Wearable Interactive Device Design Trends Review and Analysis

PurposeCommercial entities (e.g. health and life insurance, airlines and supermarkets) in different countries have recently begun to introduce wearable technology as part of the consumer journey and as a means of enhancing the business value chain. While a firm’s decision to adopt such new technologies as wearable devices is often based on financial factors such as return on investment, costs and impact on profits, consumers may hold a different attitude toward the value of using smart wearables and sharing their personal data as part of their business-client relationships. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer perceptions of and reactions to persuaded self-tracking (PST) – a practice in which businesses actively encourage consumers to monitor, collect and share personal biometric data through wearable technologies in exchange for personalized incentives and rewards.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative research approach and a purposeful sampling method, the authors conducted personal in-depth interviews with 24 consumers (both users and non-users of wearable devices). Interviews were recorded and transcribed, resulting in 600 pages of transcripts comprising more than 203,000 words. Data coding and analysis were facilitated by using NVivo.FindingsConsumers’ assessment of PST is based on perceived value-in-use, privacy/security concerns and perceived fairness/justice, resulting in four types of reactions to adopt or use PST (embracing, considering, debating and avoiding). Specifically, the authors identified two individual determinants (intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation) and four firm-related determinants (design of wearable device, assurance, transparency and controllability) that influence consumer perceptions of PST.Research limitations/implicationsResults of this study have implications for both vendors of wearable devices and firms trying to leverage smart wearables in their value chains. Identifying consumers’ perceptions, as well as barriers and enablers of acceptance, will help firms to more effectively design and develop wearable device-based services, thus gaining consumer support for using fitness trackers. The primary limitation of the study is that using a thematic analysis method diminishes the generalizability of our findings.Originality/valueThis study addresses an under-researched area: the integration of wearable technologies in a firm’s value chain through the lens of the consumers. This study is one of the first, according to authors’ knowledge, to investigate consumer perceptions of PST.

Wearable device is a collective wearable device that compromises big data and intelligent sensor technology. It has become the focus of the public under the circumstance social economy is developing rapidly, the internet is widely spreading, and intelligent sensor technology is developing overall. Nowadays, society has given space to express one’s distinguishing feature for everyone to the most extent. Personalized pursue of sentiment has become the characteristic of the epoch. However, the acceleration of social pace has already made social pressure spread among individuals and groups in an unprecedented speed. How to meet personal needs, relieve stress, make happiness, and create value, has become the question in need of an urgent solution when designing wearable devices. This paper discusses the design of wearable devices from three aspects: form and appearance, which includes the shape, scale, material and color, classifications, graphic elements and typography of the visual interface, and the man-machine interactions such as operational procedure, input means, and feedback experience.KeywordsWearable devicesDesign of form and appearanceDesign of visual interfaceDesign of man-machine interaction

Wearable devices are the latest trend with in the technical communities these days. Lots of development is going on this field with individuals, startups and established companies. We can see so many wearable devices around us like simple RFID smart cards. Smart watches are more advanced example for having lots more capabilities. We use wearable devices specially for security and authentication purposes like RFID. If we want more advance example then we can get the example of fitness band, which can track our blood pressure, heart beat and even sugar level with the help of sensors fitted with these wearable wrist bands. We can also take the example of wearable beacons to transmit signals with regular interval to get the desired action on the event, but one common thing with above examples are that they all depends on the smart phone to process data. They use smart phone as a common processor. This is the important question that whether these wearable devices are only peripherals for smart phones or be more than that. It would be better if Internet of Things (IoT) devices transmit data directly to each other. It would be better if we remove the dependency of the smart phone or use them only to setup communication strategies. IoT devices can work on communication protocols to transmit data. Can’t it be better if you entered to your home and your wrist band communicate with AC to switch on with desired temperature and Coffee machine get started to prepare coffee? Can’t it be better if you switch on TV and TV adjust room lights accordingly? The use of this technology can be more then luxury and be a life saver in case of emergencies for critical patients by calling emergency services if it senses some abnormal health data. But one of the major concern with IoT communications is security and privacy. We never want to compromise with the security and privacy of users. For example, if we have smart locker which can communicate with smart band to operate then security is crucial. Same way the smart band contains health record and other IoT devices can communicate, so we never want our health record to be compromise with others but want to share with our doctor only. All this control and security will be a challenge for solution design the way IoT development grow with wearable devices. IoT communication protocols and selection of devices with security parameters are the key factor for the IoT solution design and implementations. In this chapter we intend to cover design and security challenges for Wearable Devices and IoT.

