Enriching mobile interaction with garment-based wearable computing devices

Wearable computing is on the brink of moving from research to mainstream. The first simple products, such as fitness wristbands and smart watches, hit the mass market and achieved considerable market penetration. However, the number and versatility of research prototypes in the field of wearable computing is far beyond the available devices on the market. Particularly, smart garments as a specific type of wearable computer, have high potential to change the way we interact with computing systems. Due to the proximity to the user`s body, smart garments allow to unobtrusively sense implicit and explicit user input. Smart garments are capable of sensing physiological information, detecting touch input, and recognizing the movement of the user. In this thesis, we explore how smart garments can enrich mobile interaction. Employing a user-centered design process, we demonstrate how different input and output modalities can enrich interaction capabilities of mobile devices such as mobile phones or smart watches. To understand the context of use, we chart the design space for mobile interaction through wearable devices. We focus on the device placement on the body as well as interaction modality. We use a probe-based research approach to systematically investigate the possible inputs and outputs for garment based wearable computing devices. We develop six different research probes showing how mobile interaction benefits from wearable computing devices and what requirements these devices pose for mobile operating systems. On the input side, we look at explicit input using touch and mid-air gestures as well as implicit input using physiological signals. Although touch input is well known from mobile devices, the limited screen real estate as well as the occlusion of the display by the input finger are challenges that can be overcome with touch-enabled garments. Additionally, mid-air gestures provide a more sophisticated and abstract form of input. We present a gesture elicitation study to address the special requirements of mobile interaction and present the resulting gesture set. As garments are worn, they allow different physiological signals to be sensed. We explore how we can leverage these physiological signals for implicit input. We conduct a study assessing physiological information by focusing on the workload of drivers in an automotive setting. We show that we can infer the driver´s workload using these physiological signals. Beside the input capabilities of garments, we explore how garments can be used as output. We present research probes covering the most important output modalities, namely visual, auditory, and haptic. We explore how low resolution displays can serve as a context display and how and where content should be placed on such a display. For auditory output, we investigate a novel authentication mechanism utilizing the closeness of wearable devices to the body. We show that by probing audio cues through the head of the user and re-recording them, user authentication is feasible. Last, we investigate EMS as a haptic feedback method. We show that by actuating the user`s body, an embodied form of haptic feedback can be achieved. From the aforementioned research probes, we distilled a set of design recommendations. These recommendations are grouped into interaction-based and technology-based recommendations and serve as a basis for designing novel ways of mobile interaction. We implement a system based on these recommendations. The system supports developers in integrating wearable sensors and actuators by providing an easy to use API for accessing these devices. In conclusion, this thesis broadens the understanding of how garment-based wearable computing devices can enrich mobile interaction. It outlines challenges and opportunities on an interaction and technological level. The unique characteristics of smart garments make them a promising technology for making the next step in mobile interaction

