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Wearable computers are miniature electronic devices that are worn by the bearer under, with oron top of clothing. This class of wearable technology has been developed for general or specialpurpose information technologies and media development. Wearable computers are especiallyuseful for applications that require more complex computational support than just hardwarecoded logics.

One of the main features of a wearable computer is consistency. There is a constant interaction between the computer and user, i.e. there is no need to turn the device on or off. Another featureis the ability to multi-task. It is not necessary to stop what you are doing to use the device; it isaugmented into all other actions. These devices can be incorporated by the user to act like aprosthetic . It can therefore be an extension of the user’s mind and/or body.

Areas of applications

In many applications, user's skin, hands, voice, eyes, arms as well as motion or attention areactively engaged as the physical environment.

Wearable computer items have been initially developed for and applied with e.g.

behavioral modeling , health care monitoring systems , service management mobile phones smartphones electronic textiles fashion design

and other usage.

History

The development of wearable items has taken several steps of miniaturization from discreteelectronics over hybrid designs to fully integrated designs, where just one processor chip, abattery and some interface conditioning items make the whole unit.

Depending on how broadly one defines both wearable and computer, the first wearable computercould be as early as the first abacus on a string, or, later, a 16th century pocket watch . However

common understanding is computer as a user-programmable item for complex algorithms , interfacing and data management.

1268 (F) Earliest recorded mention of eyeglasses

Roger Bacon made the first recorded comment on the use of lenses for optical purposes.However, by that time reading glasses made out of transparent quartz or beryl were already inuse in both China and Europe.

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1665 (F) Robert Hooke calls for augmented senses

Micrographia preface 1665: "The next care to be taken, in respect of the Senses, is a supplyingof their infirmities with Instruments, and as it were, the adding of artificial Organs to thenatural... and as Glasses have highly promoted our seeing, so 'tis not improbable, but that there

may be found many mechanical inventions to improve our other senses of hearing, smelling,tasting, and touching."

1762 (F) John Harrison invents the pocket-watch

Harrison invented the first practical marine chronometer, a highly accurate and reliable clockneeded to determine the longitude of a ship.

1907 (F) Aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont commissions the creation of the first wristwatch

Alberto Santos-Dumont, one of the early experimenters in heavier-than-air flying machines,commissioned the famous jeweler Louis Cartier to manufacture a small timepiece with awristband to his specifications. The wristwatch allowed him to keep his hands free for piloting.

1945 (F) Vannevar Bush proposes the idea of a "memex" in his article "As We May Think" [MIT]

While Bush thought the memex would be desk-sized rather than wearable, it is an early mentionof the augmented memory. "Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and to coin one at random, ``memex'' willdo. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, andcommunications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speedand flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory."

1960 (F) Heilig patents a head-mounted stereophonic television display.

In 1960 Heilig patented a stereophonic television Head-Mounted Display (HMD). This wasfollowed by his patent in 1962 for the "Sensorama Simulator" (US Patent #3,050,870), a virtualreality simulator with handlebars, binocular display, vibrating seat, stereophonic speakers, coldair blower, and a device close to the nose that would generate odors that fit the action in thefilm. See "Virtual Reality" by Howard Rheingold, 1991, pp. 49-67.

1960 (F) Manfred Clynes coins the word "Cyborg"

Manfred Clynes and co-author Nathan Kline first coined the phrase "Cyborg" in a story called"Cyborgs and Space" published in Astronautics (September 1960). The term was used todescribe a human being augmented with technological "attachments". The story has since beenreprinted in "The Cyborg Handbook" edited by Chris Hables Gray.

1966 (C) Ed Thorp and Claude Shannon reveal their invention of the first wearable computer, used topredict roulette wheels [MIT]

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The system was a cigarette-pack sized analog computer with 4 push buttons. A data-taker woulduse the buttons to indicate the speed of the roulette wheel, and the computer would then sendtones via radio to a bettor's hearing aid. Though the system was invented in 1961, it was firstmentioned in E. Thorp, Beat the Dealer , revised ed. in 1966. The details of the system were laterpublished in Review of the International Statistical Institute , V. 37:3, 1969. Thorp also disclosed a

similar system for beating the Wheel of Fortune gambling game in LIFE Magazine, March 27,1964, pp. 80-91.

