Development of Body-Adapted Wearable Electronics - Research Paper Example

Project Specification Name: Institute: Course Title: Research Methods and Emerging Technologies Main Research Area / Topic Body-adapted Wearable Electronics Research Problem Since the beginning of 21st century, technologies for personal computing have turned out to be all-encompassing across the globe. Electronic-devices have developed into more and more portable, mobile, as well as accessible, both in their application scenarios and physical form. This as mentioned by Dunne (2004), has generated the ability for pervasive or constant computing user access, mainly by means of carry-able (portable) technologies: music players, clip-on radios, palm-top computers, and pocket-sized phones. Currently, scholars together with business technology developers have started to investigate the design of emerging wearable technologies which are directly integrated into body-worn accessories or smart clothing, which are designed for situation or constant use as well as accessibility (Dunne, 2004; Chan et al., 2012). Suitably, as utilisation of computer technology has grown to be more and more integrated component of day after day life, more studies have been carried out on the effects brought about by utilising these technologies, which includes study of human computer interaction (HCI). HCI basically as a field of study has turned out to be deep-rooted, but traditionally analysis of HCI concentrated on the static environment. The latest ubiquitous fields as well as body-adapted wearable technologies have of late introduced into HCI analysis a novel variables associated to the movement as well as to social interaction. Dunne (2004) posits that wearable computing supplements additional psychological, cognitive, and physical variables, as the HCI moves nearer to the skin, communicates more with outside interest demands, as well as becomes more closely associated with an user’s sense of personality. Given that body-adapted wearable technologies are still a novel field, Virkki and Aggarwal (2014) posits that there are scores of imperative challenges associated with the design of these technologies, which are yet to be attended to. Concerns like ease of interaction, physical comfort, and social acceptability in addition to expectations of users on the wearable devices have time and again been marginalized or shelved in scores of academic research, mainly for the reason that the key concentration of this work up till now has been on performance/functionality, and since the soft prerequisites are often outer the know-how of the researcher (Dunne, 2004; Bristow et al., 2004). The research fields which yielded the early development of body-adapted wearable lack example of close interaction with the human psyche/ mind/body in a incessant-operation, body-mounted model, given that such variables have not subsisted in earlier research (desktop or mobile devices). In the business field, overlooking such concerns is repeatedly the basis of failure for a new-fangled product, and so the paper will concentrate much on the above-mentioned issues. Given that the state-of-the-art nature of the body-adapted wearable technologies, the researcher or designer normally aspires to take advantage of their futuristic science-fiction aesthetic in addition to cultural impact (Chan et al., 2012). This draws an undersized niche market, but the bigger fraction of the potential users becomes reluctant to espouse this aesthetic for the slightly heightened usefulness of a wearable device. As it will be discussed in the research, the healthcare future will need more endeavours to handle an increasing population and body-adapted wearable technologies will be the solution to handle this (Virkki & Aggarwal, 2014). The latest proliferation of wearable sensors and devices will generate fresh concerns around Data Mountains, but with software systems that are cautiously designed they will change this data into consequential, steered results (Tang, 2007). Considering the number of sensors and devices that are accessible in the market, healthcare providers as well as payers will have an additional tool to assist deal with this ever-increasing population. This create the need to carry out the research, not just to investigate the social and cultural significance of body-adapted wearable technologies, but also to analyse if these technologies can have an effect on the user’s health. Main Research Question The enthusiasm for the development of body-adapted wearable electronics is attributable to the remarkable benefits that may well be related to long-term monitoring of users in the community and home, but can they have an effect on their health? Secondary Questions 1. How will wearable technologies impact the future of health care? 2. What social potentials do body-adapted wearable electronics have? 3. How can interruptions be managed in Body-adapted Wearable Electronics? 4. How can the interaction components as well as interface components of body-adapted wearable electronics be used in dual-task situations? 5. Considering body-adapted wearable electronics are worn on the body, what are its health impacts? 6. What benefits are presented when using Body-adapted Wearable Electronics, especially in the healthcare industry? Research Objectives 1. To investigate the basics of HCI for body-adapted wearable electronics 2. To make body-adapted wearable electronics easier to use for humans 3. To highlight how interface components and interaction components of body-adapted wearable electronics can be utilised in dual-task situations. 