Wearable Technology - Futuristic To Reality

From our early remembrance of Star Trek TV series to the latest Star Trek blockbuster movies, wearable technology and gadgets showcased have always been one of the most exciting features of this classic entertainer. Some of these futuristic wearable gadgets from earlier series are already a reality now - Google Glass and Apple Smart watch are recent examples of how far we have come in just a couple of decades. About half a decade ago our digital experiences evolved mainly around desktop solutions and few experts out there could foresee this huge leap into the mobile space we're seeing now. From desktops to smartphones to wearable devices, technology has grown leaps and bounds in a very short period of time.

What do we really mean by a Wearable devices or Computers? “Wearable” – a term that was predominantly associated with the clothing industry is now trending for a whole new reason. Harnessing the electronic functions used in everyday life and incorporating them into devices and accessories that can comfortably be worn on the body, is leading us into the era of wearables.

Wearable computers, also known as body-borne computers or wearables, are defined as “miniature electronic devices that are worn by the bearer under, with or on top of clothing”. (dictionary.com). We are already starting to appreciate their presence in our daily lives as people start wearing devices like Fitbit, Nike fuel band, Jawbone Up, Pebble Watch, & Apple Watch, etc.

According to BI Intelligence, the 2013 wearables market size is assessed at less than $3 billion globally, with an opportunity to grow to $5 billion next year. However, analysts from Credit Suisse say BI Intelligence's estimates are ridiculously low and predict the wearable tech market will balloon to a "whopping $30 billion to $50 billion in the next two to three years". Google Glass, the anticipated Apple smart watch and popular wristbands that track athletic activity show that consumers are already intrigued by wearable devices. But the technology's true potential lies in its ability to gather streams of currently uncollected data about a subject most of us are happy to explore in great depth: ourselves.

Wearable Tech to help drive the Internet of Things (IoT)

Traditionally, how we always connected to internet has radically changed in past couple of decades - from dumb terminals to desktops computers to a range of mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc. However, all of these devices are still external to us and its nothing compared to the wave of transformation we are now entering with advent of wearable technology. Gadgets like Google Glass and Smart Watches are part of an array of wearable technologies that will radically change the ways we consume and share information with Internet of Things (IoT), where every thing is connected to either an internet or to other connected devices (M2M) wirelessly or via the network of wireless devices equipped with the technology to communicate without any human interference. 

We already have self-monitoring devices such as Fitbit, Jawbone Up, and Nike Fuelband that enable us to track exercise, monitor heart rates, and even monitor the quality of our sleep. In the next few years, these capabilities will grow profoundly. We’ll be able to swallow a pill that can monitor our digestive tract and intelligently send relevant information to our doctors at the right time and in the context of what we’re doing. Expectant mothers will wear “smart tattoos” to monitor the health and activity of their babies, and send the doctor an early alert when labor begins. As these wonderful wearable devices get plugged into larger Internet of Things (IoT) network, these devices will begin to share huge amount of data generated by our bodies, like data related to our physical and emotional well being, our mood, habits, personal preferences, and the list goes on and on, with businesses, healthcare providers, retailers, etc. This type of data sharing and consumption will have tremendous potential to drive IoT  as we (our body) get connected and become part of the wider web of things.

Impact on Big Data Analytics

One of the very obvious outcomes of wearables jumping on the Internet of Things (IoE) bandwagon will be, the exponential amount of digital data that will get generated, consumed and shared across millions of connected devices. In my previous blog , I had touched upon the need of Big Data Analytics and how it would help make business sense of otherwise unstructured data coming from varied connected things.

"Wearables could provide the backbone for the next evolution of big data analytics from unstructured data (that isn't packaged neatly into databases) to uncaptured data (that isn't collected at all)," a team of Credit Suisse analysts, including Garcha, wrote in a recent note, "The Next Big Thing: Wearables Are in Fashion." Wearable technology, they argue, will not only be able to track where users are, but also what they are doing, providing "a deeper understanding of how we interact with our surroundings." 

Besides Big data, there will be numerous sources of small data that will also be very critical for future Analytics engines as these small data sets will be generated by multiple Wearable sensors and fed into the Big Data lake. For instance, Think about an eye glass that automatically opens up your password-protected laptop when you approach ─ or shuts it off when you leave for lunch. Or a sensor in your wearable fitness band that alerts your doctor if your heartbeat or blood pressure goes out of whack. However, all of the sensor based data will have no use if there is not an analytical system in place that could create various data models out of this heaps of unstructured data and provides actionable data to consumers for decision making and other operational details with little human intervention other than creativity, intuition, and fine motor skills. Wearable technology will create huge opportunities for Data Analytics that will cater to Healthcare, fashion, retail and various customized data models dealing primarily with our day-2-day needs.

‘Metrics everywhere, spitting out data you don’t know what to do with’ “You started with going to the doctor for a snapshot of your health, but it was very hard to know how hard to run before causing injury. Now we’re overwhelmed by the number of devices, with metrics everywhere, spitting out data you don’t know what to do with.”

The nascent wearables market has expanded in the last few years, with more than 70m fitness trackers and health gadgets sold globally in 2014 and another 68m expected to ship in 2015, according to data from research firm Gartner.