Therapeutic gloves for patients with arthritis

Therapeutic gloves are an intervention widely recommended and prescribed by rheumatologists and occupational therapists for the management and treatment of hand osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). At least a dozen different models of therapeutic gloves are available, with varying design, construction and materials. However, there is no systematic classification for therapeutic gloves and their effectiveness has not been well established. In addition, little research has addressed the issue of material choice on glove performance. The aim of this research was to fill these knowledge gaps and establish a framework for the design and engineering of functional and comfortable therapeutic gloves. To achieve that aim, the author undertook a series of integrated theoretical, experiential, physical and mechanical investigations. The research began with a review of existing evidence about the effectiveness of therapeutic gloves for people with hand OA and RA. Then, 30 people with hand OA and RA were surveyed, using a purpose-designed questionnaire, to gain insights into their experiences and perceptions of currently available therapeutic gloves. Six commercially available therapeutic gloves were tested on three aspects: physical parameters, tensile attributes, and properties relevant to physiological comfort. The next stage of this research was a comprehensive investigation of the impact of hand movements on skin deformation and the resultant glove–skin interfacial pressure. The metacarpal region showed significantly higher skin deformation and glove–skin interfacial pressure than other regions. It was also found that the corresponding geometry and the curvature caused by hand movements impact the skin deformation and glove-skin interfacial pressures. The results were translated into regional hand mapping design concept. Individuals vary in their sensitivity towards different types of therapies, thus it is important in glove design to consider a range of levels of sensitivity towards pressure and thermal stimuli to improve wearer comfort and optimal therapy effectiveness. The pressure and thermal discomfort thresholds of 13 arthritis patients, recruited from local libraries, community centres, campuses of universities and local clinics were examined. Significant variations in pressure, cold and heat discomfort thresholds were found between patients, and sensitivities were significantly different at different locations of the hand. The results obtained were again translated into regional hand mapping design concept. The results from the literature review, survey study, objective material tests and physical testing were combined with the regional hand mapping design concept to produce a novel, evidence-based theoretical framework for the design and engineering of functional and comfortable therapeutic gloves. The methodologies employed and the framework established in this research significantly advance knowledge in this field, and provide a robust foundation for the design and engineering of therapeutic gloves and other user-centric therapeutic garments

Tailoring Digital Touch: An ethnography of designers' touch practices during garment prototyping and the potential for their digitisation

At a time of rapid digital transition in garment design industries and education, this thesis ethnographically documents garment designers’ use of touch and its role in meaning-making and understanding during garment prototyping. A novel diffractive ethnographic attention is utilised to attune to differing aspects of touch and felt experience, revealing the significance of the felt, kinaesthetic awareness of the moving body to garment prototyping. Further demonstrating that designers relate felt histories of material entanglement with their moving bodies to their contemporary experience. Development of felt histories is thus identified as a key means of designers’ enskillment, alongside moments of overlooked and informal skills sharing. A socio-material perspective informed by New Materialism is adopted to foreground the critical role of designers’ entanglement with non-human things in structuring their felt experience and deriving meaning from it. Significantly, this thesis demonstrates that sensations are perceived beyond the conventionally defined body in and through entangled tools and materials and that sensations are socio-materially mutable and can be altered by peers directing designers to touch and feel in particular ways. This problematises current haptic technologies, which simulate touch at physical and virtual boundaries. The ethnographic data is supplemented by two workshop studies facilitating garment designers to engage with prototypical digital touch technologies, enabling speculation on future digital touch tools more relevant to garment prototyping. The thesis analytically discusses differing theoretical stances on non-human agency in design and making and their implications for digital touch tools. It concludes by proposing a theoretical Framework of Garment Designers’ Felt Enskillment and making recommendations for the design of digital touch interfaces for garment prototyping. The findings of the thesis contribute to the fields of HCI, design and education, deepening academic understandings of designers’ sensory experience and the impact of digital processes, potentially informing future technology development

Technologies and Applications for Big Data Value

This open access book explores cutting-edge solutions and best practices for big data and data-driven AI applications for the data-driven economy. It provides the reader with a basis for understanding how technical issues can be overcome to offer real-world solutions to major industrial areas. The book starts with an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the book by positioning the following chapters in terms of their contributions to technology frameworks which are key elements of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the upcoming Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics. The remainder of the book is then arranged in two parts. The first part “Technologies and Methods” contains horizontal contributions of technologies and methods that enable data value chains to be applied in any sector. The second part “Processes and Applications” details experience reports and lessons from using big data and data-driven approaches in processes and applications. Its chapters are co-authored with industry experts and cover domains including health, law, finance, retail, manufacturing, mobility, and smart cities. Contributions emanate from the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the Big Data Value Association, which have acted as the European data community's nucleus to bring together businesses with leading researchers to harness the value of data to benefit society, business, science, and industry. The book is of interest to two primary audiences, first, undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in various fields, including big data, data science, data engineering, and machine learning and AI. Second, practitioners and industry experts engaged in data-driven systems, software design and deployment projects who are interested in employing these advanced methods to address real-world problems