Gadgets you can wear

Vibha Sharma

If there is any discussion on Internet of Things (IoT), one cannot miss the mention of wearable devices. What are wearable devices? These are the computerised systems worn by the users, which are intelligently made capable to work as a mediator between the wearer and the environment. Personal computing is witnessing nothing less than a revolution at an accelerated pace. Computing devices have progressed from voluminous desktops to sleek laptops to attractive smartphones and now to fancy accessories of our attire. As technology is shifting towards innovative ways to make personal computing accessible through wearable devices and applications, such devices are only going to attract more focus with time. Although the whole concept of IoT is still in its infancy but the effectiveness of the technology has already started showing huge potential.

We have been witnessing how more and more wearable devices are replacing our traditional way of functioning. From exercise, workout, health monitors to identification badges, more and more intelligence and smartness are being packed in them. Activity and fitness trackers like FitBit, Moov, Garmin Vivoactive, Up by Jawbone, and information devices like Google Glass, Epiphany Eyewear and GlassUp can be considered first generation devices. The next generation of these devices is going to be more intelligent, smart, contextual, analytical and efficient and the same will be made possible by the technology IoT, which assimilates all the participants — users, devices, web and data together.

Scene from a sci-fi movie

Just imagine for a moment, how it would be if your AC could modulate the temperature depending on your body temperature or if you switch on your rice cooker when you start your car drive from office to home. Such monitoring and dispensing of instructions may sound unreal at this moment but we are fast progressing towards the times when all such things and much more will be possible. How IoT makes this possible is, when the devices start communicating intelligently on their own without having to go through the user for the basic approval or disapproval for actions to be taken. If we just consider the earlier two examples, a wrist band which you’d wear for monitoring of your health statistics will keep checking the body temperature as well and would directly instruct the AC to modulate the temperature accordingly. In the second case, when you start the car to come home, the car will send an instruction to your rice cooker to begin the process. Doesn’t it sound like a scene from a sci-fi movie. No, this is what our future world is going to be and not so far from now.

Robust technology

For this all to become a reality, serious work is underway in various technological fields working to conjoin all participants — users, devices and internet — together. Highly efficient sensors need to track every single small or big movement, touch, gesture and speech of the user, high-end data stores need to keep gathering this information at infinitesimally small-time intervals, the data gatherer sitting at the backend then needs to smartly categorise the information, the application then would apply various algorithms and artificial intelligence to process and analyse the data to further instruct the relevant device to work accordingly. With the huge volume of data that will keep accumulating in personal clouds of every user, the devices will eventually build the capability to provide contextual and personalised support. The idea is not to limit the smartness to the devices only, what will matter is how these devices and technology work together to build smarter and more intelligent services for users.

Hurdles to be surmounted

While focusing on what all can be done through this highly integrated system, challenges at two levels continue to haunt the developers and thinkers behind the technology — battery life and security. Interconnection of all electronic devices, mountains of data getting recorded and analysed — may all sound very interesting and effective but what if one hacks into a user’s microwave oven and gets access to even the most sensitive data, since all will eventually be interconnected! Understanding security as a big challenge, science and technology behind biometrics is being seriously studied and utilised to implement tight security for the future technological devices.