John M. Stivoric

Design for wearability

Digital Technology is constantly improving as information becomes wireless. These advances demand more wearable and mobile form factors for products that access information. A product that is wearable should have wearability. This paper explores the concept of dynamic wearability, through design research. Wearability is defined as the interaction between the human body and the wearable object. Dynamic wearability extends that definition to include the human body in motion. Our research has been to locate, understand, and define the spaces on the human body where solid and flexible forms can rest-without interfering with fluid human movement. The result is a set of design guidelines embodied in a set of wearable forms. These wearable forms describe the three dimensional spaces on the body best suited for comfortable and unobtrusive wearability by design.

The design of a wearable computer

The design process used to produce an innovative computer system is presented. The computer system that resulted from the process uses a circular motif both for the user interface and the input device. The input device is a dial and the user interface is visually organized around the concept of a circle. The design process itself proceeded in the presence of a great many constraints and we discuss these constraints and how an innovative design was achieved in spite of the constraints.

Rapid design and manufacture of wearable computers

dvances in computa-tional science and engi-neering have changedprofoundly both theartifacts we can realizeand the processes bywhich we realize them.This article looks at theimpact of these new technologies on the design ofwearable computers covering three main areas: newdesign tools and approaches, new manufacturingtechnologies, and new uses of information technolo-gies. We will show how we at the Engineering DesignResearch Center (EDRC) at Carnegie Mellon haveused the wearable computer project as a testbed inwhich to integrate research on rapid design and man-ufacturing. In our research, we have designed, manu-factured, and used our own tools as well as observingtheir use by others----where the tools include wearablecomputers, design analysis programs, and informa-tion organization tools. Through this process, wehave learned about design education and designpractice, and we have uncovered new issues fordesign research.

Very Rapid Prototyping of Wearable Computers: A Case Study of VuMan 3 Custom versus Off-the-Shelf Design Methodologies

The Wearable Computer Project is a testbed integrating research on rapid design and prototyping. Based on representative examples from six generations of wearable computers, the paper focuses on the differences in rapid prototyping using custom design versus off-the-shelf components. The attributes characterizing these two design styles are defined and illustrated by experimental measurements. The off-the-shelf approach required ten times the overhead, 30% more cost, fifty times the storage resources, 20% more effort, five times more power, but 30% less effort to port software than the embedded approach. An evaluation of the VuMan 3 design is presented to show its superior advantages in comparison to the off-the-shelf approach.

Digital ink: a familiar idea with technological might!

Digital Ink is a design research concept. Part design, part critique, it is the integration of current and future technologies into a mobile and socially familiar object. Digital ink is a sophisticated pen that allows people to take notes, sketch, and save the “physical” data they generate, digitally and automatically. It strives to turn mobile computing and interaction on it’s head by turning the monitor into a piece of paper and the keyboard and mouse into the pen itself. It’s designed so people can do things they normally do with any pen, but also fax, print, plan and correspond with others.

Benchmarking An Interdisciplinary Concurrent Design Methodology for Electronic/Mechanical Systems

The paper describes the evolution of an Interdisciplinary Concurrent Design Methodology (ICDM) and the metrics used to compare four generations of wearable computer artifacts produced by the methodology at each stage of ICDMs growth. The product cycle is defined, its phases, and the design information representation for each phase. Six generic axes of design activity are defined, and the concept of benchmarking a complete design methodology using these axes is introduced. In addition an approach for measuring design complexity is proposed. When applied to the four generations of the CMU wearable computers, the ICDM has demonstrated two orders of magnitude increase in design and efficiency.

Concurrent design and analysis of the Navigator wearable computer system: the thermal perspective

This paper describes the concurrent design of a wearable computer, called the Navigator, developed and built at Carnegie Mellon University in a multidesigner, multidomain environment. The design effort for the Navigator involved nineteen designers, representing the disciplines of electrical engineering, industrial design, mechanical engineering, software engineering, and human-computer interaction. The concurrent design framework developed by the Navigator design team is outlined and the parallel activities within each design phase are described, including the synchronization and interactions among all design disciplines at the phase boundaries. The evolution of the interdisciplinary design of the Navigator wearable computer is presented, with particular emphasis placed upon the role of the thermal design group in the overall design process. Furthermore, the particular challenges associated with the concurrent thermal management of wearable computer systems are outlined. >

Reflections on a concurrent design methodology: a case study in wearable computer design

At Carnegie Mellon, we have designed and manufactured three generations of wearable, mobile computers. Each new generation of wearable computer has been designed within approximately one semester by an interdisciplinary design class taught at the Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC). Over the semesters that the course has been taught, an interdisciplinary concurrent design methodology has evolved. In this paper, we briefly present the design process for the Navigator, the third generation of wearable computers. We use this process to illustrate the needs of a multidisciplinary design team, to anticipate the needs of a distributed design team using a novel manufacturing process, and to reflect on the interplay between the practice of design and the evolution of our design methods.

Very rapid prototyping of wearable computers: a case study of custom versus off-the-shelf design methodologies

The Wearable Computer Project is a testbed integratingresearch on rapid design and prototyping. Based onrepresentative examples from six generations of wearablecomputers, the paper focuses on the differences in rapidprototyping using custom design versus off-the-shelfcomponents. The attributes characterizing these two designstyles are defined and illustrated by experimentalmeasurements. The off-the-shelf approach required ten timesthe overhead, 30% more cost, fifty times the storage resources,20% more effort, five times more power, but 30% less effort toport software than the embedded approach.

On site wearable computer system

A wearable computer system designed for on site, hands free maintenance operations will be demonstrated. This system is the latest completed model in a family of wearable computers developed by Carnegie Mellon University. It is approximately one and a half pounds in weight (including batteries), uses a 386 processor and a Private Eye display device. Also being demonstrated are components for the next iteration of the device. The system is designed to be used in a hands free operating mode by large vehicle maintenance personnel.