1966 (F) Sutherland creates first computer-based head-mounted display [MIT]

Sutherland created a tethered HMD using two CRTs mounted beside each of a wearer's ears,with half-silvered mirrors reflecting the images to the user's eyes. Another system determinedwhere the user was looking and projected a monoscopic wireframe image such that it lookedlike a cube was floating in mid-air. The bulk of the system was attached to the ceiling above thewearer's head, earning the system the nickname "Sword of Damocles." Seehttp://www.sun.com/960710/feature3/alice.html

1967 (F) Bell Helicopter experiments with HMDs with input from servo-controlled cameras [BellHelicopter]

Bell Helicopter Company performed several early camera-based augmented-reality systems. Inone, the head-mounted display was coupled with an infrared camera that would give militaryhelicopter pilots the ability to land at night in rough terrain. An infrared camera, which moved asthe pilot's head moved, was mounted on the bottom of a helicopter. The pilot's field of viewwas that of the camera. See http://www.sun.com/960710/feature3/alice.html for more details.

1967 (C) Hubert Upton invents analogue wearable computer with eyeglass-mounted display to aidlipreading [Bell Helicopter]

Hubert Upton designed an analogue wearable computer as an aid for lip-reading. Using high andlow-pass filters, the system would determine if a spoken phoneme was a fricative, stop, voiced-fricative, voiced stop, or simply voiced. An LED mounted on ordinary eyeglasses illuminated toindicate the phoneme type. The LEDs were positioned to enable a simple form of augmentedreality; for example, when a phoneme was voiced the LED at the bottom of the glassilluminated, making it seem as if the speaker's throat was glowing. The work was presented atthe Conference on Speech-Analyzing Aids for the Deaf, June 14-17, 1967, and was subsequentlypublished in Upton, H, "Wearable Eyeglass Speechreading Aid," American Annals of the Deaf,V113, 2 March 1968, pp. 222-229.

1968 (F) Douglas Engelbart demonstrates one-handed chording keyboard in NLS (oN Line System) [SRI]

At the Fall Joint Computer Conference, Dec 8, 1968, Engelbart demonstrated the NLS system,one of the first personal computer that paved the way for both the interactive personalcomputer and groupware. The system included one-handed keyboard, word processing, outline

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While still in high-school Steve Mann wired a 6502 computer (as used in the Apple-II) into asteel-frame backpack to control flash-bulbs, cameras, and other photographic systems. Thedisplay was a camera viewfinder CRT attached to a helmet, giving 40 column text. Input wasfrom seven microswitches built into the handle of a flash-lamp, and the entire system (includingflash-lamps) was powered by lead-acid batteries.

1983 (C) Taft commercializes toe-operated computers based on Z-80's for counting cards

At least by 1983, Keith Taft was selling Z-80 based shoe-computers with special software forcard-counting in blackjack. See The Eudaemonic Pie , Thomas A. Bass, Houghton MifflinCompany, 1985.

1984 (F) William Gibson writes Neuromancer

This book founded the genre of Cyberpunk, the dystopian future in which humans areaugmented with computer implants.

1986 (C) Steve Roberts builds Winnebiko II, a recumbent bicycle with on-board computer andchording keyboard

Winnebiko II was the first of Steve Roberts' forays into nomadic computing that allowed him totype while riding. It included a packet data communication system for email via ham radio, anoffline HP laptop, chording keyboard for typing while riding, and 20 watts of solar panels. Thebike was later replaced by BEHEMOTH (Big Electronic Human-Energized Machine... Only TooHeavy), a more sophisticated system that included a heads up display. Seehttp://www.microship.com/

1987 (F) The movie Terminator is released

Of special note are the scenes from the point-of-view of the Terminator cyborg, with text andgraphical information overlayed on top of the real world.

1989 (F) Private Eye head-mounted display sold by Reflection Technology [Reflection Tech]

The display (designated the "P4") is a 720 x 280 pixel monochrome (red) monitor in a 3.5" X 1.5"X 1.25" package. Screen size is 1.25" on the diagonal, but the image appears to be a 15" displayat 18" away.

