Wearable Computing
-An Innovative Application of Neural
Networks
Abstract:
Current portable computers and PDA s
fail to truly become part of our daily
lives in the sense that we need to stop
what we are doing and expend conscious
effort to use them. They also do not have
the situational awareness that they
should have while they are not being
explicitly used, they are unable to
remain attentive to possible ways to help
the user. In response to these problems, a
personal, wearable and multimedia
computer that perceives and responds to
the wearer's affective state offers a new
kind of perceptual interface. Instead of
asking the user to continuously select
preferences from a menu, the affective
wearable gets to know its wearer's
preferences by recognizing and
responding to signals that carry
emotional information.This paper
exploits ‘wearable computers’ unique
opportunity to record and index the
visual environment of the user from the
“first-person” perspective. It describes
How the capabilities of wearable
computers may be used to
Provide task guidance in mobile
computers. Here first we introduce the
wearable computing idea and discuss
requirements for a wearable computer
systems. We then discuss its various real
time applications and finally conclude
with an outlook on future Research
directions.
Introduction
The vision behind the concept of a
wearable computer is that a mobile
computer should not just be a machine
that we put into our pocket when we
plan on doing some office work while on
the road. Instead it will be an integral
part of our every day outfit (hence
wearable), always operational and
equipped to assist us in dealing with a
wide range of situations. Wearable
computing facilitates a new form of
human computer interaction comprising
a small body-worn computer (e.g. user--
programmable device) that is always on
and always ready and accessible. The
``always ready'' capability leads to a new
form of synergy between human and
computer characterized by long-term
adaptation through constancy of user--
interface.
The Early Days:
Steve Mann
• 1970s, pre-laptop, early computer era.
• Building computers he could wear.
• Inventor of Wearable computing.Steve
Mann – Biography
1991: Started the wearable computing
project at MIT
1995: World’s first covert wearable
computer camera and display concealed
in ordinary eye glasses.
1997: PhD from MIT in the field he
himself had invented.
TODAY: Works at university of
Toronto.
What is a
wearable
computer?
A wearable
computer is
a computer
that is Subsumed into the personal space
of the user, controlled by the user, and
has both operational and interactional
constancy, i.e. is always on and always
accessible. It is a device that is always
with the user,
and into which the user can always enter
commands and execute a set of such
entered commands, and in which the
user can do so while walking around or
doing other activities.
A wearable computer is a computing
device small and light Enough to be
worn on one's body without causing
discomfort. Unlike a laptop or a
palmtop, wearable computer is
constantly Turned on and interacts with
the real-world task. This peer-reviewed
paper has been published by the
Pentagram Research Centre (P) Limited.
Responsibility of contents of this paper
rests upon the authors and not upon
Pentagram Research Centre (P) Limited.
Copies can be obtained from the
company for a costWearable Computing
Past Present And Future.
Why use Wearables ?
• They are Wearable!
• Always with you , not as easily for
getten.
• Instant access , information anywhere
• Laptop requires time to prepare for use
Who uses Wearables today?
• Technicians
BluePrints etc
• Military personnel
Soldiers, monitoring health ,equipment driven or sensed from gestures or body
etc motion. The display and audio output
Maps and terrain generated by the computer will be
Infrastructure in relevant to the context and environment.
urban areas The data storage is local and does not
• Researchers depend on any network connection.
Who will use wearables in the future? Head-mounted Display (HMD)
• Medical workers The output device of a wearable
• Fire fighters computer could be either a head-
• Police department mounted display (HMD) unit with an
• Warehouse clerks earpiece or only the earpiece for some
• Regular people applications Small screen, typically
How does a W earable Computer covering one of your eyes.
look? • Works like an ordinary monitor,
A typical wearable computer consists of providing an imagefloating in the air in
a battery or human powered computing front of you
unit and carried on a belt or in a jacket. • LCD or TFT technology.
A wearable computer will have a
motherboard worn inside a fashion
garment, connecting

• Used to be a real CRT in the old days.

• Transparent displays
All the components of the system. The
• Allows augmented reality, where
components will be placed at different
virtual information overlaps the real
parts of the body as per the user
world.
convenience; power pack and storage in
• Opaque displays
shoes, display on the glasses and
• Less sensitive to the background noise.
keyboard input on the wrist. User input
Input device
to the computer is either mostly voice
Speech recognition may appear as the
most suited input device, but may not be
preferred in all kinds of applications &
environments, due to privacy and
performance issues. Gesture Input
devices are simple, compact, and
optimized for wearable use. These
devices receive inputs from the natural
gestures.
It is an arm mounted micro keyboard
Handwriting& Keyboard could be one of
the most efficient input devices,
provided the input device is not too
small or awkward. These devices are just
worn on the hands or wrists and senses
he typing input or handwriting. This
does not have any cables and
communicates on infrared.
Output device
• Sight Visual Display
• HMD, wrist watch...
• Hearing – Audio/sound/speech/music.
The Computer itself
• Anything small but powerful enough!
• Laptop or TabletPC
• PC104 (a small PC)
• Xybernaut
• PDA, iPAQ, Toshiba
Networks
There are two different kinds of
networks in reference to a wearable
computer. One is to connect the device
to the external world and the other is to
interconnect the various components, the
later one being new for wearable
computers.The first issue of connecting
to the WC to the external world has
several choices; WAP, or Cellular
Digital packet data. This aspect of
networking is not specific for a wearable
computer, and can evolve over time,
from other electronic gadgets. The
second issue of interconnecting the
various parts of the WC, may involve
both wired and wireless connections.
