INB 201Wearables

1. Why did Google Glass fail? Should we conclude these weaknesses will limit all wearables? Do wearable computers need to meet a different test to be commercially successful?

2. What advances in AI and in 3-D printing might enhance wearables? How can 3D technology help to bring a wearable to market?

3. What kinds of capabilities in a Google Glass like product could lead to commercial success?

4. Does the Apple Watch meet the test of commercial success?5. Does the Intel Curie Module solve some of these problems?

Unleashing Wearable Device Innovation

The Intel® Curie™1 module is the first platform of its kind from Intel—a complete low-power solution designed for companies interested in developing wearable technology solutions. The Intel® Curie™ module packs a robust set of features into its tiny size that are ideal for "always-on" applications such as social media, sports, and fitness activities. This can enable efficient and intelligent wearable solutions for a broad range of form factors—including rings, bags, bracelets, pendants, fitness trackers, even buttons.

At its core is Intel’s first purpose built wearable SoC, the Intel® Quark™ SE SoC, that can run for extended periods from a coin-sized battery and features motion sensor, Bluetooth* radio, and battery charging capabilities.To speed the development of wearable products based on the Intel® Curie™ module, Intel is providing a complete software solution that includes a small and efficient real-time operating system (RTOS) together with reference wearable applications called Intel® IQ Software kits. The Intel® IQ Software kits include the embedded software that runs on this module together with companion smartphone applications and associated cloud capabilities.

These versatile features help meet the needs of a wide range of customers.Key Features•       A low-power, 32-bit Intel® Quark™ SE SoC•       384kB Flash memory, 80kB SRAM•       A low-power integrated DSP sensor hub and pattern-matching technology•       Bluetooth* Low Energy•       6-axis combo sensor with accelerometer and gyroscope•       Battery charging circuitry (PMIC)

6. What does this mean?

“Sure, we’ll see a lot of mediocrity from the Shenzhen [China] ecosystem and me-too knock offs with basic functions at low prices,” he said.

7. Potential market for wearables:

Shipments of smart wearables are expected to grow from 9.7 million in 2013 to 135 million in 2018, according to CCS Insight’s new global forecast. The forecast predicts that wrist-worn devices will account for 87 percent of wearables to be shipped in 2018 — comprising 68 million smartwatches and 50 million smart bands.

8. Evaluate these statements:

Wood is watching for wearables that will contribute to a major medical breakthrough in 2015 or soon after. Biorhythmic data collected from personal health trackers could be crowdsourced and analyzed by datacenters or even supercomputers to find new treatments or even cures.

“Look at what’s going on around Parkinson’s, where wearables, cloud and data center technologies are being used together in search of better ways of managing the disease.”

Sure there will be heart-tracking smart bras and other clothes fitted with invisible intelligence that connect with smartphones and online accounts, but Wood is balancing his expectations after wearables captured maybe too much attention at last year’s CES show

8. Wearables are at a very early stage for a new technology. What are some of the characteristics of new technologies?

9. Is this a prototype for the kind of wearable that can be successful?

Designed by a team based in the United Kingdom, this stylish, discrete sports and activity necklace monitors information from the human body through vibrations and relays this information back to its user through touch.

The aim of vumbl is to enable its wearer to remain fully informed of biorythmic information without distraction. By resting comfortably around the neck, the device can be controlled through touch, leaving eyes and ears free to focus on what’s happening in the immediate environment.

10. Niche markets – workplace wearables?

Larry SmarrHome: San Diego Age: 66 Occupation: Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California at San Diego Tracking: Health information

Smarr tracks more than 150 parameters about his own body and learned before his doctors did that he has Crohn’s, an inflammatory bowel disease. “We are in a once-a-century period of discovery about the human organism,”

“This is about reimagining what a fabric is, and rebirthing textiles into a high-tech industry,” said Yoel Fink, a professor at M.I.T. who is director of the advanced fabrics project.

Now, Warwick Mills is joining the Defense Department, universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and nearly 50 other companies in an ambitious $320 million project to push the American textile industry into the digital age. Key to the plan is a technical ingredient: embedding a variety of tiny semiconductors and sensors into fabrics that can see, hear, communicate, store energy, warm or cool a person or monitor the wearer’s health.

This latest initiative, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, is intended to create a national network of research and development, design and manufacturing capabilities for the new fabrics. The products of this emerging field are being called “functional fabrics,” “connected fabrics,” “textile devices” and “smart garments.”

The Defense Department is investing to develop new combat uniforms that might communicate and change color, signaling friend or foe to help prevent deaths by friendly fire, or uniforms filled with optical sensors to make a soldier invisible to an enemy’s night-vision goggles. So far, the Pentagon, more than 30 universities, 49 companies and the state governments of Massachusetts and Georgia have agreed to participate, and more are expected to join.

The stakes are higher for VF Corporation, one of the world’s largest apparel makers, whose brands include Wrangler, Lee, Timberland, the North Face and Nautica. The company has a global work force of more than 60,000 workers, producing 1.5 million items of apparel a day.

Until about two years ago, VF did not really have a R&D operation, said Marty Lawrence, a general manager for innovation. Instead, it mainly tapped research efforts at universities and by its suppliers.

But eying trends in the industry and technology, VF has hired scientists and set up four innovation centers in the United States that focus on areas including new fabrics for bluejeans and cognitive science.

The functional fabrics project, Mr. Lawrence said, represents “the future of apparel.”