Bio-inspired electrochromic skin based on tungsten oxide

Flexible wearable device is an innovative technology product, using soft, lightweight material design, can fit the curve of the human body, providing a comfortable wearing experience. These devices typically integrate a variety of sensors, batteries, and connectivity technologies to enable biometric monitoring, motion tracking, communication, and other intelligent functions. Traditional electronic products tend to give a "stiff" impression that they cannot withstand bending, twisting and stretching. In recent years, under the background of the integration of electronic technology and modern material science technology, the emerging flexible electronic wearable device has become a research hotspot with its more flexible material, more sensitive and accurate signal transmission, and more extensive monitoring range. The development of flexible electronic technology has greatly improved the user's wearing experience and is more suitable for the free movement of the human body. This paper summarizes the basic principle and classification of key technologies of wearable electronic devices, and introduces the research progress and research trend.

This project sets up a design framework that promotes augmenting the human body's interactions exploring methods for merging and blending the users of physical and virtual environments, through the design of wearable devices that are embedded with sensors and actuators. This allows for haptic and visual feedback through the use of data that reflects changes in the surrounding physical environment, and visualized in the immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment. We consider the Body Architectures project to serve as mechanisms for augmenting the body in relation to the virtual architecture. These wearable devices serve to bring a hyper-awareness to our senses, as closed-loop cybernetic systems that utilize 'digitized' biometric and environmental data through the use of 3D scanning technologies and cloud point models, virtual reality visualization, sensing technologies, and actuation. The design of Body Architectures relies on hybrid design, transdisciplinary collaborations, to explore new possibilities for wearable body architectures that evolve human-machine-environment interactions, and create hyper awareness of the temporal, atmospheric qualities that make up our experience of space, as 'sensorial envelopes' (Lally 2014).

Flexible and wearable technologies are gaining wide attention with their promise of applications in sensing, electronics, and energy. The materials involved should be flexible, lightweight, robust, and non-toxic. Natural biopolymers such as silk, chitin, collagen, cellulose, and gelatine have these properties, with the additional benefits of low cost, renewability, and biocompatibility. Taking a closer look at these soft materials and their forms reveals novel multifunctional abilities, paving the way for new devices. Introducing the recent development of multifunctional natural polymers, this book serves as a reference for researchers, detailing the novel properties and behaviour of natural biopolymers, and their synthetic strategies. Students will find this a useful introduction to multifunctional soft matter and polymer physics. Throughout the book an understanding of the principles of flexible and wearable device design will allow readers to connect materials to applications in wearable electronics, such as flexible sensors, soft robots, solar cells and energy storage devices.

Self-powered wearable remote control system based on self-adhesive, self-healing, and tough hydrogels

The Regulation of Wearable Medical Devices

The properties of cellular materials depend as much on their architecture as on their composition. Auxetic materials are a novel class of mechanical metamaterials which exhibit an interesting property of negative Poisson’s ratio by virtue of their architecture rather than composition. One of their most interesting aspects is their improved indentation resistance, impact resistance and fracture toughness. Thus, they have potential applications in wearable impact protection. The classical re-entrant structure has been a focus of research for many years because of its well established auxetic behaviour. However, the stiff re-entrant corners, buckling of struts, less strain sensitivity and limited cellular stiffness limit its applications in wearable impact protection devices. In this work, multi-material cellular designs are proposed which have the capability to fulfill the requirements for wearable impact protection devices. With the advancements in 3D printing, multi-material cellular designs can be realized in practice. Using Finite Elements approach, two-material and multi-material cellular designs are investigated. It was observed that introduction of material gradient/distribution in the cell provides a means to tailor auxetic behaviour, cellular stiffness and strain-sensitivity as per the specific requirement. The results will lead to a better understanding of tailoring auxeticity in cellular materials and will aid in the design of auxetic wearable impact protection devices which rely on auxeticity gradients and variable auxeticity as well.

