Wear and Tear 2015 - Wear and Tear: Constructing Wearable Technology for the Real World

Wear and Tear: Constructing Wearable Technology for the Real World
ISWC'15, Workshop September 7th and 8th, 2015, Osaka, Japan
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http://wcc.gatech.edu/wearandtear
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Creating wearable devices for real world harsh environments is a
significant challenge to research projects. Often in the pursuit of
academic papers we lose the hands-on experience we develop while
building the actual hardware. In the pursuit of reaching our goals we
put aside the construction and prototyping lessons learned while
getting there. Typically the devices we build are secondary to the
research performed, but the skills are common to many ubiquitous and
wearable computing projects.
There are not many venues to publish these experiences. DIY builder
venues may not appreciate our narrowly focused requirements, while
academic publication is not usually appropriate for these engineering
efforts, often only having room for a short description of the final
version of the test setup. Ruggedizing equipment for use with animals,
or waterproofing computers for underwater experiments might have taken
up most of the research time, but can often get the least space in a
paper.
September 7th: Workshop
In this workshop we will have the opportunity to talk about how we
built our devices, systems, and test setups. What did we create in
order to perform the study? What did and didn't work? Who made the
part that finally met the requirements? What combination of hardware
from different sources made the difference?
A small sampling of the types of questions that we would love to see
addressed include:
･ How can you seal a wearable computer against submersion in water? For months?
･ What connectors stand up to the movements of an animal?
･ What harsh environment standards exist?
･ What flexible materials can you bite repeatedly?
･ What processes can mitigate industrial oil film on a camera lens?
･ How do you clean these devices?
･ What 3D printer technology is appropriate for building cases?
･ How do you radiation-harden consumer-grade electronic parts?
This is the engineer's opportunity for show and tell. Bring your
hardware, bring your horror stories, and brag on your sources. Tell us
about the approaches that failed and why. Share your insights and help
the community create new devices. Tell us about processes and
procedures. Describe your failures and then the ultimate successes.
Teach us how to build.
Topics we will cover include:
･ Harsh environments including underwater, extreme temperatures, and
high radiation.
･ Unappreciative users such as dogs, cats, horses, birds, land crabs,
and even human luddites.
･ Custom enclosures approaches including rapid prototyped, machined,
special surface treatments.
･ Hardened electronics including surface coatings and sealants,
avoiding vulnerable components, temperature, and radiation.
･ Communication, connectors, and cables. What protocols fail in the
presence of noise? What signals work in particular transmission
mediums?
･ Testing in the field. Preparation, logistics, test site
accessibility, transportation, networking.
･ Cloth and fabrics. How can textile interfaces be hardened for harsh
environments?
･ Unforgiving requirements such as international space station rules
and long lifecycle devices.
Submissions should not be structured like a typical academic paper. We
are looking for engineering how-to articles more at home in Make
magazine than an ACM publication. Give us specific vendors and part
numbers. Tell us the details. Accepted papers must be in the SIGCHI
Extended Abstract format. Submit your presentations and questions to
wearandtear-AT-wcc.gatech.edu by June 10, 2015. See
http://wcc.gatech.edu/wearandtear for more details.