12-04-2012, 04:24 PM
Wearable Computers
Wearable Computers.ppt (Size: 1.17 MB / Downloads: 46)
Introduction
• A wearable computer is a computer that is fitted into the
personal space of the user, controlled by the user, and has
both operational and interactional constancy, i.e. is always on
and always accessible.
• It is a device that is always with the user, and into which the
user can always enter commands and execute a set of such
entered commands, and in which the user can do so while
walking around or doing other activities.
• The wearable computer is more than just a wristwatch or
regular eyeglasses: it has the full functionality of a computer
system but in addition to being a fully featured computer, it is
also inextricably intertwined with the wearer.
• This is what sets the wearable computer apart from other
wearable devices such as wristwatches, regular eyeglasses,
wearable radios.
• Unlike these other wearable devices that are not
programmable, the wearable computer is as reconfigurable
as the familiar desktop or mainframe computer.
• There are three operational modes in this new interaction
between human and computer:
Concept of Operation
1.Constancy: The computer runs continuously, and is 'always ready' to interact with the user. Unlike a hand-held device, laptop computer, or PDA, it does not need to be opened up and turned on prior to use.
2.Augmentation: Traditional computing paradigms are based on
the notion that computing is the primary task. Wearable computing,
however, is based on the notion that computing is NOT the primary task.
The assumption of wearable computing is that the user will be doing
something else at the same time as doing the computing. Thus the
computer should serve to augment the intellect, or augment the senses.
Concept of Operation
3.Mediation: Unlike hand held devices, laptop computers, and PDAs, the
wearable computer can encapsulate It doesn't necessarily need to
completely enclose us, but the concept allows for a greater degree of
encapsulation than traditional portable computers.
Attributes of Wearable Computers
The six attributes of wearable computers:
1.Unmonopolizing of the user's attention
2.Unrestrictive to the user
3.Observable by the user
4.Controllable by the user
5.Attentive to the environment
6.Communicative to others
Advantages
• Enhanced communication
• Wearable computers can be used to recognize a person in a
high alerted area such as an airport.
• A personal wearable computer will facilitate the wearers
needs
• Unlikely to be dropped or lost as they are embedded to the
clothes as opposed to the handheld devices.
• Able to use wearable computers to complete daily tasks such
as a computer which tracks the movements and habits of a
person.
• Flexibility
• Freedom
History - Thorp and Shannon
• Professor Edward O. Thorp and Claude Shannon, father of Info Theory worked on it
1955-1962
• Utilized timers in order to predict
where the ball would fall on the
roulette
• Consisted of:
o Computer with 12 transistors, size of a pack of cigarettes
o Micro switches in the users shoes
o Computer transmitted musical tones to an ear piece
History - Steve Mann
• 1981 Steve Mann designed and built a backpack-mounted
6502-based computer to control flash-bulbs, cameras and
other photographic systems.
• "Predecessors like the wristwatch, the shoe-based gambling
timers, etc., were used for computation of specific tasks,
whereas Mann's invention was a general-purpose field
programmable computer inserted into the visual reality
stream of all day-to-day tasks."
History - 90s to Today
• Early 90s brought the utilization of overlay displays
• In 1993 the University of Columbia created KARMA:
Knowledge-based Augmented Reality
o A display over one eye would result in an overlay effect
when looking through both eyes
o The system would overlay schematics and instructions
over whatever object the user was working with.
• "In October 1997, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, and
Georgia Tech co-hosted the IEEE International Symposium
on Wearables Computers (IWSC) in Cambridge,
Massachusetts."