1990 (C) Gerald Maguire and John Ioannidis demonstrate the Student Electronic Notebook, withPrivate Eye and mobile IP [Columbia]

The IBM/Columbia Student Electronic Notebook Project used Toshiba diskless AIX notebookcomputers (prototypes) using direct sequence spread spectrum radio links to provide, theproviding all the usual TCP/IP based services, NFS mounted file systems, X windows and a stylusbased input systems + virtual keyboard, and running the Andrew environment. The work wasfirst shown at the DARPA Workshop on Personal Computer Systems, Washington, D.C., 18

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January 1990, and first published in J. Peter Bade, G.Q. Maguire Jr., and David F. Bantz, TheIBM/Columbia Student Electronic Notebook Project , IBM, T. J. Watson Research Lab., YorktownHeights, NY, 29 June 1990

1990 (F) Olivetti develops an active badge system, using infrared signals to communicate a person's

location [Olivetti]

Olivetti developed a name badge that transmitted a unique id to IR receivers placed in roomsaround a building. This allowed these "smart rooms" to track a person's location and log it in acentral database. The badges measured 55x55x7mm, weighed 40g, and could be madeextremely cheaply.

1991 (C) Doug Platt debuts his 286-based "Hip-PC" [Select Tech]

Doug Platt's system was a shoebox-sized computer based on the Ampro "Little Board" XTmodule. The screen was a Reflection Technology Private Eye display and the keyboard was an

Agenda palmtop used as a chording keyboard attached to the belt. It included a 1.44 megabytefloppy drive. Later versions incorporated additional equipment from Park Engineering. Thesystem debuted at "The Lap and Palmtop Expo" on April 16th, 1991.

1991 (C) CMU team develops VuMan 1 for viewing and browsing blueprint data [CMU]

Students in a Summer-term course at Carnegie Mellon's Engineering Design Research Centerdeveloped the VuMan 1, a wearable computer for viewing house blueprints. Input was througha three-button unit worn on the belt, and output was through Reflection Tech's Private Eye. TheCPU was an 8 MHz 80188 processor with 0.5 MB ROM.

1991 (F) Mark Weiser proposes idea of Ubiquitous Computing in Scientific American [Xerox PARC]

Ubiquitous Computing proposes a world in which most everyday objects have computationaldevices embedded in them. Weiser's Landmark article, The Computer for the 21st Century appeared the September 1991 issue of Scientific American, pp 66-75.

1993 (C) Thad Starner starts constantly wearing his computer, based on Doug Platt's design [MIT]

Starner had attempted previous wearables based on both a TRS-80 model 100 and a SPARCWorkstation, but never got them working reliably. When he heard Doug Platt give a talk at theMIT Media Lab he shifted over to Platt's system based on a 286 chip. In June '93, Platt and

Starner custom made Starner's first working system with parts from a kit made by ParkEnterprises, a Private Eye display, and the Twiddler chording keyboard made by Handykey.Many iterations later this system became the MIT "Tin Lizzy" wearable computer design.

1993 (C) BBN finishes the Pathfinder system, a wearable computer with GPS and radiation detectionsystem [BBN]

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BBN's Pathfinder system was completed in Fall 1993, and included a wearable computer, GlobalPositioning System (GPS), and radiation detection system.

1993 (F) Thad Starner writes first version of the Remembrance Agent augmented memory software[MIT]

The Remembrance Agent (RA) was an automated associative memory that would recommendrelevant files from a database, based on whatever notes were currently being written on awearable computer. The systems was integrated into Emacs, and later was rewritten as part of continuing research by Bradley Rhodes.

1993 (F) Feiner, MacIntyre, and Seligmann develop the KARMA augmented reality system [Columbia]

Steve Feiner, Blair MacIntyre, and Dorée Seligmann at Columbia University developed KARMA:Knowledge-based Augmented Reality for Maintenance Assistance. Users would wear a PrivateEye display over one eye, giving an overlay effect when the real world was viewed with both

eyes open. KARMA would overlay wireframe schematics and maintenance instructions on top of whatever was being repaired. For example, graphical wireframes on top of a laser printer wouldexplain how to change the paper tray. The system used sensors attached to objects in thephysical world to determine their locations, and the entire system ran tethered from a desktopcomputer.