CPU, storage unit and similar
peripherals will be connected with or
without cables to the wearable
motherboard, which is a garment with
(physically) flexible bus and standard
expansion slots. Peripherals like HMD
and wrist/finger worn devices may use
standard wireless connections like
Bluetooth.
Applications and Use in Real Life
 • Mediated
Reality
• Experiencing
the world
through the
computer.
• Allows computer to process the
sensory cues before reaching the user.
• Augmented Reality
• Overlaying virtual information on the
real world.
E.g. allow architects to build virtual
houses.
Applications – Augmented Memory
Let us take the trivial example, finding
your way. ”Where did I park my car?”
The camera on our body records the way
and replay helps us to find our way back.
Here the only key events need to be
recorded. Example: Intersections at a car
park.
Another Application of Augmented
Memory :
It is used for elder people or people with
poor
memory. Here the wearable computer
which we use
remembers name and face of people.
Image processing can
recognize a face and map it to the
person’s name and
affiliation.
Applications – Aiding the Visually
Disabled
Wearable computers and augmented
reality techniques can assist users by
adapting their physical senses as well as
augmenting them. Approximately 2
million Americans are affected by low
vision, a set of conditions which can not
be corrected with normal eyeglasses and
severely affects the individual's sight.
However, some of their needs may be
addressed by remapping the visual input.
To do this remapping, a camera is
mounted on an opaque head-mounted
display. The image is wirelessly
transmitted to a remote Computer ,
processed, and sent back to the head-
mounted display. The process of
completely controlling the user's visual
field has been termed ``mediated
reality'', to distinguish it from the ``see-
through'' effect generally associated with
augmented reality. The incoming video
may be remapped arbitrarily in real time.
Here individual letters to be magnified
so as to be recognizable while still
providing the context cues of the
 functions, such as patients with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or
spinal cord injury. The computer chip,
which is implanted into the brain,
monitors brain activity in the patient and
converts the intention of the user into
computer commands.Currently the chip
uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that 'hear'
surrounding imagery. Since only
neurons firing in specific areas of the
cameras, a HMD, and a
brain, for example, the area that controls
transmitter/receiver pair are needed, the
arm movement.The activity is translated
apparatus can be made lightweight from
into electrically charged signals and are
off-the-shelf components. Furthermore,
then sent and decoded using a program,
this approach may improve battery life
which can move either a robotic arm or a
by using just enough power to transmit
computer cursor.
the video to the nearest repeater instead
of trying to process the video locally. In
Application-Medicine:
order to help those with low vision, the
Wearable computers in medicine are
visual field is remapped through a
computer devices that can be attached to
``hyper-fisheye.'' while the letters in the
a healthcare provider or a patient at the
center of the screen are enlarged, enough
point-of-care. Wearable computers are
of the rest of the field is included to
currently used for the following medical
provide context. Visual remapping
purposes:
around a scotoma or ``blind-spot.''
• Data processing
Brain Gate Interface
• Patient monitoring
BrainGate is a brain implant system
• Digital imaging
developed by the bio-tech company
• Remote guidance
Cyberkinetics in 2003 in conjunction
Data processing:
with the Department of Neuroscience at
Wearable computers allow users to work
Brown University. The device was
with word processing and spreadsheet
designed to help those who have lost
programs on the go. Better voice
control of their limbs, or other bodily
recognition will allow dictation into
small wearable devices while performing
medical procedures. The technology will
integrate data real-time with other
applications on the network such as
billing or patient record keeping. A
variety of text or
imaging data can be transferred to the
physician's retina without risking
contaminating a sterile field.
Patient monitoring:
Vital data from the monitor can be
transferred directly to the
anesthesiologist's retina. The physician
can now concentrate on the medical
procedure rather than paying attention to
a monitor located away from the patient.
The investigators found that the
anesthesiologists increased their time
focusing on their patients by 48%,
decreased the time to perform their tasks
by 29%, decreased the amount of times
switching their attention to the monitor
by 89%, and decrease overall change in
attention by 54%.
Digital imaging:
Retina display projectors can be used to
access digital images while performing
medical procedures. The devices have
already been used successfully during
angiography allowing the physician to
overlay fluoroscopic images with the
operating field.
Remote guidance:
Wearable data transfer devices combined
with retina display projectors are being
used by paramedics in emergency
medicine for remote guidance and point-
of-care access of medical information.
Conclusion:
Wearable computing provides an
exciting way to explore augmented
realities and begins to fulfill the promise
of a truly personal digital assistant.
While wearable computing augmented
realities imply the potential for
significant additional informational
sources for the user, the implementations
described also provide better ways of
managing such information. The result is
a rich combination of physical and
virtual realities that can intelligently
assist the user instead of overwhelming.
References:
• Thad, Starner et al. Wearable
computing and Augmented Reality. MIT
Media Lab, Technical Report No.355.
• M. Billinghorst: Wearable Computers:
Beyond Handheld Computing, Tutorial
given at First International Symposium
on Handheld and Ubiquitous Computing
(HUC'99) Karlsruhe Semptember 1999 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/braingate
www.teco.edu/huc/ • http://www.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/