Sungmin Kim

SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Fashion Technology9. Wearable Computing

Introduction

History Up To Ealry 1900s

Glasses (1285, Salvino degli Armati, Italy)

Wrist Watch (1510, Peter Henlein, Germany)

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Introduction

History Up To Ealry 1900s

Abacus Ring (1644~1911, Qing Dynasty, China)

Pigeon Camera (1907, Julius Neubronner, Germany)

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Introduction

History 1960s

World’s first wearable computer for predicting the probability of rouelette games (1961)

– Developed by MIT professor Edward Thorp and Claude Shannon

– Consists of two components, one in the shoes, the other in the cigarette case

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Introduction

History 1960s

World’s first immersive experience device (1960)

– Developed by Morton Heilig

» Ancestor of today’s HMDs (head mount display)

» Provided stereoscopic image and sound

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Introduction

History 1960s

Sensorama Simulator(1962)

– Developed by Morton Heilig

» Equipped with steering wheel,

binocular type display, vibration chair,

stereo speaker, aroma dispenser

» Ancestor of today’s 4D cimena system

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Introduction

History 1970s

Mass distribution era of wearable devices

– Various wearable electronic devices targeted at the general public

– Much more emphasis on the fashionable wearable devices than before

Pulsa calculator watch (1975) - World’s first wrist watch type computer

– 100 limited gold editions were sold at $3,950$ ($18,000 for today)

– Even the president Gerald Ford could not get

– Stainless steel 'entry-level' model was $550 ($2,500 for today)

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Introduction

History 1970s

Sony Walkman (1979)

– A groundbreaking wearable device

– World’s first portable music player

– Sold at $150 in 1979

» $500 for today

» Per capita income of Korea was $1,676

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Introduction

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History 1980s

World’s first backpack computer (1981, Steve Mann)

– Apple II computer in a steel framed backpack

– Capable of controlling light bulbs, camera, flash lamp, and so on.

– Helmet mounted display was used which was capable of displaying 40 lines of texts.

Introduction

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History 1980s

Space Attacker Watch (1984, Nelsonic)

– World’s first wrist watch type game console

Private Eye (1989)

– A smart glasses with head mounted screen, portable input device, and 85MB hard disk drive

Introduction

History 1990s

Wireless WebCam (1996, Steve Mann)

– Wearable digital camera that can upload photos to the Internet

– Ancestor of Internet-connected camera

m Bracelet (1998, Knowledge Lab)

– Capable of synchronized ATM (automated teller machine) transactions

– Unfortunately, only the prototypes were made

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Introduction

History 2000s

New devices every day

– Mobile Internet connection became the key feature

Notable products

– Ultra light (311g) wearable PC ‘Xybernaut Poma’ (2002)

– World’s first full-digital pace maker ‘Vitatron C’ (2003)

– Nike iPod (2006)

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Introduction

History 2000s

Notable products

– Fitness tracker ‘Fitbit’ (2009)

– Ultra light (283g) water proof wearable computer Glacier W200 (2009)

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Introduction

History 2000s

Notable products

– Smart watch ‘Pebble’ (2012년)

– Smart glasses ‘Google Glass’ (2013)

– Tommy Hilfiger’s ‘Solar powered jacket’ (2014)

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Introduction

Current Status Expectations

Expected to create new markets by combining the flexibility of textile and digital functions

Current Level

Most cases are under development stage

A few products have been commercially successful

Problems

Insufficient durability

Insufficient communication functions

High price

The hassle of using input devices

The difficulty of implementing all of the human senses

Hazardous electromagnetic radiation

Battery capacity

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Introduction

Current Status International Development

USA

– Cooperative research between industry and university

» MIT Media Lab, Georgia Institute of Technology, Carnegie Melon University, etc.