1994 (C) Mik Lamming and Mike Flynn develop "Forget-Me-Not," a continuous personal recordingsystem [Xerox EuroPARC]

The Forget-Me-Not was a wearable device that would record interactions with people anddevices and store this information in a database for later query. It interacted via wirelesstransmitters in rooms and with equipment in the area to remember who was there, who wasbeing talked to on the telephone, and what objects were in the room, allowing queries like"Who came by my office while I was on the phone to Mark?"

1994 (C) Edgar Matias debuts a "wrist computer" with half-QWERTY keyboard [UofT]

Built by Edgar Matias and Mike Ruicci of the University of Toronto, this "wrist computer"presented an alternative approach to the emerging HUD + chord keyboard wearable. Thesystem was built from a modified HP 95LX palmtop computer and a Half-QWERTY one-handedkeyboard. With the keyboard and display modules strapped to the operator's forearms, text

could be entered by bringing the the wrists together and typing. The system debuted at the CHI-94 conference in Boston, and is now being productized under the the name "half keyboard" . The same technology was used by IBM researchers to create a "belt computer" .

1994 (F) DARPA starts Smart Modules Program

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DARPA starts Smart Modules Program to develop a modular, humionic approach to wearableand carryable computers. Develops a variety of products including computers, radios, navigationsystems, human-computer interfaces, etc. that have both military and commercial use.

1994 (F) Steve Mann starts transmitting images from a head-mounted camera to the Web [MIT]

In December 1994, Steve Mann developed the "Wearable Wireless Webcam." Webcamtransmitted images point-to-point from a head-mounted analog camera to an SGI base stationvia amateur TV frequencies. The images were processed by the base station and displayed on awebpage in near real-time. (The system was later extended to transmit processed video backfrom the base station to a heads-up display and was used in augmented reality experimentsperformed with Thad Starner.)

1996 (F) DARPA sponsors "Wearables in 2005" workshop

This July, 1996 workshop brought together industrial, university and military visionaries to work

on the common theme of delivering computing to the individual.

1996 (F) Boeing hosts wearables conference in Seatle

Boeing hosted a small conference on wearable computing August 19-21, 1996. In attendancewere researchers and administrators from industry, academia, and independent laboratories.Several vendors of displays, speech recognition systems, and full wearable computers were alsopresent. There were 204 people registered for the event.

1997 (F) Creapôle Ecole de Création and Alex Pentland produce Smart Clothes Fashion Show

The fashion show was a design collaboration between the students and faculty of CreapôleEcole de Création (Paris) and Prof. Alex Pentland (M.I.T., Boston), with the goal of envisioningthe impending marriage of fashion and wearable computers. Beginning in April 1996, designswere iterated and clothes produced, with the final runway fashion show was held at thePompidou Center in Paris in February 1997.

1997 (F) CMU, MIT, and Georgia Tech co-host the first IEEE International Symposium on WearablesComputers

CMU, MIT, and Georgia Tech co-hosted the IEEE International Symposium on WearablesComputers in Cambridge, MA October 13-14, 1997. The symposium was a full academic

conference with published proceedings and papers ranging from sensors and new hardware tonew applications for wearable computers. There were 382 people registered for this event. See

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The wearable computer market can also pin its rapid growth on declining prices for core

computing components and substantial improvements in voice technology and head-worn

display devices.

Currently, there are two main types of wearable computers —

(1) computers you can wear on your head or on your belt and

(2) computers you can place on your wrist or finger. The head-worn or belt-worn device

usually features a head-mounted display, headset microphone and/or tablet display.

Meanwhile, the finger- or wrist-worn product typically has a bar code scanner and a voice or

touch-screen interface.

E-fabrics also represent a huge potential market for wearables, but many obstacles have to

be overcome. The conductive fibers in these textiles must not only bend and bunch, likethat of any cloth, but also withstand the turbulence of a washing machine, the jabbing of a

sewing machine needle and the snapping of threads

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Behavioral modeling

In behavioral science, system theory and dynamic systems modeling, a behavioral model reproduces the required behavior of the original analyzed system , such as there is a one-to-onecorrespondence between the behavior of the original system and the simulated system. Thatnamely implies that the model uniquely predicts future system states from past systems states.The behavioral approach is motivated by the aim of obtaining a framework for system analysisthat respects the underlying physics and sets up the appropriate mathematical concepts fromthere.

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Monitoring (medicine)

A medical monitor as used in anesthesia .

