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Two Scoops Of Wearable Computers
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun Jun 25, 2000 09:17 PM
from the stuff-to-poke-at dept.
from the stuff-to-poke-at dept.
miester writes: "A bunch of engineering students were assigned to create wearable computers for their 4th year thesis at the University of Toronto." There's actually great gobs of links there to research-oriented stuff on wearables.
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Two Scoops of Wearable Computers
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Wearable Computers "weblog" site (Score:3)
Links To Further Information On Wearable Computers (Score:5)
Here I have a whole bunch of links to further information about wearable computers and "enhanced reality" for anyone interested:
Impossible means no one's done it yet.
A few really useful points exist. (Score:5)
This was more or less my opinion too, until recently. However, Prof. Mann had raised a few genuinely useful points on the topic back when I was studying under him (working on video drivers for the WearComps):
Video phones were another interesting idea that nobody actually wants; there are few good reasons to stare at the face of the person you're talking to, and several good reasons not to (say they just got out of the shower...). However, being able to have my co-worker look at the computer I'm trying to fix while I'm asking for advice _would_ be useful. Plus, the whole voyeuristic thrill of posessing another person's viewpoint comes in. This just strikes me as a genuinely neat and often useful idea that's easy to implement with wearable computers.
Data overlay on your vision is, for the most part, another failed idea - but there are a few niche markets where it's useful. Another design project group working at the same time I was developed an oscilliscope attachment to a WearComp, that let you view and manipulate signal traces without taking your eyes off of the probe you were sticking into the circuit. This is a Very Useful Thing when you're just trying to sanity-check a signal and are trying to hold a probe to a millimetre-wide trace while under the influence of sleep deprivation and caffiene.
Another point, which Prof. Mann didn't bring up but that I think will be the main selling point of wearable display visors:
Wearable computers don't currently have that kind of resolution, but when they do, notebooks will get a whole lot nicer. No power-hungry flat panel, and a better-looking display to boot.
In summary, I think that there are enough useful points to wearable computer technology that wearable computers will become ubiquitous in some form within the next few years.
Wearable? No. Usable, Yes. (Score:3)
Y'know, i've been reading about wearable computers for quite a while now, and it still just doesn't quite click with me as being something i'd lust after.
When I was 5, I had an experience standing outside a storefront in a shopping mall that changed my life. Standing there with my dad, I saw one of the first laserdiscs. It was 1979, and this was so eye-bleedingly high tech that the crowd was 10 deep to see an ABBA laserdisc. It was a cold winter day, and a hundred or so Chicagoans stood awestruck at the sight of four musical Swedes. Everyone except me, that is. I could care less that ABBA music videos were playing. I was fixated by the frame counter..a little digital clock counter displayed in the corner of the TV screen. It blew my 5 year old mind to see anything be able to count and run so fast. The people standing infront of the store were probably saying to eachother, "Wow, this is the future! Soon we're all going to have laserdiscs. Forget VHS and Beta -- laserdiscs are where its at!"
It never happened.
A few years later, when I was about 9 or so, I was walking around with my parents in a mall near where I lived. There was a big glass case stuck on a storefront that was drawing a huge crowd..I caught a peek of what it was they were all gawking at. A little tv screen wristwatch.
The crowd, of course, considered this sort of thing to be the true wave of the future. Soon everyone would have a TV on their wrists, so we could all be better informed, and make better decisions. We'd all just tune in, and glance over at our wrists while we work to catch up on the latest news and entertainment.
That didn't happen either.
I get the same sort of feeling about wearable computers. I dont think it will ever get beyond the point of being a novelty. Like beer hats at baseball games, or shower radios, it will appeal to few, and life will go on as it always has.
The function of clothing is to clothe the wearer, not inform the wearer. We dont drive nails with socket wrenches, we use hammers. Sorry gang, but I just dont see how this will ever be anything more than a passing curiosity..At the risk of making a grand visionary Bill Gates "no one will ever need more than 640K" speech, i'd call the development of wearable computers a novelty at best.
My $0.02
Bowie J. Poag
Aural Interface Over Visual (Score:3)
I propose an alternate style. If computers are truly going to be used for information purposes, a visual interface will not be needed. Instead, development of speech recognition and speech production engines should be concentrated on. Microphones and speakers are commonly shrunk to incredibly small sizes. So wouldn't an accurate voice synthesizer, one that doesn't sound like a whino with vomit stuck in his throat, provide the interface nessecary for information exchange? The only obstructionsI can see, is the development of an operating system that synchronizes the GUI and CLI, and can portray the content accurately to the user. The only problem is the lack of an intelligent interface.
It would be required that the device become easy to use by the common man, it would be required that the device not be noticable, and it would be required that the device be accurate.
Short of getting Jane from the Ender series, though, will we see this? I would hope so. My dream is to see a country wired for a system of wireless computing. Rather than have one computer for each person, have one cluster for all persons. Tap into the system anywhere it is available, and you should have the same data access.