Health & Medical Devices / Applications

Seamless integration of wearable technology to other devices has been identified as being very important in the future of the products. The most common are fitness devices that link with smart devices such as phones, tablets and laptops to track health information that now can include things such as BMI, blood alcohol level and even a posture coach. Expectant mothers will wear electronic “tattoos”—smart sensing stickers that can monitor fetal heart rate and brain waves, detect early signs of labor, and even notify the doctor directly when it’s time to go to the hospital.

The future of wearable technology is becoming ever more efficient and informative. Products are more fashion conscious and interconnected with other devices to make them more desirable for everyday use for customers.  Further along on the wearable continuum will be “embeddables,” which may be sensors placed under the skin or swallowed. Today, the Proteus smart pill can send a text to a doctor or relative from inside the body to confirm that medication has been taken. In the future, such ingestible devices will be able to send a picture from inside the GI tract to aid diagnoses and reduce the need for surgery and other invasive procedures. Another meaningful tracking of vital data could be, a small sensor attached to a patient's body records ECG data, heart rate, activity and breathing, allowing doctors to monitor patients with non-life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. The device wirelessly transmits data to a cloud-based portal that physicians can either check regularly or set up to receive alerts when readings change significantly.

The question that comes to the mind is how long until wearables connect with home devices? Will we soon get home and your heart monitor unlocks the front door, your wearable fitness device will tell the fridge to pour you a cool glass of water as your hydration levels are low and the air conditioning comes on because your body temperature is found to be slightly high. The rate at which the technology is developing means it may not be too far off.

Real-Time Data Usage

Imagine you stepping into a retail pharmacy store and your wearable health device data is shared with the pharmacy, and store is able to provide you with coupons of certain health products or vitamins, just by crunching your data real time. The power wearable technologies could hold for corporate marketers are huge. "If you're in a specific place and looking for something, a company could utilize that data to create a much more inventive marketing strategy,"  For instance, an existing service from Yelp, allows users to point their phones at the street and watch as the app fills in the location of nearby restaurants, along with user reviews. But wearable tech, which could passively gather data as a consumer moves ─ without requiring them to do anything, so long as they opt in in the first place ─ could provide even more granular information. The possibilities are literally endless and wearable devices could become source of real time data on consumers for corporates as people walk in and out of stores.

Smart Clothing

We have already started hearing of Companies such as NuMetrex and Nike that have created smart shirts and shoes to measure activity. Apple has filed some interesting patents, including one for those sensors that might track when shoe soles are wearing thin, according to Credit Suisse. There are more serious applications, too. "There are already pants in existence that will look for sugar levels in urine, and while it may sound somewhat distasteful, you're talking about spotting diabetics early on". There is also a real possibility in retail where you are literally 'wearing' the technology. Via virtual mirrors, you can have your body shape scanned and clothes projected onto you as a way of trying on before you buy without actually taking off the clothes you are in. 

We may start to see wearable technology in our favorite brands of clothes: T-shirts, jackets, headbands and jewellery.In fact, wearable devices may transform the use of mobile devices altogether in the not-so-distant future. The potential wearable trends of the future include solar clothes that can recharge your phone, a tracker to work out where each outfit is in your wardrobe, bike helmets with a built-in navigation system (which is better than using a smartphone whilst cycling along). There are also going to be smart socks that work out if you are making injurious movements whilst running, smart bras that track your heart rate, and even more luxurious clothing that uses technology to enhance its appearance.

These are exciting times for wearable technology, that much is certain.

Wearable revolution waiting to happen?

Though Google Glass was dubbed as next revolutionary product from Apple, neither it nor many other wearable technology devices have gone mainstream, as the iPhone did when it kicked off the smartphone revolution. Likewise, Samsung Smart Watch was launched with much fan fair but failed to excite the ever demanding digital consumer and now world is eagerly waiting for Apple Watch to hit the stands. Besides the popularity of a few notable Athletic bands that track fitness activity, we have yet to see a serious wearable contender. Most of the currently available wearable devices are limited by their reliance on smartphone or tablet when it comes to large computations, still have to overcome relatively short battery life, and typically communicate wirelessly with smartphones, and everything will then be backed up into the cloud. For wearable devices to completely revolutionize our daily lives, they will need to stay hooked into a world wide wireless network of things (IoT) or acquire capabilities to stay connected & share data over airwaves, but until then, their usage will be limited by the availability of wireless networks.

Privacy and Regulatory Concerns

Privacy and regulatory are concern remain since the legal and regulatory framework for wearable devices is far from settled. With the large volume of data that is expected to be generated, there is evidence that consumers are already nervous about passive data collection in the absence of any legal frameworks. Also, there are no defined industry standards in place today and not every manufactured wearable device is necessarily secure from hackers or potential vulnerabilities.

All of these possibilities will be enabled by the Internet of things (IoT), providing rich and valuable connections among people, process, data, and things. And these examples are just the beginning. As technology continues to become smaller, cheaper, and more powerful, and as the number of connected things in the world grows in the next decade, the true possibilities may go far beyond what we can imagine today.

How do you see wearable technology evolving?

References: cisco.com  credit-suisse.com