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16. Applications with Wearables.

As a rule of thumb the first people who are going to use extensively the wearables are the people whose work is a matter of life and death.

16.1 In the army now.

It is very important in an army to have an edge other the enemy, that is what we have always seen in history, and moreover the army is known to spend vast amount of money in order to get this edge.

Some years ago the infantryman was ordered to carry different pieces of ordnance that came from different sources and were not part of a whole thing, and to try to do his best with theses ( looks like Frankenstein to me ). With theses new projects the infantryman is the centerpiece of a coherent, complementary weapons and equipment system.

16.2 At the hospital

The Microvison's VRD has been delivered to the Wallace Kettering Neuroscience Institute, Dayton Ohio, for neurosurgery applications. This is not a full featured wearable solution but it is a big step toward the adoption of wearables in health care activity. ( on the website you can view a simulated image ).

16.3 With the firefighters

Firefighters are using thermal cameras in order to see through the smoke, in the next years theses devices should be miniaturized and with a wearable firefighters should have both hands free and will have real time access to data such as the map of the building and numerous helpful informations.

16.4 Wearable for the disabled.

One can easily think that a wearable computer can be very helpfull for the disabled people, for example for blind people a wearable with a GPS receiver, some maps of the surroundings and even more, interacting with its surroundings by means of active beacons can be a very good substitute for a dog, the elements exists for a long time.

This should be easily done : the linux comunity has good text to speech applications, voice recognition is quite ready for this application , the IrDA or Modem radio drivers are OK, the same applies to the GPS programs, we have to develop an electronic blind walking stick in order to detect the obstacles at a much reater range and last, but not the least to convince the autorities.


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