Let it be known, that this will be the future. In cities such as Arcosanti, this kind of technology will be easy to implement from the start. There is no reason that we should not begin to seek an organic computing experience. An integrated, and seamless experience. Let us do it! Let ours be the Alpha of remote computing, not the Omega!
Why is no one tackling the real problems? (Score:5)
Really, wearables that lack style of any substance (or a practical use for that matter) and presumably are intended to sell on wank factor (for whom?) alone are not going tempt very many people. Sure, they mostly just prototypes, but almost universally ignoring important considerations when prototyping is not going to help very much.
On the other hand, if you can browse the web on what could pass on the street for expensive sunglasses - and you can use them as normal sunglasses when not browsing (ie don't need to change headgear whenever you change tasks) then we're starting to get somewhere. And this kind of subtle, miniature heads up system has been built. But it seems the "plaster-junk-to-my-face" look is all the rage with a significant portion of the people involved (there of course some notable exceptions).
Rather than developing better ways to mount a wireless webcam on your head (the last place I'm putting a webcam is on my face! Shoulder, possibly, but face?!?), pour the effort into developing things to wearables more useful as a technology, eg a miniature retina or focus tracking system to incorporate into heads-up sunglasses, thus removing the need for a mouse or control panel larger than one or two buttons. Simply look at the icon and click the button, or whatever.
These systems might be complex and difficult with today's tech - much easier to play with things like webcams, but they offer a hell of a lot more as well.
BTW, I'm not merely spouting here from a position of complete ignorance - I'm working on some miniaturised wearable stuff, but it's in a different direction, and the ultimate goal is stuff that I can actually wear yet still feel stylish
(Ie I'm only spouting from a position of mostly-ignorance
Simple test for wearables: Would you be caught dead wearing that getup in a public place where you might meet people who would recognise you? I have yet to see any wearables that satisfy this extremely basic criteria. You might think this is kinda vain, but we're talking about wearable computers here - they are going to have to attain the same stylistic standards as clothing, sunglasses, shoes etc.
Cell phones had to come a long way before being accepted, and they were greatly aided by the perception that only important people had a genuine need for them. With WAP phones already here, wearable are unlikely to enjoy such a boost.
An insider's view (Score:5)
Alright, it's about time this got posted. I just spent the past year working with Professor Mann and the 'cyborg' group at the University Of Toronto. So, I guess I'll put my $0.02 in
First off, the page is over a year out of date, even the course syllabus is slightly dated. Since Steve Mann came to UofT, the wearcomp/wearcam/eyetap/cybernetics group has grown tremendously. We've effectively taken over an entire graduate student lab with prototypes, workstations, even a Beowulf or two.
Secondly, by no means was "a bunch of engineering students assigned to create wearable computers". Every student involved with the wearcomp group has their own specific interests in the project. Some concentrate on the use of the device, others develop the technology, most of us have hacked the code (all open-source, all linux) to some degree. I personally did my 4th year thesis (along with two partners) on parallel image processing using code designed for wearcomps and eyetap (and running on that aforementioned Beowulf). I also took Professor Mann's course, which, if nothing else, is an eye-opener to what his concepts really are and where he's heading with this technology
For those of you with concerns about the wearability of the devices. Currently, the most widely-used wearcomps can be fairly discretely worn around the waist. However, the eyetaps used are slightly more conspicuous, being mounted on hard hats, baseball caps, etc, with a modified webcam, a small screen, and a fairly large mirror used as a diverter. There are more discrete versions of the eyetap in existence, which are often used by Professor Mann (in fact, he's rarely seen without them), embedded into a larger pair of sunglasses (slightly more stylish than the ones seen on the webpage) or regular lenses.
Where is all this going? Beats me. Bear in mind that when Steve Mann started building wearable computers, he wore 200lbs of equipment in a backpack and had an antenna sticking out his head. In the 20 years that have elapsed since then, the whole system weighs in at about 10lbs in its case, and it's getting smaller all the time. As for uses, of course the first application that comes to mind is internet usage. But after 20 years, Professor Mann's gotten a little bored with just checking e-mail. The concept of a "mediated reality" is the predominant use envisioned for the eyetap. Imagine a meeting around a table in your local Second Cup (or Starbucks for all the non-Canucks out there), where each person is wearing a covert wearcomp. The entire meeting can take place without anyone else in the room able to access the information being shared. You could project flow charts, xterms as whiteboards, etc, to each other using the wearcomps, and nobody but you would know. You could be walking down the street, and another user could have left you a message 'written' on a store window reminding you to bring donuts to the morning meeting. These are the types of uses that could develop, where reality isn't interrupted by the computer (unlike cell phones, pagers, PDAs, etc.), but enhanced, and augmented.
Anyway, I can think of at least 5 other people who will be starting their posts with "I've worked with Professor Steve Mann for x years...", I'll let them do the rest of the talking.