– Body Media : Wearable computer-based health care, medical research

– SensaTex : Smart shirt sponsored by US Navy

Europe

– Many multinational companies conduct research and development consortium

– Philips : Electronic jacket (mobile phone, mp3 player, etc.), Fabric Rug

– Infineon : mp3 player integrated clothing, smart carpet

– Fraunhofer Institute : stretchable electronic circuit (STELLA)

– University of Modena : Protective clothing for worker safety (ProeTEX)

– EU : Intelligent clothing for monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases (MyHeart)

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Introduction

Current Status International Development

Japan

– Quick product development based on advanced technologies for miniaturization

Domestic Development

KITECH (Korea Institute of Industrial Technology)

– Digital yarn for high-speed communication

– Embroidery technique for textile circuit design

ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)

– U-health system based clothing accessory type bio-signal measurement device

– Organic thin film transistor for e-textile

– Development of nanofiber sensors for detecting harmful materials

Cheil Industries

– Textile based capacitance sensor

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Introduction

Current Status International Market

Smart household goods market is estimated to be 10% of the embedded systems market

IT convergence garment is at its beginning stage

Global smart garment market size predicted to be about $35 billion in 2020

Domestic Market

Domestic technology shows a considerable gap when compared with leading countries

Research in elementary technology is in progress

– Flexible display

– Flexible battery

– Sensor based input device

– Augmented reality device

– Virtual reality device

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Basic Components Mini PC

Battery pack belt

Input device

Keyboard

Touchpad

Microphone

Output device

Head mount display

Earphone

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Wearable Computer

Wearable Computer

Basic Components Input Device

Voice recognition system

– Structural difficulty of the language

– Further perfection of speech recognition technology is required

Touch screen

Keyboard

– Key pad or mouse

– Virtual keyboard

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Wearable Computer

Basic Components Input Device

Virtual keyboard

– Scurry Keyboard (Samsung, Korea)

» The motion sensor is mounted on the fingers

» Measuring the angle of the finger movement by using a gyroscope technology

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Wearable Computer

Basic Components Input Device

Virtual keyboard

– Senseboard (Senseboard, Sweden)

» Detects the minute motion of muscle

» Wear rubber board in the palm and start typing as if there were a keyboard

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Wearable Computer

Basic Components Display Device

HMD (Head/Helmet Mounted Display)

– Large field of view from small display panel

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Wearable Computer

Basic Components Display Device

VRD (Virtual Retinal Display)

– Projecting an image directly on the retina of the eye (HITLab, Univ. of Washington)

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More Examples

USA Xybernaut

Mobile Assistant Series (current version V)

Taiwan VIA Technology

Emphasis on ergonomics

Small and light for long-time comfort

Japan Hitachi

Wearable wireless sensor

Acquisition of body data

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More Examples

Europe Philips-Levi’s ICD (Industrial Clothing Division) Jacket (2000)

First commercial wearable electronic garment

Pockets for the Philips Xenium mobile phone, Rush MP3 player and earphones

Purpose built channels for the wiring through the garment

A central control module connects all the devices to allow the wearer to control the devices

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More Examples

Korea Smart Suit (Rogatis, 2016)

Built-in NFC (near field communication) chip on the button on the wrist

– Interacts with smartphone

– Mode switching : meeting, office, or drive

– Digital business cards exchange

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More Examples

For Soldiers Perfect Networking among Troops

Microphone integrated helmet

Global Positioning System

Terrain Display for fellow localization

Improved Attack Capability

Enemy identification using heat detection

Accurate ballistic trajectory computation

Improved Protection

Gunfire

Chemical and biological weapons

Automatic hemostasis

Active protective coloring

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More Examples

For Disabled People OrCam (USA, 2013)

Uses audio feedback to relay visual information for visually impaired people

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The Future

Wearable Computing ‘Innovative way of thinking about digital computer media’

Maggie Orth, MIT Media Lab.

‘All the electronic device will have the form of clothing’

Werner Weber, Infineon Technologies

Further Topics Further fusion of IT, BT, ET, NT and Clothing Technology

Development of Seamless Ubiquitous Environment

Active association with fashion industry using 3D body scanners, etc.

The Future

Implantable Device Johnny Mnemonic (Codename J in Korea, 1995)

Johnny stores the information in the device implanted in his head

We store information in wearable device

– The only difference between Johnny and us : the location

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The Future

Implantable Device Brain-Machine Interface

Studies have been made since 1970s

– Direct connection of human brain and computer

– Controlling machines using brain’s direct command

– Improvement of human sense by transmitting external signal directly to the brain

Actual Application

– Improvement of the vision of visually impaired patient (1978)

– Manipulation of robotic arm using brain signal (2005)

Cyborg

Cybernetics+Organism

Human with replaced organs or limbs, except the brain

– To recover the lost ability due to disability

– To pursue a superior power than the original

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