In medicine, monitoring is the evaluation of a disease or condition over time.

It can be performed by continuously measuring certain parameters (for example, by continuouslymeasuring vital signs by a bedside monitor ), and/or by repeatedly performing medical tests (suchas blood glucose monitoring in people with diabetes mellitus ).

Transmitting data from a monitor to a distant monitoring station is known as telemetry orbiotelemetry

Service management

Service management is integrated into supply chain management as the joint between the actualsales and the customer. The aim of high performance service management is to optimize theservice-intensive supply chains, which are usually more complex than the typical finished-goodssupply chain. Most service-intensive supply chains require larger inventories and tighterintegration with field service and third parties. They also must accommodate inconsistent anduncertain demand by establishing more advanced information and product flows. Moreover, allprocesses must be coordinated across numerous service locations with large numbers of partsand multiple levels in the supply chain

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Smartphone

Modern smartphones.

A smartphone is a mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advancedcomputing ability and connectivity than a feature phone .[1][2 ][3] The first smartphones weredevices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a mobilephone or camera phone . Today's models also serve to combine the functions of portable mediaplayers , low-end compact digital cameras , pocket video cameras , and GPS navigation units.Modern smartphones typically also include high-resolution touchscreens , web browsers that canaccess and properly display standard web pages rather than just mobile-optimized sites, andhigh-speed data access via Wi-Fi and mobile broadband .

The most common mobile operating systems (OS) used by modern smartphones include Apple's iOS , Google 's Android , Microsoft 's Windows Phone , Nokia 's Symbian , RIM's BlackBerry OS ,

and embedded Linux distributions such as Maemo and MeeGo . Such operating systems can beinstalled on many different phone models, and typically each device can receive multiple OSsoftware updates over its lifetime.

The distinction between smartphones and feature phones can be vague and there is no officialdefinition for what constitutes the difference between them. One of the most significantdifferences is that the advanced application programming interfaces (APIs) on smartphones forrunning third-party application s[4] can allow those applications to have better integration with thephone's OS and hardware than is typical with feature phones

E-textiles

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LEDs as part of a piece of women's fashion

E-textiles , also known as electronic textiles or smart textiles , are fabrics that enable computing , digital components, and electronics to be embedded in them. Part of the development of wearable technology , they are known as intelligent clothing or smart clothing because they allowfor the incorporation of built-in technological elements in everyday textiles and clothes.Electronic textiles do not strictly encompass wearable computing because emphasis is placed onthe seamless integration between the fabric and the electronic elements, such as cables,microcontrollers, sensors and actuators

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wearable computers : Overview

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We need computers anytime, anywhere and we need to carry our computing device with us.Laptops, Palmtops, Smart-Phones, other Wireless Gadgets and devices has entered in our life tofulfill those needs. But we want more flexibility - so the wearable computers has become the need ofthis time.

The opportunities offered by wearable computing have triggered the imaginations of designers andresearchers in a wide variety of fields. The inevitability of computers and interfaces which are smallenough to be worn on the human body has inspired the creation of devices and applications whichcan assist with specialized professional and personal activities, as well as aiding and augmentingeveryday life in the modern world.

In reality limitations imposed by factors such as battery life, processor power, display brightness,network coverage and form factor have conspired to delay the widespread introduction of wearablecomputers. Nevertheless over the past ten years there have been many successful implementations

and, as the relentless miniaturization of computing devices continues, an increasing number ofviable applications are emerging.

Wearable Wrist Watch Computer

History of Wearable Computers

The concept of wearable computing emerged in the mid 1990’s at a time when carrying an ‘always -on’ computer combined with a head -mounted display and control interface first became a practicalpossibility.

In July 1996 a workshop ‘ Wearable Computers within 2005 ’ was sponsored by the U.S. Defense

Advanced Research Projects Agency. They defined wearable computing as "data gathering and

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disseminating devices which enable the user to operate more efficiently. These devices are carriedor worn by the user during normal execution.

In 2001 IBM developed and publicly displayed two prototypes for a wristwatch computer runningLinux. Sporting a surprisingly crisp VGA screen, the WatchPad is capable of handling text, photosand animation. An animated watch face, for example, is circled by clear bars that fill up when there isan appointment. A touch of the finger brings up the appointment details. The last message aboutthem dates to 2004, saying the device would cost about $250 but it is still under development.

