On March 9, Apple announced the latest details of its much anticipated Apple Watch, which was another big step in the advancements of wearable technology. Today it seems wearable technology is everywhere you look. From FuelBands and Fitbits to Google Glass and now the Apple Watch, investors are sinking millions into a market that is predicted to increase to more than $50 billion over the next three to five years. Wearable technology is quickly becoming a part of everyday life and as is set to transform lives. The general consensus at the 2015 ‘Consumer Electronics Show,’ which is ‘a global consumer electronics and consumer technology tradeshow that takes place every January in Las Vegas,’ is that when it comes to wearable technology, the approach should be to “start at the wrist and then work our way around the body from there.”
Trends for this billion-dollar industry are bursting into new markets that include healthcare, education, the construction industry and much more. Within the next couple years, reports indicate that we should expect wearable technology to be the norm in workplaces with smartwatches potentially replacing mobile phones in selective markets.
Outside of the workplace, this technology is advancing to a point where it can also ‘digitize emotion.’ This particular aspect is not limited to just us humans as even dogs and cats are involved in the growing trend. As reported by The Wall Street Journal in early 2015, Yokohama-based Anicall Corp. has created a product and smartphone application to help pet owners gauge their animals moods.
Several different players in a variety of avenues are creating this technology to track emotion. For instance, in January 2015, Intel unveiled a new button-sized computing system designed for smart clothes and other wearables. Named “the Curie,” this device has been described as a “highly power efficient and highly integrated with a processor and controller, a bluetooth low-energy radio, motion sensors and a coin-sizes battery with recharging capability.”
It should come as no surprise that companies like Intel are investing into wearable technology designed for clothes. Ashley Norris, digital consultant for The Telegraph, reported ‘smart clothing’ is set to have the biggest potential growth out of all the wearables types by “moving from virtually zero sales in 2014 to 26 million in 2016.” Norris stated that this advancement and growth will not be limited to just those who are tech savy. “Not just for nerds,” said Norris, “the next generation of mobile gadgetry will be worn on the wrist and seamlessly integrated into the clothes we wear.”
The possibilities for tracking emotion and how that data can seem to be endless. David Neil of Wearable World, an organization “dedicated to creating the social fabric for business around Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem” posed the following question regarding tracking emotion in a blog from August 2014. Neil asked readers to “imagine being able to track your moods and emotions as well as your movements with a wearable – not only could you personally monitor which activities made you feel better, you could also get alerts when one of your friends or relatives were having a tough time and needed your support.” Neil continued to describe the various ways this type of data could potentially be used by saying, “restaurant staff could deal with the unhappiest customers first, theme park operators could identify problem areas quickly (huge queues, perhaps) and so on.”
Today there are already a number of products ranging from clips for belts or bra straps that monitor breathing patterns to see how relaxed or stressed you are, to mood sweaters that changes color to display what kind of mood the person wearing it is in. Studio XO, a London startup that turns technology into fashion statements has created bracelets that track an individual’s emotion via sensors. What makes Studio XO different is that the company then processes the data in real time before transmitting that information to a server/cloud so the information can be stored for later use.
It appears sooner rather than later, we all will literally wearing our emotions on our sleeves.