Eudaemonic computing (´underwearables´)

This paper presents a framework for wearable computing, based on the principle that it be unobtrusive, and that it be integrated into ordinary clothing. This design philosophy, called ´eudaemonic computing´ (named in honor of the group of physicists who designed the first truly unobtrusive wearable computers with vibrotactile displays) is reduced to practice through the ´underwearable computer´ (´underwearable´ for short). The ´underwearable´ is a computer system that is meant to be worn within or under ordinary clothing. The first ´underwearables´ were built in the early 1980s, and have evolved into a form that very much resembles a tank-top. There were three reasons for the tank structure: (1) weight is evenly and comfortably distributed over the body, and bulk is distributed unobtrusively; (2) it provides privacy by situating the apparatus within the corporeal boundary we consider our own (personal) space, and others also so-regard; and (3) proximity to the body affords capability to both sense biological signal quantities (such as respiration and heart signals which are both accessible to a vest-based device), as well as produce output that we can sense, unobtrusively. The vibrotactile output modality (VibraVest) was explored as a means of assisting the visually challenged (to avoid bumping into objects through an ability to ´feel´ objects at a distance). The success of VibraVest suggests other possibilities for similar unobtrusive devices that can be worn over an extended period of time, in all facets of day-to-day life.