The 70-piece traveling exhibit opens June 30, with artifacts ranging from some of the earliest virtual reality headsets, to one-of-a-kind prototypes, to conductive embroidery used in smart clothing today. Displaying consumer, professional and “maker” devices, the exhibit explores four challenges along the road to making a consumer wearable computer: power and heat, networking, mobile input and displays.
“Almost since the inception of personal computing, we’ve looked for ways to carry it with us and make everyday tasks faster, easier or more accurate,” says Clint Zeagler, research scientist at Georgia Tech’s Wearable Computing Center in the Institute for People & Technology. “This exhibit shows the many devices that have been attempted or used, and new, current devices that leverage miniaturized sensors or wireless mobile networks so that technology is ‘there when you need it and gone when you don’t.’”
The exhibit was created and curated by Zeagler with Thad Starner, professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing and a technical lead for Google Glass; Kevin Shankwiler, designer and assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial Design; Yoni Kaplan, designer; and Tavenner M. Hall, author. It is presented by Micron.
“Wearable technology is just the latest evidence of computing’s transformation of the economy and society,” said John Hollar, president and CEO of the Computer History Museum. “Anyone interested in how wearables are changing personal health, fashion, sports and even animal-to-human interaction will find this fascinating. We’re delighted to be the exhibit’s first museum stop in the United States.”
California marks the exhibit’s return to the United States after successful tours to CHI 2014 in Toronto, Canada; multiple stops in Munich and Berlin, Germany; and the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China. Following the Computer History Museum, the exhibit heads to the Museum of Design Atlanta in 2016.
On You: A Story of Wearable Computing
June 30 – Sept. 20, 2015
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA 94043
(650) 810-1010 | computerhistory.org
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