digital africa

ROBIN RASKIN

Wearables are Natural Evolution

Where Will You Wear Your Wearable?

Where Will You Wear Tomorrow

Why Will You Wear Your Wearable?

The Quantified Self

• Never before in the history of the world have we had the opportunity to gather so much data about the healthy human body.

• Who’s calling me? • How far did I walk ? • What’s my body temperature? • I’m lost• What’s my heart rate?

Quantified Self

• Using tech devices to measure all bodily input and output.

• Is quantified self more than a narcissistic indulgence?

Scanadu’s Scout Misfit Shine 

Beam ToothbrushNeurosky EEG and ECG

The Over Quantified Self?

Big Data Behind Each Individual

COMMUNICATE

• Phones for the very young• Diapers with sensor• Pacifiers as thermometers

This Rise of the Smart Watch

• Notification text, email, calls, calendar and social media

• Identification of caller/sender

• Read aloud• Dictation• Voice commands

• Eksla’s robotic prosthethics can help wounded/amputees/ or paralyzed to be independent.

• Hearing aids controlled by iphones• Gestures based interface• Natural speech

COMMUNICATE

HIGH FASHION

• This dress uses motion sensors that react to movement of the wearer

• Motion Sensors• Music Sensors• BrainWave Sensors

Utilitarian Clothing

Handbag that recharges your gear

• Never get dirty• Keep you cool • Carry Your Devices• Spy Resistant Clothing

• Wearable multifunctional, silver nanowire sensor for prosthetics, robotics

What Makes this The Perfect Wearable Moment

Ongoing Advances in Technology• Thinner and Sharper Display • Flexible Displays• Better Algorithms• Low Energy Bluetooth • Longer Lasting/ More Efficient Batteries• More responsive touch systems• Protective coverings against dirt/dust/ water• Smaller sensors

Flexible Screens

• Making Glass flexible has thinner and flexible has huge implications

Flexible Long Lasting Low Power Batteries

Better Algorithms: Predicative Analysis and Advice

Mo’ Better Sensors

Bluetooth Low Energy or Bluetooth Smart

• Gives wearables longer endurance

• Small form factor• Consumes less power

BioStamp from MC10

Bands are just today’s incarnation

New Interfaces

Gesture Just Think About it

Two Phenomena Worth Watching

The 3D Printing Revolution and Wearables• Fast protyping• If you can imagine it you can

design it• Materials are expensive• Plastics are not recyclable

PRINTINGStart with an idea

Using a 3D design program, such as Google SketchUp or Autodesk 123D, you can capture your idea and create a 3D file.

Next you load your 3d design intoa program, such as Cura, that can control a printer.

PRINTING

And finally, the printeractually prints your design.

Image from 3dprintingforbeginners.com

PRINTING

What’s in Glass?

• 5 MP camera with 720p HD video recording, touchpad input,• a 640×360 display, • Wi-Fi, • Bluetooth, gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, ambient light

sensing• bone conduction transducer. • OMAP 4430 dual-core CPU and runs on the Android operating

system.

Why Would You Want to Wear• Entertainment

– Oculus Rift, Agevant• Visually Impaired

– Orcam• Capturing Your Life’s Activities

– Google and Narrative • Sharing Information Quickly• Manufacturing and Assembly

– Vuzix • Education

Artists Creating Imaginative Fashions

Solar Backpack from VoltaicCarries your laptop and keeps your smartphone charged. With 4 Watts of power, one hour of sun gets you three hours of talk time and a battery stores one and a half phone charges.

TV-B-Gone JacketThe jacket uses a small universal remote control to power down TVs in restaurants, stores and bars. It’s activated by a switch along the zipper made from conductive thread. The original TV-B-Bone kt can be found from adafruit.com

Kamerflage Thunder Cloud and Lightening Bolt Dress

Kamerflage technology takes advantage of the fact that cameras see a broader spectrum of light than human eyes. Kameraflage allows designers to create clothes with colors that are invisible to the naked eye yet can be seen when imaged with a digital camera.

Connor Dickie uses this technology to bring the Thunder Cloud to life. When you look at the Thunder Cloud through a camera/mobile phone the Lightening bolt is revealed.

Bandeau Belt By Dana Ramler & Kathleen Westerhout

The marriage of safety technology with fashion in a product line for female recreational boaters. The Bandeau Belt is an inflatable PFD. The safety pin pierces a CO2 cylinder, which fills the inflatable bladder housed within. The inflated bladder emerges from the bottom of the Bandeau Belt and is then placed over the head to provide buoyancy and safety.

Pedal PusherThe Pedal Pusher is a high tech wearable system designed for urban female cyclists. Pedal pusher uses kinetic energy to power a stylish cycling shoe and address concerns of visibility.

“Bats Have Feelings Too”

This SIY sonar garment designed to assist the visually impaired with navigating their environment. The garment is made form off-the-shelf electronics. The range finder can be set to locate a solid object at a predetermined distance in front of the user and turn the vibe-board on alerting the user to stop before walking into the object.

Pollutant Shirt

Warning Signs is a visualization of the pollution that exists invisibility all around us. When the wearable senses carbon monoxide, the pieces subtle changes color and patter to indicate higher level of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere to the wearer and those around him or her. The piece was designed by Niem Lame and Sue Ngo