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Wearable Computers They call this a PERSONAL computer, in other words, a computer designed to aid you personally. But how much can it help you, when it's stuck on a desk? Even its more lightweight cousins, the laptop or palmtop, lack the portability or features to make them 24 hour personal companions.
Wearable computers are rapidly becoming a reality, as veteran actor, Alan Alda found out recently when he visited the Media Lab on the campus of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Surrounded by most of the cyborgs presently on the planet, I wondered about the next generation of wearable computers," says Alan.
Alan introduces one of the cyborgs: "This is Thad Sterner who doesn't just take his computer wherever he goes, he wears it wherever he goes. Do you wear it everywhere? " Thad: "Well, if I am at a conference or out on the street, pretty much so, yes. You get information at the strangest times and it helps you manage it during the day." Alan: "Just explain something. Let's say you are facing somebody in the hall and they say something interesting to you. What happens to that information? Does it go into this little thing in your eye?" Thad, laughing: "Basically. What you have here is a keyboard. You hit more than one button at a time to get letters or words." Alan: "It's like playing a clarinet or something. When you click those words in, do you see them up on your eye there?" Thad: "Yeah. This is a private eye." Alan: "Doesn't it bother you to just see out one eye all day long?" Thad: "No. What is nice about this device is that it looks like I see words on top of your nose right now. As I am sitting with you here right now, I type in the date, who is this for and who you are and where we are and that then start pulling up files from my past."
Alan meets up with another student wearing a computer and says "Hi, what are you working on?" He responds :"Hi, Alan?" Alan: "Yes, how can you tell?" Student: "My computer recognised you, how are you doing?" This wearable has been programmed to recognise Signing, the language used by deaf people. But what's the real likelihood of wearable computers becoming fashionable? Do we really want to be online, available and able to access information, 24 hours a day? And once the computers become smaller and less obtrusive, or are even implanted, do we move into the realm of the cyborg?
"In Touch" talked to Gavin Penkin from Nokia: "As the technology gets smaller, as the processing power gets better in smaller devices so at the end of the day we might, for example, have the actual processor sitting in a the sole of your shoe, with batteries in the sole of your shoe and as you walk, so you are charging the batteries." "As we move ahead, so people want access to more data. The Internet will play a vital role of being a data source. GSM will be the technology to deliver the data and we want to be carrying a device with us that, no matter where we are, we have access to the data, whether it is Internet, whether it is E-mail, whether in our diary, writing notes. So a really, truly functional device." Students at the London International School of Fashion (LISOF) accepted the In Touch challenge, and came up with these designs for wearable computers.
Pierre du Plessis: "The brief was to design a futuristic, practical garment, so I did a kiddies jacket that contains a gel, so every morning you just pop the jacket into the microwave for 5 seconds, heat up the gel and it stays warm for the entire day so the child doesn't need to wear very restrictive clothing. I also did shoes with anti-slip soles, so they don't fall down from say, the jungle gym." Says Roman Handt: "The aim of my garment was to make it small and lightweight and flexible. So I used solar chip tape in order to use solar power so that you don't have to carry a heave battery around with you. The drawstrings are actually earphones - very small and compact. The pants are heat reactive - they actually change colour through the change of temperature in your body." Petra Laranja: "I have designed something for the near future. It is a cufflink that has a smart card, so basically we don't have to use credit cards or bulky wallets anymore. You just take your cufflink and swipe it across the infra-red surface and it tills everything that you have purchased." Says Shana Edelstein, Principal at LISOF: "Everything is bought for purposes of looking good. Now the question arises, is clothing not only going to look good, but is it functional in the way that you can be that mobile and accessible at any point in time because there are hundreds of business men and women doing the same job as you and are you going to be there, are you going to be able to give that kind of service? I think clothing will take on that challenge, most definitely, in a way that we probably wouldn't even know that it is there so that it is a beautiful garment but has that dual function."
Workers in the latest food processing factories are already using intelligent skewers to get real time information about the temperature and moisture content of each chicken!
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But imagine if your shirt could assess your stress levels? Imagine if your glasses could feed you email as you walked down the street? Imagine if your watch could give you updated traffic information as you drove to work?
It's a question that's been on the mind of many a techno-literate fashion designer. If you're wearing your computer, then how closely should form follow function?
Wearables can even be programmed to recognise facial features, which means that even if you can't put a face to a name, your computer can.
I suppose ten years ago, none of us thought that we'd be contactable by phone wherever we were, or that the cell-phone would be a status symbol and fashion item, as well as a tool.
Says Melissa Botha: "I designed a children's outfit with a tracking device in a button so that when they get lost, the mother has a pocket size recovery system that works on her child's microchip frequency."
At the moment, the most realistic applications seems to be in the workplace. A wearable with a built-in screen and voice activated software can allow a technician working in the field or on the factory floor to have access to plans, information and advice.