Wearables Head to Tail
Have you sent Santa your list of all the wearables you'll want under the tree this year? Maybe you've asked for a fitness tracker, a health monitor or that fancy new smart watch. But don't stop there! As we continue to integrate technology with our desire for self-improvement and lifestyle control, a slew of wearables - from arm bands to socks to bras to a dog tail-wagging monitor - will be clipped, adhered, buttoned, inserted, ingested or worn to gather our vitals, movement and lives as we toast 2015 goodbye. Naughty or nice, if you're still unsure which wearables you want watching you, Fjord (part of Accenture Interactive) has a nifty infographic showing the multitude of gadgets for various body parts. From the head to upper body to wrists to feet to anywhere, our body has become both the controller and interface according to Fjord. Their research indicates that about 70% of wearables are intended to monitor our body in some way, with the remaining 23 percent designed for communication. 59% of these health-oriented devices monitor your health and 48 percent track fitness. Around 7% can help a person sleep better. Fjord predicts that wearable technology will become a growing trend for health care providers and digital applications for health care organizations have become a growing area of focus for Fjord. On your head you can wear a smart cycling helmet which takes your pulse and reports it to a smartphone app or a brain activity measurement tool to help understand and improve focus. On your upper body you can have a sensor and app tell you when you are slumping to improve posture or a t-shirt designed to capture biometrics or even the Microsoft Smart Bra designed to measure perspiration and heart rate in order to detect emotional triggers. Of course for the wrist we got the smart watches and fitness trackers but there is also devices that can tell you about sun exposure, how much food you've eaten and calories burned during the feeding frenzy. For your feet and pretty much anywhere on or in your body, there are smart socks that track your running technique with sensors around the ankle, sensors in the sole of shoes to measure motion parameters, gadget sensors that fit in your pocket for movement measurements and even second skin type materials that stick anywhere on the body and provides personalized health data on a variety of measurements. And if that's not enough, there are ingestible sensors that can monitor how much medicine is absorbed by the body and the PillCam that gives you a colonoscopy by having a light and two color video cameras within the pill. Not to be left out, your pet is also pawing up their list and DogStar Life is working on building TailTalk, a tail-mounted sensor intended to track your dog's emotions based on tail movements. Built into this tail clip-on is an accelerometer and gyroscope so it knows the difference between happy tail-wagging when you walk in the door verses when the tail is tucked or standing at attention. The sensor then sends the information to an app that translates the movement data into emotions, telling you if your dog is stressed, happy or crazy thrilled. And soon, I'm sure, there will be one that measures your significant other's reaction to the lame gift you got them. Like the evil eye death stare data isn't enough. ps Related INFOGRAPHIC: All The Wearables You Could Be Wearing Right Now Tail-monitoring gadget tries to sense your dog's emotions Are Ingestible Tracking Devices The Wearables Of The Future? Oh, Is That The Internet You're Wearing? The Digital Dress Code I Think, Therefore I am Connected IoT Influence on Society Technorati Tags: iot,wearables,sensors,body,clothes,fitness,healthcare,silva Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:IoT Influence on Society
”Things” and the applications/services that support them are changing the way we live. Wearables in the sports and health sectors will grow to nearly 170 million devices by 2017 — an annual growth rate of 41 percent. Specific to the enterprise, if you thought the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) craze was a headache, just wait until button cameras, smart watches, fitness trackers, and connected glasses are a daily occurrence in the office. Workplace wearables will be a huge challenge in the coming years as more devices, clothing and pretty much any 'thing' with a chip or sensor become commonplace in society. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in The Wearable Future report found that 77% of respondents thought that a top benefit of wearable technology is the potential to make employees more productive and efficient. If the technology is simple to use and integrates with other devices, that should boost productivity and lift profits. Industries that could benefit immediately from the wearable market include: Entertainment will be more 'immersive and fun' Social Media gets real time updates from clothes Gaming can be more visually and physically engaging Advertisers will also want that space someone’s back Healthcare will track vitals Retail could offer “pleasant, efficient” shopping experiences Clothing is just one example of many. Organizations will also be able to manage assets and office building more efficiently. Imagine the connected home automation today, but geared toward commercial properties. Security, HVAC, assets, lighting, employee access and so forth is all handled by sensors and monitors. Smart cities are already being built with IoT on a metropolis scale. Energy, environment, street lights, sanitation, water supply, transportation and other civic related functions are all automatically controlled by meters. The automotive industry is also taking advantage of sensors with self-driving cars, in car Wi-Fi, seamless integration with mobile phones, car to car communications, software updates and even their own in-car apps for streaming entertainment, navigation and other connected activities. By all accounts, everything that is a noun – a person, place or thing – at some point, will have or wear a sensor/actuator/IP-chip that gathers some sort of data and all that traffic is headed for a data center somewhere. The digital society has emerged. ps Related The Digital Dress Code Is IoT Hype For Real? What are These "Things”? CloudExpo 2014: The DNS of Things Intelligent DNS Animated Whiteboard The Internet of Me, Myself & I Technorati Tags: iot,things,wearables,sensors,clothes,society,silva,f5 Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:Oh, Is That The Internet You're Wearing?
