IoT as Wearables

As Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality improve, the Internet of Things (IoT) continues its march into wearable devices. If/when the Metaverse ever gets here, it will come in via glasses and rings that have capabilities bridging the digital and physical worlds to bring more efficiency and enjoyment, as well as a higher understanding of our own bodies, to everyday life. Our Interplay platform stands ready to leverage this revolution in IoT wearable interfaces.

NOTE: This is part of our ongoing IoT series. See also our previous article: IoT for Beauty and IoT in the Home

Fitbits, Apple Watches, and other forms of wearable technology have been around for a while now. In 2020, Pew Research found that one in five Americans regularly used a smartwatch or fitness tracker. As time passes and technology improves, new versions of wearables will gain superior capabilities. It’s likely that the number of people using these products will continue to climb.

Though wearable technology such as Smart Glasses that give the user real-time information or bracelets that can predict if you’re getting sick may seem far off in the future, they’re actually not. Right now, wearable technologies like these are in the creation process. How? Sensors are simultaneously shrinking in size and gaining computing power, allowing designers to implement IoT in ways once thought impossible.

Though many IoT wearables are in the works, it’s still going to take a few years to perfectly implement these technologies. Right now, many of these technologies are dealing with challenges such as low brightness and short battery life. Companies are also working on improving user experience design as well as style.

There are a few different trends developing in the IoT as Wearables space. Here’s some examples of what’s out there now and what’s being worked developed:

Eyewear:
As we’ve written, the AR revolution is coming. A sleek pair of AR glasses with good styling and stereo hi-res displays will be the next ‘iPhone inflection point’.

• Vuziz is offering stylish smart glasses with speakers, cameras, WiFi, and noise-cancelling microphones.
• Mojo Vision is building a smart contact lens, with a built-in display allowing users to see useful and timely information without having to look down once.
• Raptor AR created glasses for cyclists that provide a limited Augmented Reality (AR) experience. Cyclists can experience real-time information about their heart rate, speed, elevation, and more so that they can focus on safety and the ride itself.
• Epson designed the Moverio glasses that can connect with a drone. With these, the user can keep their eyes up and on the drone at all times, allowing users to better capture aerial photos and visuals with a 360 field of vision.
• MAD Gaze offers smart glasses that connect to the user’s phone. With the glasses, the user can see and navigate screens that only the wearer can see using hand gestures and voice control.

Wristwear & Handwear:
Wristwear (watches) will soon be joined by rings, smart gloves, and performance wrist-straps to act as security keys (unlock your motorcycle with your gloves), remote controls, and sports improvement trackers.

• Ozon, from 16Lab, has the world’s smallest ring, equipped with full gesture tracking, bluetooth, and NFC interfaces.
• The Oura Ring offers 24/7 heart rate monitoring, personalized health insights, sleep analysis, temperature sensors, and more.
• The Biostrap is a wrist device that takes sleep and health data to help users understand how their body recovers and how to optimize their personal health and fitness.
• Facebook developed a wrist-based AR controller which allows the user to access applications via gestures.

How to Integrate?

These wearables have both input and output.  Devices take hand gestures, arm movements, or simple voice commands, and translate them into commands to be sent out to various Internet protocols.  Information coming back from the Internet can be given to the wearer via small screens (AR), or even more simply as haptic feedback (every time your watch or ring vibrates to tell you something).

Our middleware platform Interplay is ready for this revolution.  We have nodes ready to connect to a wide range of IoT networks:

• Particle – A market leader in industrial controllers, vehiclular devices, and geolocation tracking, Interplay nodes will connect devices to wearables for security, haptic feedback, or AR reporting via smart glasses
• Arduino – The most homebrew-friendly platform drives a number of interesting projects that can be linked as wearables evolve to give visual, audio, and haptic communications
• Azure IoT Hub – Microsoft has a well-developed IoT environment to tie systems controllers and IoT devices together in a cloud environment
• Google IoT Hub – Google also has built a number of connectors and APIs for IoT. Interplay has wrappers for these APIs, available for connecting to AR/VR glasses, watches, and rings
• Apple Home Kit – Apple’s selection of home electronics can be integrated in with wearable devices for voice and haptic control
• Philips Hue – One of the more popular IFTTT outputs, Philips Hue lighting controls could be connected to hand gestures or wearable controllers (wrist bands, glasses, rings)

Wearables will continue to multiply in complexity and convenience. At Iterate, we are building the toolsets and platforms to weld these wearables to work seamlessly with other IoT controllers, voice interfaces, and AI assistants.  To learn more, schedule a demo today.