4. To illustrate how interruptions affecting body-adapted wearable electronics can be handled 5. To outline future motivations of body-adapted wearable electronics as an emerging technology and its potential health impacts. 6. To highlight the benefits offered by body-adapted wearable electronics. Explain what is meant by Emerging Technologies? Emerging technologies can be defined as new technologies, which are presently being developed or will be developed in the coming five or ten years, and which will significantly change the social and business environment. Such technologies include highly developed robotics, IT, bio-technologies, on-demand printing, man-machine communication, as well as wireless data communication. Developed countries are more and more relying on technological competence for success and development. These days, all sectors of a nationwide technology are dependent on technological change (Maynard, 2010). For instance, agriculture rests on a foundation of technique and knowledge that is continuously updated as well as developed by means of global research on agriculture. Evidently, emerging technologies brings about both opportunities as well as threats to business and national strategies on technology. They include threats to the present competitive advantages anchored in modern competencies of technology. Also incremental modernisations can shift the lead from one business or nation to a different business or nation and far-reaching innovation can get rid of the entire markets. But simultaneously, novel technological platforms make competition to be more open, thus, offering opportunities to break new ground prior to the competition becoming embedded (Cozzens et al., 2005). Business and governments may for that reason find it valuable to supervise the international technological leading edge for alterations that could be significant to their business or nation’s technological position. Theoretically, examining emerging technologies globally as well as across all of engineering and science is an undertaking that governments could desire to fund. Basically, the expert-based and qualitative methods are the most common approach used in identifying emerging technologies. Without doubt, technology is an authoritative tool for transformation. The uprising and protests in Arab countries unmistakably verified that scores of governments are still not sure how to seize and react to technologies like Twitter and Facebook (Green, 2011). These protests as well emphasized the risks such governments experience for being toothless despite science-based change in technologies. Evidently, emerging technologies cover a broad scope of technologies, and scores are still at the early stage of research and so unknown to lots of policy-makers, but will eventually is effects will be transformative ranging from the new industries’ emergence, by interruption of present value chains, to key communal changes in the fields of communications as well as healthcare. The partakers of 2010 Dubai’s World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda, defined emerging technologies as: technologies that surfaces from innovative knowledge, or the innovative use of available knowledge. Besides that, emerging technologies were defined as technologies that result in development of novel abilities, those technologies that are expected to have noteworthy long-term and systemic political, social and economic impacts (Maynard, 2010). Finally, the Forum’s Summit defined emerging technologies as those technologies that produce innovative challenges to and opportunities for handling global issues and also as technologies that can create or disrupt whole industries. Provide a justification why the area of your investigation should be considered as an emerging technology? It started with Google Glass, then Fitbit wristband, and now body-adapted wearable electronics have generated considerable curiosity over the last few months, with the available electronic devices aiding persons to well comprehend their individual health as well as fitness by monitoring sleep patterns, heart rate, exercise, and all that. As mentioned by Aleksy et al. (2011), the focus is changing beyond external wearables such as clip-on devices or wristbands to body-adapted wearable electronics that pushes further the ever-changing boundary between technology and humans. The novel cohort of wearables is intended for adapting to the shape of the human body rather than deployment. Such wearables are usually small, incorporated with a broad scope of sensors as well as a feedback system, and are invisible so as to make their utilisation less disturbing and more tolerable in the social context. Such practically hidden devices consist of sensors for tracking posture (worn with clothes), earbuds for monitoring heart rate, and an impermanent tattoo for tracking health fundamentals. Other includes haptic shoe soles for communicating GPS directions by means of vibration alerts that can be felt only on the feet. The uses of body-adapted wearable electronics are many and wide-ranging: for instance, haptic shoes are at present projected for assisting blind persons to navigate easily. Technology forecasters deem that factors for body-adapted wearable