I can see it now... [Enter Dream Sequence] 'ALOHA! We're here at the Red Carpet Event at the 2021 Web Movie Awards! All the stars are here wearing the latest in fashion trends. Oh, here comes DigiTom wearing his underarm sweat blocker shirt that also calculates how much moisture he is losing and how many ounces of water he needs to replace that sweat. Cool stuff. Ah, and here comes Hank Hologram and what is amazing is how his shoes continue to change colors depending on his mood. Ooop...With all those screams, it must be super director Steve Streamer who has 500 little HHDD cameras sown into his clothes and he is making a live action movie of this event!' Can't wait to see who plays me!' Wearables are one of the hottest trends pushing the Internet of Things. Many of us are familiar with the sensor bracelet things that keeps track of steps, distance, calories burned and all the things a pedometer used to do. But now there are sensors stitched in to our actual clothing! Nike recently patented a shirt that provides 'enhanced body position feedback.' Basically you are wearing your coach as an outfit. It is a wearable instruction shirt that helps improve an athlete’s form or body positioning. A Korean artist has released a kinetic wearable, Metamorphosis, which features a woman’s dress and man’s blazer that detect when you’re drunk. When consuming alcohol, the shoulders on the dress expand and transition between different colors, while the collar on the blazer rise to hide the wearer’s face. The dress is designed to show how a female’s confidence increases when consuming alcohol but the blazer hides the male when it senses too much alcohol on his breath. I'm not incoxitated ossifer! A Brazilian designer has won an award for her lingerie that illuminates when touched. While not yet in production, there are micro sensors built into the bras and underwear and brings the red light district into your own home. And of you think these are one-offs, this October in Portland there will be FashioNXT’s first annual Wearable Technology Fashion Competition. They are looking at ways to bring wearables into mainstream adoption with the focus on ensuring the technology blends into the essence of the clothing. To top it all off, there is an interesting article about the 5 psychological challenges facing wearables. It is about behavior change technology and if these apps can actually change what a person does. The 5 challenges include: Apathy - if you're not motivated to change, it doesn't matter. Simplicity vs. Complexity - You can’t just shove complex psychology into an app and expect an incredible user experience. Personalization vs. Scale - Psychology is generally applied in a clinical setting, with the best results from 1:1 interactions & does not scale. Relapse - The process of anticipating/preventing relapse is integral to lasting behavior change. This important step is almost always overlooked in technologies Integration with Real Life - There exists a natural barrier between doing something on your phone and taking action in real life. With 82% of American wearable tech users believing that it has enhanced their lives, I'm sure this is just the beginning of the Wearable Internet. ps Related Nike Patents Golf Shirt Design That Could Double as Coach A Dress that Detects When You're Drunk Lingerie that lights up? Brazilian designer wins award 10 Hottest ‘Top-To-Toe’ Wearable Gadgets 5 psychological challenges facing wearables, quantified self and behavior change apps Wearable Technology – UK and US Facts & Figures Making bearable wearables Fashioning Health & Wellness: An Interview with Misfit Wearables Technorati Tags: iot,wearables,sensors,things,clothes,silva,f5 Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:
