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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