Pioneers have experimented with wearing computers for half a century. Yet aside from specialized applications like fitness trackers and certain industrial uses, our bodies remain largely free of the smart tech that fills our pockets and purses.
Why? Besides larger questions around how wearable computing might fit into our everyday lives, the technology wasn't ready. Early devices were too bulky, hot, isolated, or hard to use to be consumer products. But that may be changing.
Thad Starner, Greg Priest-Dorman and Daniel Siewiorek are major pioneers of wearable computing. But while Dan was developing multiple generations of wearables for industrial and military use, Thad and Greg were focused on a more elusive goal – consumer wearables that could be part worn in daily life. They were both hired as early members of the Google Glass team. They also practice what they preach; both men have been wearing computers daily since the early 1990s.
The traveling exhibit we are hosting this summer, On You: A Story of Wearable Computing, shows consumer, professional, and home-made devices. Curated at Georgia Tech by Starner and design researcher Clint Zeagler, the exhibit explores the four key technical hurdles to making a consumer wearable computer: power and heat, networking, mobile input, and displays. Have they been solved?
Come find out on August 3, and learn more the technology that yearns to be on you!
On You: A Story of Wearable Computing is on display at the Computer History Museum from June 30th to September 20.
Bring a bag lunch and enjoy the discussion with CHM family and friends. Beverages and light snacks will be provided on behalf of the Museum.
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Boulevard
Mountain View,
CA,
94043
