What Is Wearable Technology?

What Is Wearable Technology?

Let me explain wearable technology to you directly: it's a category of electronic devices you can wear as accessories, embed in your clothing, implant in your body, or even tattoo on your skin. These are hands-free gadgets with real practical uses, powered by microprocessors and capable of sending and receiving data over the internet.

You've probably noticed how quickly these devices are being adopted, putting wearable technology right at the forefront of the Internet of Things (IoT). It's evolving into a key part of IoT, with applications that can change lives in medicine and beyond. Known simply as wearables, their development has been driven by mobile networks, high-speed data transfer, and tiny microprocessors. You can wear them, embed them in fabric or accessories, or even tattoo them directly onto your skin.

How Wearable Technology Works

I consider wearable technology to have been around since the 13th century with the invention of eyeglasses, and small timepieces you could wear date back to about 1500. But what defines modern wearables is the inclusion of a microprocessor and an internet connection.

The expansion of mobile networks made this possible, and the first major wave that caught on with consumers was fitness activity trackers. Then came wristwatches that doubled as screens with more advanced mobile apps. Think about Bluetooth headsets, smartwatches, and web-enabled glasses—they all let you pull data from Wi-Fi networks. The gaming world is adding to this with virtual reality and augmented reality headsets.

Specialized and Practical Applications

Not everything has been a success—take Google Glass, for instance; those internet-connected eyeglasses might come back for niche uses, but they never took off as a fashion item.

Right now, the development of wearable technology is shifting away from consumer gadgets toward more specialized and practical applications. Microchip implants are replacing keys and passwords; embedded in a fingertip, they use near-field communication (NFC) or radio-frequency identification (RFID), much like the chips for tracking pets.

The truly game-changing uses, though, are in medical devices. For example, Cyrcadia Health created the Cyrcadia Breast Monitor, an intelligent patch that detects early signs of breast cancer and sends the data to a lab for analysis.

Examples of Wearable Technology

In recent years, we've seen rapid progress in wearable tech tailored for medical and healthcare purposes. In Louisville, Kentucky, devices from AIR Louisville monitor local air quality, measure pollutants, and pinpoint hotspots for people with respiratory issues. Wearable medical alert monitors are giving more mobility and independence to the elderly and those with impairments.