With Wearable Computers

Man Becomes One With Technology

Photos by Travis Green at ISWC 2002

"Bearables or Wearables?" Columbia U/NRL Battlefield Augmented Reality System 
http://www.BARS/BARS.html

by James Nielsen, Charles Harper, Ellius D. Carson

     For some time now we've been using devices such as wristwatches, eyeglasses and hearing aids as  constant companions to sharpen our senses. 
We attach tools to our bodies for convenient access. We've developed our war making capabilities with deadly portable weapons. 
     Wearing electronic accessories in public began twenty two years ago with the  sell-out of the first Sony Walkmans, and is now ubiquitous with cellular telephones, pagers, computers and PDAs.  We're just beginning to learn that combining these tools to work together creates a synergy that allows us to discover and implement powerful new dimensions externally, and as some hope, internally as well.

What is a Wearable Computer?

1) Must be incorporated into personal space  in such a way that it is always with the user. Does not limit the user's movement or impede her mobility.
2) Must be a programmable, extensible and re-configurable general use computer. A single use device with embedded static instructions is not a wearable computer.
3) Is always on and always accessible.
4) It performs its functions to aid and enhance the users' experience.

     What sets a wearable computer apart from other wearables such as  eyeglasses, is an awareness of context and environment, which enables it to function dynamically. The trend  is toward devices with greater situational awareness, achieved in part through additional sensors. Sensor makers are great promoters of wearables.  But the strongest and most consistent backer - and buyer-  of wearable computers is the U. S. military.   On the battlefield, wearable computers "lift the fog of war." 8

.      "Wearable is just one-bandwidth bump shy of brain integrated computing. You may look like a geek, but you are 'smarter' and more 'powerful',"  (Slashdot/ aminorex(1411494 on wed oct 18, 2000 @07.22AM (#695478)

The Technology

     The first wearable computer (we know about) was a cigarette-pack sized analog computer with 4 push buttons, conceived to beat roulette odds. A data-taker used the buttons to indicate the speed of the roulette wheel and make it predictable, the computer would then send tones via radio to a bettor's hearing aid. It was developed at MIT in the 1960's by Ed Thorp and Claude Shannon.⁺⁺ They later formed Eudaemonic Enterprises+++ and created a shoe computer with toe control and radio communications to predict the roulette wheels. This shoe computer used a CMOS 6502 microprocessor with 5k of RAM. (Though it didn't work, the State of Nevada promptly declared it illegal.)

     The first general-purpose wearable computer (we know about) was designed by Thad Starner and Doug Platt at the MIT Media Lab back in 1992/3. Called "The Lizzy" after the Model T Ford "Tin Lizzy," that could do any job from winching wagons, pumping water or taking the family on a Sunday drive. The current default Lizzy offers 100 Mhz 486 DX4 processor, 16M RAM, 2 serial and 1 parallel port,  flash memory capable, 2 IDE disk capable, 1.35GB 2.5" Toshiba hard disk, clock battery backup. Private Eye heads up red monochrome display with 720x280 resolution and a 10 hour battery life.

MIThril is today's ongoing wearable computer research project at the MIT Media Lab. The name of the project is taken from a term that was coined in the book, The Hobbit, where mithril is the name of a metal with magical properties. Frodo, the hero of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, wears a mithril tunic that saves his life by stopping an Orcan spear. The goal of the MIThril project is the development and prototyping of new techniques of human-computer interaction for body-worn  applications.    (Courtesy MIT)

     Wearable computers have developed rapidly since "The Lizzy". The ACM SIGCHI (Association of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) has published papers and held many conferences over the years. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) conducts a near-annual ISWC (International Symposium on Wearable Computers) and has published many journals. ISWCs are financed by IBM, Motorola, Intel (and will be again this Sept.) backing the mostly university developers from around the world. 
     A far more polished venue is held by CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association) a trade group for wireless telecommunications industry, representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers, very commercially savvy and highly political, unashamed of using political clout to weigh in on issues of spectrum, auctions, and privacy (a big issue.) At CTIA' s meeting early in 2003 in New Orleans, Bill Gates gave a talk about the future of wireless, and so did Rep. Billy Tauzin,  Chairman of the influential House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, with jurisdiction over key issues affecting telephone, cable, wire, the Internet and oversight authority over the Federal Communications Commission. 
   The worry of CTIA (and of all wearable inventors) - concerns the big questions of privacy, and whether the public will see it being eroded . Does an individual "own" his own image and what he says?" asks an inventor. ⁺⁺⁺⁺ One CTIA speaker worried about the FCC's regulating the future of  products shown at  'Fashion in Motion," as well as the major issue of FCC (and the Military) allowing more use of  spectrum. 

  Motorola showed a suite of wearables that include a sunglass-looking HUD, digital camera, microphone, and a  "wearable digital assistant" ( or PDA) with voice recognition game navigation, and bluetooth enabled, made with Frog Design.(courtesy Frog Design)

One month later Motorola appeared before Congress to testify that "public safety (needs) the spectrum and funds to improve communication as rapidly and completely as... expected in a post 9-11 world," asking for "700 MHz for technologies far beyond today's voice and low speed data applications."  888

CTIA's "Fashion in Motion" showed marketable and almost marketable products.
Major players in the wearable computer market included Xybernaut's  Poma  for consumer wear, and for work. MicroOptical with what looks like L-3 Systems QWERTY keyboard.

(Courtesy MicroOptical Corp.)

IBM has recently announced the ThinkPad prototype wearable computer and development of the Meta Pad portable device.

Unless you are IBM or Motorola, the wait for an emerging 
technology to take hold often means existing 
on government contracts and shares sold.  Despite doing both, 
and though Xybernaut sold $20M+ worth of stock 
warrants in 2002, by the end of the year the company cut half 
its staff. eMagin, with two future technologies -  OLED displays in VR headsets- spent 
a year juggling to survive.   

 (Courtesy eMagin Corp.)

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