Introduction Fetal monitoring is a crucial component of antenatal care, facilitating early detection of fetal compromise and improving pregnancy outcomes. Traditional monitoring methods such as cardiotocography (CTG) and ultrasound are effective but primarily limited to clinical settings, requiring specialized expertise and resources. The rise of wearable medical devices and artificial intelligence (AI) applications presents an opportunity to enhance fetal monitoring by enabling continuous, real-time data collection outside clinical environments. These technologies have the potential to improve fetal health and obstetric outcomes, particularly in resource-limited settings. This systematic review aims to evaluate the use of wearable devices for antenatal fetal monitoring and their impact on fetal and obstetric outcomes. Methods and Analysis This systematic review will adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) framework. A comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science will be conducted to identify primary research studies investigating wearable devices designed for fetal monitoring during pregnancy. Studies will be included if they assess the effectiveness, accuracy, and clinical impact of wearable fetal monitoring devices. Primary outcomes will include markers of fetal well-being as well as neonatal and obstetric outcomes. Secondary outcomes will focus on patient experience and acceptability. Data extraction and quality assessment will be conducted independently by two reviewers using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Quality Assessment Tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. A narrative synthesis will be performed to summarise the findings. Ethics and Dissemination Ethical approval is not required since the study involves analysing published literature. The findings will be shared through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. This review will enhance the evidence base regarding the clinical utility of wearable fetal monitoring technologies and inform future research and device development. PROSPERO Registration: CRD4202348755 (current version 4.1)

The user experience and usability of Wearable Health Devices (WHD-UXU) play a pivotal role in determining user acceptance. However, there is a scarcity of comprehensive research systematically addressing the current focus and future research directions of WHD-UXU using bibliometric analysis. Therefore, to unveil the latest research progress and the evolutionary trajectory of WHD-UXU research hotspots over the past decade, this study leverages 365 papers related to WHD-UXU gathered from the Web of Science (WOS) database. Employing bibliometric methods and integrating tools like VOSviewer and CiteSpace, a knowledge map is formulated, encompassing aspects such as keyword co-occurrence, references co-citation, and research collaboration networks. The research findings highlight that current WHD-UXU research hotspots predominantly revolve around (1) the study of usability in wearable health devices, (2) research on mobile health of wearable health devices, (3) the study of health monitoring in wearable health devices, (4) research on rehabilitation treatment of wearable health devices, and (5) the study of user acceptance in wearable health devices. Future research is anticipated to focus on areas such as human-computer interaction, affective computing, artificial intelligence, human-machine trust, user self-disclosure, privacy algorithms, and system design evaluation. Finally, the study addresses future research directions and challenges in this field.

Wearable devices are currently mostly used in the medical field to monitor the physical condition of humans, but little study is known on the mental level. This article focuses on the implications of applying wearable devices to contemporary design and art, and how wearable devices can care for the spiritual aspect of the wearer. For achieving this, it is essential to invite the audience to participate in the design process, to consider and discuss an idealized design product together, and to move away from design to solve the needs of human life. The study received positive feedback from participants through case studies and a self-practice component. It can be concluded that wearable devices targeting the traditional healthcare industry have become the traditional way of healthcare, society and individuals should turn their attention to human consciousness, psychological interactions and how to deal with tricky intimate relationships.

We describe the design and control of a wearable robotic device powered by pneumatic artificial muscle actuators for use in ankle–foot rehabilitation. The design is inspired by the biological musculoskeletal system of the human foot and lower leg, mimicking the morphology and the functionality of the biological muscle–tendon–ligament structure. A key feature of the device is its soft structure that provides active assistance without restricting natural degrees of freedom at the ankle joint. Four pneumatic artificial muscles assist dorsiflexion and plantarflexion as well as inversion and eversion. The prototype is also equipped with various embedded sensors for gait pattern analysis. For the subject tested, the prototype is capable of generating an ankle range of motion of 27° (14° dorsiflexion and 13° plantarflexion). The controllability of the system is experimentally demonstrated using a linear time-invariant (LTI) controller. The controller is found using an identified LTI model of the system, resulting from the interaction of the soft orthotic device with a human leg, and model-based classical control design techniques. The suitability of the proposed control strategy is demonstrated with several angle-reference following experiments.

A novel wearable upper arm tactile display device, which can simultaneously provide three types of tactile stimuli (i.e., squeezing, stretching, and vibration) is presented. The squeezing and stretching stimulation of the skin is generated by two motors simultaneously driving the nylon belt in the opposite and the same direction, respectively. In addition, four evenly spaced vibration motors are fixed around the user's arm by an elastic nylon band. There is also a unique structural design for assembling the control module and actuator, powered by two lithium batteries, making it portable and wearable. Psychophysical experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of interference on the perception of squeezing and stretching stimulation by this device. Results show that (1) different tactile stimuli actually interfere with the user's perception compared to the case where only one stimulus is applied to the user; (2) the squeezing has a considerable impact on the stretch just noticeable difference (JND) values when both stimuli are exerted on the user, and when the squeezing is strong, while the impact of stretch on the squeezing JND values is negligible.