Latest Advances In Wearable Technology
Wearable technologies are quickly gaining in popularity. What can we expect in the years to come?
As modern computing and gadgetry continue their inextricably intertwined advancement, one of the most rapidly-growing markets involves wearable technology. Supported by the Internet of Things, an entire industry has developed around technology that can be either directly attached to the skin or strapped onto clothing. The days when this involved a Sony Walkman and a pair of headphones have long since passed, and it’s now possible to be attired in the latest-generation of wearable technology without even realizing.
Health Care
One of the key areas of advancement concerns bioengineering and health care. Wearable technology has been designed to help with rehabilitation and physiotherapy, alongside devices that can identify and prevent potential diseases and sensors that can assist with stroke rehabilitation. Many of these products use wearable sensors capable of detecting muscular activity and movement, profiling the activities of each individual wearer and providing feedback either through device downloads or (more commonly) across the IoT.
So prevalent is this phenomenon, the term ‘physiolytics’ has been coined to describe it. In essence, physiolytics is the practice of analyzing the data generated by wearable technology to improve performance, such as sensors woven into shirts that can monitor the power of each and every stride. With the ability to generate reports and graphs on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis, our shoes, bracelets and even headphones can now analyze our behavior and activities to a level unattainable outside a laboratory until a few years ago.
On The Job
Wearables are no longer just for elite athletes, who can clearly benefit from knowing their 33rd golf swing had sixteen per cent less power than their first. Wearable technology is entering the workplace in unprecedented volumes, with Tesco distribution center workers wearing armbands that track the goods they’re collecting to save them filling in clipboards. It’s already entered the medical profession – patients who’ve suffered heart failure can wear backpacks to pump blood around their bodies in lieu of functioning ventricles. Wearable technology may even merge with mainstream fashion, with Under Armour expanding their Connected Fitness clothing range and Topshop recently declaring an intention to co-develop fashion-driven wearable tech.
What’s Next?
Many of these new devices promise greater convenience and liberation from the mundanity of modern life. Microsoft is currently testing armbands that can project keyboards onto a person’s wrist, enabling them to enter data and check files without needing to remove a phone from their pocket – something mobile workers are believed to do at least 150 times a day. Those few seconds spent fumbling in pockets and entering PIN codes or waiting for fingerprint sensors seem insignificant in isolation, yet combined this is a significant amount of time wasted, so cutting down on this could make day-to-day work much easier for us..
Despite its undoubted potential, there is no guarantee that wearable technology will become as ubiquitous as today’s smartphones and MP3 players. Google Glass and the Apple Watch represent two high-profile failures within an industry still learning its craft, and it increasingly looks like devices will have to perform genuinely useful functions or solve recognized problems to become successful. Legitimate concerns exist over the security of personal information uploaded to the cloud (particularly health-related data), while prices remain too high for mass adoption. Nonetheless, there is sufficient interest in wearable technology – and scope for further development – to indicate a bright future for this nascent sector