, it has only started gaining mass market attention with the introduction of new models by Samsung and later by Apple. The now defunct Google Glass gained a lot of media attention, but the project ground to a halt in early 2015, with Google stopping device sales. Smart shoe for the visually challenged is a product that is currently available and has great scope in the future. In healthcare, wearables have long been used, for example in hearing aids and in detecting health disorders such as sleep apnea. A study in 2014 by MSI and McAfee reported that 70% of people think that wearable technologies will soon send health vitals readings to physicians.[29] Medical professionals such as Google Glass Surgeon even organized themselves into the WATCH Society (Wearable Technology in Healthcare Society) in order to search for collaboration and valid use of wearable technology in healthcare. In professional sports, wearable technology has applications in monitoring and real time feedback for athletes.[30][31] The decreasing cost of processing power and other components is encouraging widespread adoption and availability.[30] Wearable technologies have helped make healthcare reform possible. The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare is pushing the value-based care model and technology provides the support needed for the program to succeed and the US government to save money. Telehealth is one such healthcare distribution method within the Population Health Programs model using wearable technologies to help bring down US healthcare costs. However a great deal research and development is required to ensure that the data generated is managed correctly[1] and is of a high quality.[32] This will help to ensure that the patient/user builds up confidence and trust in the technology.
Modern technologies
editOn April 16, 2013, Google invited "Glass Explorers" who had pre-ordered its wearable glasses at the 2012 Google I/O conference to pick up their devices. This day marked the official launch of Google Glass, a device intended to deliver rich text and notifications via a heads-up display worn as eyeglasses. The device also had a 5 MP camera and recorded video at 720p.[33] Its various functions were activated via voice command, such as "OK Glass". The company also launched the Google Glass companion app, MyGlass.[34] The first third-party Google Glass App came from the New York Times, which was able to read out articles and news summaries.
However, in early 2015, Google stopped selling the beta "explorer edition" of Glass to the public, after criticism of its design and the $1,500 price tag.[35][36]
While optical head-mounted display technology remains a niche, two popular types of wearable devices have taken off: smartwatches and activity trackers. Back in 2012, ABI Research forecast that sales of smartwatches would hit 1.2 million in 2013, helped by the high penetration of smartphones in many world markets, the wide availability and low cost of MEMS sensors, energy efficient connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth 4.0, and a flourishing app ecosystem.[37]
Crowdfunding-backed start-up Pebble reinvented the smartwatch in 2013, with a campaign running on Kickstarter that raised more than $10m in funding, and at the end of 2014, Pebble announced it had sold a million devices. In early 2015, Pebble went back to its crowdfunding roots to raise a further $20m for its next-generation smartwatch, Pebble Time, which started shipping in May 2015.
In March 2014, Motorola unveiled the Moto 360 smartwatch powered by Android Wear, a modified version of the mobile operating system Android designed specifically for smartwatches and other wearables.[38][39] And finally, following more than a year of speculation, Apple announced its own smartwatch, the Apple Watch, in September 2014.
Wearable technology was a popular topic at the trade show Consumer Electronics Show in 2014, with the event dubbed "The Wearables, Appliances, Cars and Bendable TVs Show" by industry commentators.[40] Among numerous wearable products showcased were smartwatches, activity trackers, smart jewelry, head-mounted optical displays and earbuds. Nevertheless, still wearable technologies are suffering from limited battery capacity and there are several research works try to overcome this challenge.[41]
One of the most interesting fields of application of wearable technology is monitoring systems for assisted living and eldercare. Wearable sensors have indeed a huge potential in generating big data, with a great applicability to biomedicine and ambient assisted living (AAL).[42] For this reason, researchers are moving their focus from data collection to the development of intelligent algorithms able to provide valuable information by the collected data, using data mining techniques such as statistical classification and neural networks.[43]
Wearable technology can also collect biometric data such as heart rate(ECG and HRV), brainwave(EEG), and muscle bio-signals(EMG)from human body to provide valuable information in the field of health care and wellness.[44]
Another increasingly popular wearable technology involve virtual reality. VR Headsets exist from a range of manufacturers for computers, consoles, and mobile devices. Recently Google, a tech giant, has released their headset the Google Daydream.[45]
In July 2014 a smart technology footwear ,in which shoe insoles are connected to a smartphone application that uses Google maps, and vibrate to tell users when and where to turn to reach their destination, was introduced in Hyderabad, India.[46][47][48][49]
In recent years fitness trackers and smartwatches have become increasingly common and recognizable as examples of wearable technology. Several examples being Fitbit, Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Gear, and more.
In addition to to commercial applications, wearable technology is being researched and developed for a multitude of uses. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the many research institutions developing and testing technologies in this field. For example research is being done to improve Haptic technology[50] for its integration into next generation wearables, and another project focuses on using wearable technology to assist the visually impaired in navigating their surroundings.[5] As wearable technology continues to grow it has begun to expand into other fields. The integration of wearables into healthcare has been a focus of research and development for various institutions. Wearables continue to evolve, moving beyond devices and exploring new frontiers such as smart fabrics. Smart fabrics applications involve using the fabrics to perform a function such as integrating a QR code into the textile[51] or performance apparel that increases airflow during exercise[52].
