Sci-fi writers of the past imagined the most impossible wearable technologies to be used by their descendants. Well, at least they thought these technologies were impossible.
Modern IoT smart solutions gave birth to a plethora of devices that brought many of the ideas of our ancestors to life, and then some.
Nowadays, most of the planet’s population is well-acquainted with wearable devices, with more than 80 percent of people carrying smartphones. The market is constantly getting filled with new models of fitness bands and smartwatches, and new types of wearable devices emerge every day. The market of wearables is expected to surpass $62 billion by 2025, says PR Newswire.
In this article, we want to take a brief look at some of the popular examples of wearable technology devices. There’s no saying what new ambitious projects will appear tomorrow.
Smart rings
Most modern people have a ton of little things with them at all times: credit cards, keys to their house and car, and public transport passcards. This can become cumbersome, and if you lose some of those little things, that’s a big problem.
A smart ring might be a great solution for those tired to deal with a ton of trinkets. NFC or Near Field Communication technology allows it to act as a substitute for all of them. With it, you need only a simple gesture to open the lock on your car, your house, or pay for your groceries.
The magic lies in the extended connectivity integrated into the ring. It acts as a receiver and a transmitter for signals emitted from NFC-enabled devices and the growing scope of applicability for IoT technologies provides practically unlimited possibilities for smart rings.
Smart belts
Besides the simple convenience, wearable Internet of Things devices can also help in healthcare and quality of life management. Smart belts, for example, are a great tool for elderly care that helps with preventing falls.
The device analyses the walking patterns of a person, and, with the help of advanced algorithms, calculates the risk of falling, immediately sending a signal to the user, complemented with recommendations to rest or at least catch a breath.
Smart belts can also fulfill other functions, such as monitoring weight losses and gains and a plethora of other health-related activities: pace counting, analyzing walking habits and calories counting. A smartphone application visualizes all the acquired information in a comprehensive format for the viewer.
Gaming devices
Immersion is a great deal in gaming. One thing is to control your in-game character with a gamepad, or mouse and keyboard, but to have the possibility to translate your body movements into your character’s is a totally different thing.
Stepping beyond the simple “push the button” controls of traditional gamepads, smart wearable IoT devices have sensors that catch every movement of muscles in your wrists and fingers, replicating them in the virtual environment, and making your in-game alter ego mirror your every move.
We only begin to explore the possibilities of immersion that such devices can bring to the market. Replicating your body movements in-game might be just a first step to full-scale virtual reality environments with a seamless replication of all sensory functions.
Smart Shoes
Another modern smart clothing trend, smart shoes are a great tool for increasing the quality of life and taking care of your health. It is proven that bad shoe seating can cause multiple health problems, from foot pain to long-term negative health effects.
Smart shoes are fitted with IoT sensors that gather information about the pressure levels in different parts of your foot and analyze if your shoe seating is adequate. If the pressure is too big, shoes adjust, shifting in accordance with the optimal position.
Along with seating management, smart shoes also provide a regular range of smart wearable functions, such as calculating calories, and steps, and checking your posture. If any of these parameters are beyond desirable, the device will send a notification along with recommendations.
Fitness Trackers
We’re quite used to fitness trackers today. However, a large number of people still neglect their health, therefore fitness trackers are far from reaching their top potential.
A fitness tracker provides all the functionality you’d expect from a life quality enhancing device: it tracks weight gains, how much you move, and your basic bodily rates, such as blood pressure and heart rate.
Another commonly used function is sleep tracking — by analyzing a combination of parameters such as the amount of movement and stillness when you sleep, as well as your breathing rate and your heartbeat, the application can analyze the overall quality of sleep and even track it over extended periods of time, producing charts.
Smart Clothing
This is more of a general category, with possibilities for smart closing types being pretty much endless. Nowadays, almost any element of your wardrobe can be IoT-enabled, providing a variety of functions, mostly tracking your physical condition and well-being.
We have already considered smart shoes and belts above, but almost anything can be made smart. Besides everyday life, smart closing finds its application in scientific research, military, and even space exploration.
Conclusion
The level of digitalization and integration of technologies into our life is rising every year.
The industry of smart wearable devices is relatively young and is expected to grow both wide (with more people adopting Internet of Things wearables) and tall (with the growing complexity of innovative wearable technology). Entering the market at this stage can bring numerous benefits to any ambitious enterprise in the future.
