Lessons from Wearable Computing and Beyond

The confluence of decades of computer science and computer engineering research in multi-modal interaction such as speech and gesture recognition; machine learning such as classification and feature extraction; software such as web browsers and distributed agents; electronics such as energy efficient microprocessors and head mounted displays; and design methodology in user centered design and rapid prototyping have enabled a new class of computers – wearable computers. We will review over 15 years of experience in developing and deploying wearable computers in domains as diverse as manufacturing, maintenance, operations, and medical monitoring leading to lessons that are not taught in the classroom. These experiences are summarized in categories for easier recall: User, Corporal, Attention, Manipulation, and Power (UCAMP). We will conclude with a projection of future directions in human based mobile computers.
Dan Siewiorek received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1968, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering (minor in Computer Science) from Stanford University, in 1969 and 1972, respectively. He is the Buhl University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, and Director of the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon, where he helped to initiate and guide the Cm* project that culminated in an operational 50-processor multiprocessor system. He has designed or been involved with the design of nine multiprocessor systems and has been a key contributor to the dependability design of over two dozen commercial computing systems. Dr. Siewiorek currently leads an interdisciplinary team that has designed and constructed over 20 generations of mobile computing systems.

Dr. Siewiorek has written eight textbooks in the areas of parallel processing, computer architecture, reliable computing, and design automation, in addition to over 475 papers. Elected an IEEE Fellow in 1981, for contributions to the design of modular computing systems, he was awarded the Frederick Emmons Terman Award by the American Society for Engineering Education in 1983 for outstanding young electrical engineering educator and received the IEEE Computer Society and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Eckert-Mauchly Award in 1988 for his outstanding contributions to parallel computer architecture, reliability, and computer architecture education.

He is a member of the 1994 inaugural class of ACM Fellows and was elected to the 2000 class of the National Academy of Engineering. He has served as Associate Editor of the Computer System Department of the Communications of the ACM, as Chairman of the IEEE Technical Committee on Fault-Tolerant Computing and as founding Chairman of the IEEE Technical Committee on Wearable Information Systems.