Wearable Technology and Health
editWearable technology is often used to monitor a user's health. Given that these devices are in close contact with the user they can easily collect health related data.
Wearables can be used to collect data on a users health including:
- heart rate
- calories burned
- steps walked
- blood pressure
- time spent exercising
These functions are often bundled together in a single unit like in a Activity tracker or smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 2 or Samsung Galaxy Gear Sport. Devices like these are used for both physical training and monitoring overall physical health.
Currently other applications within healthcare are being explored such as:
- measuring Blood alcohol content[53]
- measuring athletic performance[54]
- monitoring how sick the user is[55]
While wearables can collect data in aggregate form but have yet to analyze or make conclusions based on this data. Wearables cannot account for the differing health needs of an individual; It can only collect data about the individual. Because of this, using a wearable to track health related metrics cannot substitute a medical professional's role in maintaining one's health.
Entertainment Applications
editWearables have also expanded into the entertainment space by creating new ways to experience digital media. Virtual reality headsets and augmented reality glasses have come to exemplify wearables in entertainment. Virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Google Daydream View aim to create a more immersive media experience by either simulating a first person experience or displaying the media in the user's full field of vision. Television, films, and video games have been developed for these devices. Some Augmented reality devices fall under the category of wearables. Augmented reality glasses are currently in development by several corporations[56]. Snap Inc.'s Spectacles (product) would also be an example of entertainment wearables. The Spectacles are sunglasses that record video from the user's point of view and pair with a phone to post videos on Snapchat[57]. Many other devices can be considered entertainment wearables and need only be devices worn by the user to experience media.
Government regulation
editCurrently, the FDA draft guidance for low risk devices advises that personal health wearables are general wellness products if they only collect data on weight management, physical fitness, relaxation or stress management, mental acuity, self-esteem, sleep management, or sexual function.[58]
Edits 10/23
edit- overhaul history section to address the last 8 years worth of advancements, but beyond smartwatches
- in modern technology include both the modern range of smartwatches and cutting edge tech (in the MIT articles)
- add section on growth of wearable technology sector
- find more statistics on growth besides smartwatch
Peer Review
editWhat is the "Grand Prize at the festival" it disrupts the flow of the article and is confusing.
"One of the most interesting fields" is very subjective, make it more objective and less opinionated.
Uses for wearable technology should have its own section.
Write about the future of wearable technology (New advances that could change it).
Write about wearable technology in science fiction.
What is wearable technology, need clearer definition.
Give more examples of wearable technology (One thing that comes to mind right now are the backpacks they gave for MIT freshman, just an idea), also VR, GoPros, in many ways smartphones, pacemaker, prosthetic.
This is a user sandbox of Maseehhasculture. You can use it for testing or practicing edits. This is not the sandbox where you should draft your assigned article for a dashboard.wikiedu.org course. To find the right sandbox for your assignment, visit your Dashboard course page and follow the Sandbox Draft link for your assigned article in the My Articles section. |
- ^ a b Donovan, Tony O., et al. "A context aware wireless body area network (BAN)." Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 2009. PervasiveHealth 2009. 3rd International Conference on. IEEE, 2009.
- ^ What is a Wearable Device? WearableDevices.com. Retrieved 10-29-2013
- ^ Nugent, C.; Augusto, J. C. (13 June 2006). Smart Homes and Beyond: ICOST 2006. IOS Press. ISBN 9781607501787 – via Google Books.
- ^ O'Donoghue, John; Herbert, John (1 October 2012). "Data Management Within mHealth Environments: Patient Sensors, Mobile Devices, and Databases". J. Data and Information Quality. 4 (1): 5:1–5:20. doi:10.1145/2378016.2378021. S2CID 2318649 – via ACM Digital Library.
- ^ a b "Wearable system helps visually impaired users navigate". MIT News. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
- ^ "Wearable Computing: A First Step Toward Personal Imaging". IEEE Computer. 30 (2).
- ^ "Premiados Ciberart" (PDF).
- ^ Ryan, Susan Elizabeth (13 June 2014). Garments of Paradise: Wearable Discourse in the Digital Age by Susan Elizabeth Ryan. ISBN 9780262323970.
- ^ "Best Inventions of 2006". Time. 13 November 2006.
- ^ "Ripple Headset". Behance. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
- ^ "And you thought the Jawbone headset was stylish". LA Times. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
- ^ "Tie camera". Spytechs. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
- ^ "Our survey says something doesn't add up". Wearable Tech Watch. 16 April 2015.
- ^ "A timeline of how the Apple Watch was created". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
- ^ "Does the Bluetooth dress signal the future of fashion". LA Times. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
- ^ "Tyndall". www.tyndall.ie. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
- ^ O'Donoghue, John, John Herbert, and Paul Stack. "Remote non-intrusive patient monitoring." Smart Homes and Beyond (2006): 180–87.
- ^ Krupnick, Ellie (2 November 2012). "The Huffington Post: Twitter Dress".
