Wearable computer

Under the definition of wearable computers, we also include novel user interfaces such as Google Glass, an optical head-mounted display controlled by gestures.

It may be that specialized wearables will evolve into general all-in-one devices, as happened with the convergence of PDAs and mobile phones into smartphones.

Wearables are typically worn on the wrist (e.g. fitness trackers), hung from the neck (like a necklace), strapped to the arm or leg (smartphones when exercising), or on the head (as glasses or a helmet), though some have been located elsewhere (e.g. on a finger or in a shoe).

They are used most often in research that focuses on behavioral modeling, health monitoring systems, IT and media development, where the person wearing the computer actually moves or is otherwise engaged with his or her surroundings.

[11] However, a general-purpose computer is not merely a time-keeping or calculating device, but rather a user-programmable item for arbitrary complex algorithms, interfacing, and data management.

By this definition, the wearable computer was invented by Steve Mann, in the late 1970s:[12][13][14] Steve Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, was hailed as the father of the wearable computer and the ISSCC's first virtual panelist, by moderator Woodward Yang of Harvard University (Cambridge Mass.

Queen Elizabeth I of England received a watch from Robert Dudley in 1571, as a New Year present; it may have been worn on the forearm rather than the wrist.

[3][16] In 1961, mathematicians Edward O. Thorp and Claude Shannon built some computerized timing devices to help them win a game of roulette.

[11] In other variations, the system was a concealed cigarette-pack-sized analog computer designed to predict the motion of roulette wheels.

[24] In 1989, Reflection Technology marketed the Private Eye head-mounted display, which scans a vertical array of LEDs across the visual field using a vibrating mirror.

It used direct-sequence spread spectrum radio links to provide all the usual TCP/IP based services, including NFS mounted file systems and X11, which all ran in the Andrew Project environment.

VuMan 1 was developed as part of a Summer-term course at Carnegie Mellon's Engineering Design Research Center, and was intended for viewing house blueprints.

In July 1996, DARPA went on to host the "Wearables in 2005" workshop, bringing together industrial, university, and military visionaries to work on the common theme of delivering computing to the individual.

In October 1997, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, and Georgia Tech co-hosted the IEEE International Symposium on Wearables Computers (ISWC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The symposium was a full academic conference with published proceedings and papers ranging from sensors and new hardware to new applications for wearable computers, with 382 people registered for the event.

[35][36][37] Dr. Bruce H. Thomas and Dr. Wayne Piekarski developed the Tinmith wearable computer system to support augmented reality.

Standardization with IEEE, IETF, and several industry groups (e.g. Bluetooth) lead to more various interfacing under the WPAN (wireless personal area network).

[42] Google's mission was to produce a mass-market ubiquitous computer that displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format[43] that can interact with the Internet via natural language voice commands.

[46] Thync, a headset launched in 2014, is a wearable that stimulates the brain with mild electrical pulses, causing the wearer to feel energized or calm based on input into a phone app.

[47] Macrotellect launched two portable brainwave (EEG) sensing devices, BrainLink Pro and BrainLink Lite in 2014, which allows families and meditation students to enhance the mental fitness and stress relief with 20+ brain fitness enhancement Apps on Apple and Android App Stores.

As small as a button, it features a six-axis accelerometer, a DSP sensor hub, a Bluetooth LE unit, and a battery charge controller.

[51] Some advanced VR headsets require the user to wear a desktop-sized computer as a backpack to enable them to move around freely.

On June 5, 2023, Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, an AR headset with a computer built in that has a screen on the front, allowing others to see the wearer's face.

[52] The commercialization of general-purpose wearable computers, as led by companies such as Xybernaut, CDI and ViA, Inc. has thus far been met with limited success.

Publicly traded Xybernaut tried forging alliances with companies such as IBM and Sony in order to make wearable computing widely available, and managed to get their equipment seen on such shows as The X-Files, but in 2005 their stock was delisted and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid financial scandal and federal investigation.

Eurotech offers the ZYPAD, a wrist-wearable touch screen computer with GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and which can run a number of custom applications.

The wearable brick was quietly pulled from the market in 2005, while the screen evolved to a thin client touchscreen used with a handstrap.

[57][58][59] LG and iriver produce earbud wearables measuring heart rate and other biometrics, as well as various activity metrics.

[citation needed] The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which provides guidelines for improving cybersecurity, although adherence to the framework is voluntary[65] Consequently, the lack of specific regulations for wearable devices, specifically medical devices, increases the risk of threats and other vulnerabilities.

The goal of F-INSAS is to equip soldiers with state-of-the-art technologies that improve their combat effectiveness, including wearable computers to aid in communication, navigation, and situational awareness.