Here we will discuss some Wearable Computer inventions.

ViA Wearable Computers

ViA Wearable Computers

ViA was founded in 1987 in the heart of Silicon Valley, VIA achieved a leadership position in the PCcore logic chipset market through its ability to consistently deliver leading-edge technology atreasonable prices to top tier PE OEMs and motherboard manufacturers.

In 1997 the ViA Wearable, a full function, flexible computer that can be worn around the waist in abelt, was unveiled during the COMDEX (Computer Dealers Exposition) trade show in Las Vegas.ViA joins the ranks of Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, and Sony , who introduced notebooks using theCrusoe microprocessor. ViA is unique with this implementation of the Crusoe in a powerful, full-function, wearable computer designed for mobile users requiring hands and eyes-free computing.

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IBM Wearable Computer

IBM Wearable Computer

International Business Machines, abbreviated IBM, is a multinational computer, technology and ITconsulting corporation. IBM is one of the few information technology companies with a continuoushistory dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware andsoftware, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areasranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. It has been nicknamed "Big Blue" for itsofficial corporate color. IBM has been well known through most of its recent history as the world'slargest computer company.

Built in 1998, the IBM Wearable Computer , was derived from a ThinkPad 560X .It included a233Mhz Intel processor, 64M of RAM and a 340MB IBM MicroDrive.It ran Windows 98 and a set ofPC applications and IBM ViaVoice 1998 speech software. Its Lithium-ion battery lasted about 1.5-2hours.The head mounted display had a resolution of 320x240 pixels with 256 gray levels. It includedan ear phone. The device was controlled a TrackPoint and a microphone while on the go.

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Xybernauts poma

Xybernaut Poma wearable computer

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Xybernaut Corporation is a provider of wearable / mobile computing hardware, software andservices, bringing communications and full-function computing power in a hands-free design. Itsproducts included the Atigo tablet PC, Poma wearable computer, and the MA-V wearablecomputer .

Xybernaut's Poma incorporates many features that make it an ideal computing option for mobileindividuals. The poma incorporates a Compact Flash(TM) slot, USB port, 32 MB of RAM, 32 MB ofROM, a custom optical mouse and a removable internal rechargeable battery.

The Poma also provides users with support for instant on/off Internet and a head mounted displaythat provides a private viewing experience equivalent in quality to a desktop monitor.

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Olympus Human interface device

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Olympus Human Interface Device

Olympus was established on October 12, 1919. It initially specialized in microscope andthermometer businesses. Since then they have grown to prove themselves as global leader inOptical lenses, Cameras and Optical device.

Olympus Optical launched its new Human Interface Device for wearable personal computer at itstechnology exhibition in Tokyo in 1999. Replacing input by a keyboard and mouse, its new wearableuser interface technology opens the way to computing anywhere and anytime, Olympus said.

The system simplifies gestures and other hand movements, and then converts them to data. Inputrequires only a hand movement with sensors attached to the fingertips and back of the hand.

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Wearable Computers in Military

Wearable Computers in Military

Demand for wearable computers in the military appears to be growing with the time. Militarywearable computers demand is going through a sort of renaissance .

Military people want to take advantage of the wireless technology that is so prevalent in theconsumer world. Besides they want digital help during war for better performance and low casualty.

The U.S. Army’s Future Force Warrior Program (FFW) will help garb soldiers of the future inscience-fiction-like uniforms that will function as computers. Currently the work is still in the researchand development phase.

However wearable computers are a part of military life today and are ruggedized for harshenvironments, unlike many of the wearable devices most familiar to consumers such as personaldata assistants (PDAs), and cell phones.

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Wearable Computers need some Care

3 most expected Future Improvements of Wearable Computer

Digital Video Technology

A large push is under way to improve video capability on wearable displays to better take advantageof sensor fusion and provide situational awareness. Manufacturers are playing hard to provide HighQuality Digital Video for Life Like Feeling.

Form Factors and Software Improvement

3D engineers are designing the form factor of their Thermite tactical visual computer (TVC) to fitspecial size requirements; no standard form factors exist for wearable computers becauserequirements dictate small sizes and differ from application to application. Companies are buildingwearable computers modularly for efficient technology insertion.

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