- ^ Restauri, Denise. "The Brains Behind The Hoodie That Texts". Forbes. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
- ^ a b Anne Eisenberg Inside These Lenses, a Digital Dimension April 25, 2009 New York Times
- ^ Molen, Brad. "These early Google Glass prototypes looked (even more) awkward". Engadget. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ^ Joel Weickgenant Plenty of Spinning, but More Than Just the D.J. July 15, 2009 New York Times
- ^ Clark, Evan (9 February 2014). "Patents in a Wearable Tech World". WWD. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- ^ "Understanding Wearable Technology | Aspencor Tech". Aspencor Tech. Aspencor Tech. Retrieved 2015-11-07.
- ^ Harishchandra Dubey; Jon C. Goldberg; Mohammadreza Abtahi; Leslie Mahler; Kunal Mankodiya (2015). EchoWear: smartwatch technology for voice and speech treatments of patients with Parkinson's disease. Proceedings of the conference on Wireless Health (WH '15). ACM, New York, NY, USA. pp. Article 15, 8 pages. doi:10.1145/2811780.2811957.
- ^ Achilleas Papageorgiou; Athanasios Zigomitros; Constantinos Patsakis (2015). "Personalising and Crowdsourcing Stress Management in Urban Environments via s-Health". 2015 6th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications (IISA). Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications (IISA), 2015. Ionian University, Corfu, Greece. pp. 1–4 pages. doi:10.1109/IISA.2015.7388027. ISBN 978-1-4673-9311-9.
- ^ Crawford, Mark (2016). "Wearable technology is booming, powered by photonics". SPIE Newsroom. doi:10.1117/2.2201606.01.
- ^ Zalud, Bill (Jan 2015). "The Age of Wearables Is on Us". SDM: 72–73.
- ^ Eichorn, Kim; Ross, Eva (16 September 2014). "U.S. Consumers Predict Unprecedented Connectivity in 2025, but Security and Privacy Concerns Linger" – via ProQuest.
- ^ a b Duncan Smith The Rise of the Virtual Trainer July 13, 2009 Product Design and Development
- ^ Simon Jones In pro sports, wearabletech is already mainstream. December 9, 2013, WearableTechWatch
- ^ O'donoghue, John, and John Herbert. "Data management within mHealth environments: Patient sensors, mobile devices, and databases." Journal of Data and Information Quality (JDIQ) 4.1 (2012): 5.
- ^ "Tech specs". Google Inc. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "Google Finally Reveals Glass Specifications, MyGlass App Now Live". Self Screens. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Google has admitted that releasing Google Glass early may have been a mistake". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
- ^ Jones, Simon. "Analysis: Why Google killed Glass". WearableTechWatch. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ^ More Than One Million Smart Watches will be Shipped in 2013, ABI Research
- ^ "Moto 360: It's Time". The Official Motorola Blog. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Sharing what's up our sleeve: Android coming to wearables". Official Google Blog. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Wearable tech at CES 2014: Many, many small steps". CNET. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
- ^ "Energy-Efficient Integration of Continuous Context Sensing and Prediction into Smartwatches". Sensors Journal. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- ^ Redmond, SJ; Lovell, NH; Yang, GZ; Horsch, A; Lukowicz, P; Murrugarra, L; Marschollek, M (2014). "What Does Big Data Mean for Wearable Sensor Systems?". Yearb Med Inform. 9: 135–42. doi:10.15265/IY-2014-0019. PMC 4287062. PMID 25123733.
- ^ "Data Mining for Wearable Sensors in Health Monitoring Systems: A Review of Recent Trends and Challenges". NCBI. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
- ^ "Wearable Technology, Biometric Information, Data Collection | JD Supra". JD Supra. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
- ^ Papagiannakis, George. "A survey of mobile and wireless technologies for augmented reality systems" (PDF).
- ^ McGregor, Jay (25 July 2014). "India's Take On Google Glass, A Vibrating Smartshoe". Forbes. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ Thoppil, Dhanya Ann Thoppil (24 July 2014). "India's Answer to Google Glass: The Smartshoe". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ Anthony, Sebastian (24 July 2014). "The smartshoe: A much more sensible approach to wearable computing than Glass or a smartwatch". Extreme Tech. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ "A smart shoe from Indian firm". Deccan Chronicle. 27 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ "Can you feel me now?". MIT News. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
- ^ McFarland, Matt. "JanSport's high-tech backpack gives teens a new way to express themselves". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
- ^ "Researchers design moisture-responsive workout suit". MIT News. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
- ^ Greathouse, John. "This Wearable Will Tell You When You're Drunk". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
- ^ Bell, Lee. "Best Wearable Tech And Fitness Gadgets 2017 (Updated)". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
- ^ Coldewey, Devin. "Smartwatches could soon tell you when you're getting sick". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
- ^ Strange, Adario. "Microsoft Research shows off its augmented reality glasses". Mashable. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
- ^ "Here's how Snapchat's new Spectacles will work". The Verge. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
- ^ "General Wellness: Policy for Low Risk Devices - Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff" (PDF). U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA. January 2015.