According to speakers at the Wearable Technology Show 2015 (#WTS2015), there’s lots to look forward to when imagining the future of wearable tech. Forget the “shift your arse, fatty!” motivation of your very own Fitbit or Fuelband (although many of us are card-carrying members of this step count-addicted tribe), the wearables of the future will track more than our steps and calories, adapting our environments according to whether we just came back from a run, are feeling a little under the weather or even adapting our work schedules to account for our personal stress levels. Oh and by the way, cows are also going to talk to farmers, vineyards will talk to winemakers and the cities will speak to the people who live in them… Starting to feel excited/bewildered? Ok then.
Personally, we love the idea of everything talking to everything else, with our worlds adapting around us, reacting to our changing physiologies, mental health or daily life to make things that little bit better for all of us. However, although we’re already seeing huge strides made in semiconductor technology, industrial design and network infrastructure, the Internet of Everything/Internet of Things/Internet of You (delete according to your preferred buzzword) still feels frustratingly distant as a concept.
For now then we’ll have to content ourselves with getting excited about the component parts of our wearable future, as fashion, fitness, health and well-being get in on the action this week. Intel certainly flew the flag in a big way, displaying a blinged up version of Open Bionics’ robotic prosthetic hand and a dress that fired butterflies at an unsuspecting crowd. More things that caught our eye later.