" Wearable Computing – An Integrated European Project as an European Challenge " Dr. Michael Boronowsky TZI - Universität Bremen Mobile Research Center

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Overview Motivation “The basic Ideas of Wearable Computing” Introduction “The European Integrated Project – The World biggest Project in the Field of Wearable Computing” Analysis “How we made it – From Zero to Hero”

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Wearable Computing … … a dogma to integrate computers into the clothing?

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Wearable Computing … … soon so naturally like our Clothes?

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Wearable Computing … … a new way to use a computer?

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Wearable Computing … … an upcoming huge world wide market !

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Information Technology at Work An Analogy E.g.: How will an appropriate car navigation system look like? ?

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Information Technology at Work An Analogy E.g.: How will an appropriate car navigation system look like? Driver has to concentrate on traffic Hands are needed do drive Eyes are needed to look at the street The right information at the right time is needed - “Next Street left” Desktop Paradigm is not appropriate How successful will a system be, where the driver has to stop several times to get the information and remember it till the next stop?

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Information Technology at Work An Analogy E.g.: How will an appropriate system to support a worker look like? ?

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Information Technology at Work An Analogy Worker has to concentrate on work Hands are needed e.g. to assemble Eyes are needed to look at the working environment The right information at the right time is needed - “Next screw 30 NM” Desktop paradigm is not appropriate E.g.: How will an appropriate system to support a worker look like? How successful will a system be, where the worker has to stop several times to get the information and remember it till the next stop?

MOBILE RESEARCH CENTER Information Technology at Work Wearable Computing Display in the field of vision Computer – worn at the body Hands free Wireless communication

Facts and Figures of the EU Integrated Project  Managed by the TZI within the Mobile Research Center Bremen  Consortium: 36 partners from 14 European countries Size: (12 > 5000, 3 < 5000, 15 SME, 6 Government)  Duration of 4,5 years  170 person years of total effort (start by June 2004)  24 M€ overall budget, 14,5 M€ funded by European Union

The Consortium (Selected Partners)

The Application Pilot Scenarios Living Lab Methodology Firefighter Assistant Paris Fire Brigade –Increase of safety –Effective coordination –Communication –Augmentation of human senses Production P.A. Skoda –Permanent access to production and process information for – plant management – service staff – assembly worker –Aggregate information –Integration of different and heterogeneous information sources –Training of assembly workers Maintenance Supporter EADS –Inspection –Service and Repair –Smart Wearable Manuals – context sensitive – adaptive – authoring – gathering information Clinical Pathway gespag –Coordinate the medical staff on a ward –Access the controls of a medical device during an examination –Present process related data to the physician

Examples: Fire Fighting Helmet-integrated dedicated sensors Head-Up Display (LCD or see-through technology) Optimised Speech Acquisition (throat or bone microphones,…) Emergency Signalling Arm-mounted Display Glove-integrated Sensors (accelerometers for MMI,…) Sensors for toxic substances identification

Example: Car Production

Healthcare demonstrator

How we Made it General Thoughts TZI was not so experienced on the EU level – even newcomers are able to be successful with huge initiatives We believed in the upcoming economical importance of the wearable computing paradigm The instrument of Integrated Projects seemed suitable to overcome barriers that hindering the practical application of wearable computing We knew the challenges of coordinating an IP in this field –For Europe – Global technological leadership (and support to reach the Lisbon goals) –For Bremen – to support the “Mobile City Bremen” strategy –For us – to become one of the world leaders in the field of applied wearable computing

How we made it Preparing the Proposal Because of the importance, preparations were very serious –Nearly 2 years continuous work –Intensive partner selection in 4 preparatory workshops and a own call for contribution Approx. 80 organisations showed their interest to participate in the project We promoted the idea of the project in clear, understandable terms –Raise interest of industries, local government and EC –Presentations on several open information days of the EC and IST- conferences Good scientists are not generally good proposal writers –We hired an external partner to ensure good formal quality of the acquisition process – Team of content and form University was focussing on content and consortium Our Partner was responsible for proposal writing and financial and administrative planning

How we made it Now and then Management is divided into an administrative, financial and technical part –Administrative management is organized by our external partner (organizing meetings, formal reporting, contact point for organisational issues) –Financial and technical management is performed by us (TZI – Universiät Bremen) We hired a tough technical manager with a professional industrial background We have a focus on the inside but also on the outside development of the project –Actively promoting the project on several occasions –Supporting initiatives of the EC –Using the project to set up structures regarding to the European Research Area (ERA)

How we made it Now and then - Outlook Even if the project is huge and the consortium was created carefully Wearable Computing is broader than –Still more (technological, societal, …) aspects to be considered –Still more application areas relevant –Still more activities possible Not all experts or important player are integrated National initiatives are not really covered Not all countries and all interested regions covered is the seed not tree ! Open Wearable Computing Group (OWCG) 3rd International Forum on Applied Wearable Computing (IFAWC – 15/16 March 2006 in Bremen) European Mobile Regions

Thank you for your attention! Contact: Dr. Michael Boronowsky TZI – Universität Bremen Mrs. Merkel on the TZI-Booth on CeBIT2003