A Wearable Computing Prototype
An athletic jacket that keeps you protected from the elements while giving you your daily dose of tech.
Collaborators
Marissa Villano · Annie Doctrow · Jyoti Carter
Imagine a top-of-the-line jacket that makes you feel comfortable while giving you your daily dose of tech. Well, look no further! Our jacket is made from quality athletic material that keeps you protected from the elements, including a detachable hood that can be stored in the back of the jacket neck.
Our wellness jacket is perfect for the tech enthusiast. It includes nanotechnology that is a patch weaved into the shoulders, which measures the outdoor temperature and stores solar power for devices throughout the jacket. Nanotechnology is also in the right wrist to monitor internal body temperature and breathing rate; a convenient location for the user to place at the desired body location. A heart rate monitor is sewn on the left side of the jacket. On both arms are black stripes of material, but the right arm's patch functions as a blood pressure cuff.
The digital screen is located on the left wrist and displays outside and body temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, and can pair with smartphones to display phone calls, texts, and music. An added feature to make the experience better with retractable headphones at the collarbone.
Three designers, three sketches, one combined prototype.
To begin, we each brainstormed and sketched different versions of the jacket.
Once completed, we each solicited feedback on our individual sketches.
Lastly, we met to pitch our different design sketches and combine the best features from all to make our final design prototype.
What each sketch heard back, and what it changed.
For our design, we chose an athletic wear jacket due to the material being comfortable and having the ability to protect the electronic wires. The design begins with the digital screen on the left wrist. This screen will display body and outside temperatures, the user's breathing, and heart rate and two blood pressure cuffs (one for each arm). The outside temperature has a nanotechnology patch sewn into the fabric and generates solar power for the wellness jacket to function. The breathing and heart rate is taken with the heart rate monitor located above the heart. The body temperature is also taken by a nanotechnology patch, which is weaved into the right wrist of the jacket.
We all received feedback on our individual sketches. The feedback that Sketch #1 received included the sketch being good on dominance and being compact. Next, it was suggested that the jacket have an added band to the other sleeve for balance. The screen was also suggested to be lightweight, and application should be able to be downloaded to the device, such as Peloton or Nike. For this sketch, there was also a question as to why someone wouldn't go and purchase a smart watch.
The feedback on Sketch #2 is that there should be a second cuff for blood pressure monitoring added to the other sleeve. This would be important because the device may not read well with just one arm cuff.
The feedback on Sketch #3 began with answering the phone on your forearm may be annoying and difficult for those with less mobility. This led to the suggestion of a microphone being added to wrist. The second critique is that the internal temperature reader in the hood would be inconvenient when the hood is not in use. The suggestion was to move the sensor to the wrist of the jacket and hold the sleeve up to your forehead and other areas. Another suggestion is to add a Bluetooth feature that can play downloaded music.
The storyboard connects as an avid runner can use their jacket to track their health on the go. The screen displays health, texts, phone calls, and temperatures. The wireframe for the health screen displays breathing and heart rate, blood pressure and internal temperature while running. The main screen shows the three options of health monitoring, phone and music, as well as current outside temperatures.