electronics success include non-invasiveness, device size as well as the capability to evaluate manifold parameters and offer instantaneous feedback that enhances the behaviour of the user (Aleksy et al., 2011). Still, heightened use will as well rely on social acceptability regarding privacy; for instance wearable devices that utilise cameras for memory assistance as well as facial recognition have created lots of concerns. Presuming these setbacks/issues may be handled; forecasters expect hundreds of millions of wearable devices to be utilised by 2016. Current UN population projections and estimates show that the population of the world will hit almost 9.6 billion by 2050 and past 10 billion by 2100. This population increase will increase the need for more services such as affordable and access to healthcare and housing, and transportation. The demand for improved healthcare is ever-increasing and programs such as the United States Affordable Care Act will offer more individuals with health coverage; however, it cannot handle the increasing demand as well as expectations from the patients. As both payers and providers lean on technology to assist resolve such problems, body-adapted wearable electronics together with software systems may offer access to consequential healthcare information to better manage as well as prevent diseases and conditions. The body-adapted wearable devices are emerging technologies for the reason that they try to solve a future deficiency, especially in the healthcare sector. Evidently, body-adapted wearable electronics can in the future offer a noteworthy effect on quality of healthcare, workflow, and access to encouraging outcomes, which are fundamental factors for success, especially for an increasing patient population. These technologies will make possible remote and virtual care, be a way of gathering more and improved information, as well as offer more momentous data to both patients and clinicians (Virkki & Aggarwal, 2014). Dealing with a big patient population will depend heavily on tactically making use of an overextended clinician workforce, reducing doctor to patient contact hours, as well as offering medical services remotely (Patel et al., 2012). A vital factor for success will be to precisely balance data algorithms and analysis so as to offer the most important means to handle disease states. In this case, body-adapted wearable electronics, which is yet to be practically used, will change the healthcare experience, whereby the patient heath data will incessantly be transmitted virtually to the doctor. These technologies will undoubtedly proactively make the patients health better through findings that are data-driven (Patel et al., 2012). For instance, an incoming patient in an emergency room will get a body-adapted wearable device immediately after being admitted, and this device will track numerous fundamental signs that may help the caregiver by offering computerized triage to find out the types of care required and also the levels of urgency. Besides that, hospitals may gain by reducing identification errors through positive identification of the patient, hence making sure they are ready and offer the correct procedure, care or medication to the correct patient. With all said and done, it is evident that the potentials presents by body-adapted wearable electronics is a lot, but are still to be applied practically; thus making them emerging technologies. References Aleksy, M., Rissanen, M. J., Maczey, S., & Dix, M. (2011). Wearable Computing in Industrial Service Applications. Procedia Computer Science, 5, 394–400. Bristow, H. W., Baber, C., Cross, J., Knight, J. F., & Woolley, S. I. (2004). Defining and evaluating context for wearable computing. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 60, 798–819. Chan, M., Estève, D., Fourniols, J.-Y., Escriba, C., & Campo, E. (2012). Smart wearable systems: Current status and future challenges. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, 56, 137–156. Cozzens, S., Gatchair, S., Kim, K.-S., Ordóñez, G., & Porter, A. (2005). Emerging Technologies: Quantitative Identification and Measurement. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information. Atlanta: Georgia Institute of Technology. Dunne, L. E. (2004). The Design of Wearable Technology: Addressing the Human-Device Interface Through Functional Apparel Design. Cornell University. Ithaca, New York: Lucy E. Dunne. Green, B. (2011). Wellbeing, the Arab spring, the impact of emerging technologies and enhanced therapeutics: don't panic! British Journal of Wellbeing, 2(6), 11-17. Maynard, A. (2010, November 30). Emerging technologies at the World Economic Forum – rethinking integrative approaches to global risks. Retrieved from 2020 Science: http://2020science.org/2010/11/30/emerging-technologies-at-the-world-economic-forum-rethinking-integrative-approaches-to-global-risks/ Patel, S., Park, H., Bonato, P., Chan, L., & Rodgers, M. (2012). A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 9(21), 1-17. Tang, S. L. (2007). Recent developments in flexible wearable electronics for monitoring applications. Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control, 29(3), 283–300. Virkki, J., & Aggarwal, R. (2014). Privacy of Wearable Electronics in the Healthcare and Childcare Sectors: A Survey of Personal Perspectives from Finland and the United Kingdom. Journal of Information Security, 5, 46-55. Read More