Invasion Of The
Cyborg IETMs
Wearable computers and Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs) are revolutionizing the way machinery and equipment is being repaired and upgraded.
DCLnews reports.

WEARABLE COMPUTERS may sound like science fiction -- the melding of man and machine. But they are now very much in the realm of science fact, and interest in them has skyrocketed in the last year or so. Right now, for example, supervisors on the Pentagon's $700 million reconstruction and restoration project are using a wearable computer system to gather, store, and analyze data during their daily room-by-room inspections.

The prototype software designed to handle these tasks was developed by aerospace and telecommunications specialist Protolex. The software runs on Xybernaut Mobile Assistant V wearable computers with detached touch-screen displays, digital cameras, and headsets fitted with an earphone and microphone.

The system's nerve center is a nondescript trailer in an offsite parking lot. Workers going on shift upload prioritized work orders, instructions, and safety information to their Mobile Assistant from a server. When they leave, they download their reports to the server. Wireless connectivity is expected to eventually eliminate the twice-daily trailer visits.

Wearable computers are ideal for this type of work because they are "truly mobile, fully functional devices that can be easily interfaced with numerous peripherals and sensors," says Mike Binko, Xybernaut director of communications.

Wearable computers are also becoming more common in equipment repair situations where engineers and technicians need to have their hands free while following the instructions from an online technical manual.

Bell Canada, for example, gave Xybernaut wearables to workers who climb poles or go down manholes to repair or lay data lines. This allows them to have their computers on them at all times. They used to have a laptop in the truck, which meant they'd have to go back to the truck to look up anything.

Last year Federal Express ordered $1 million worth of wearables from Xybernaut, and gave the devices to its aircraft maintenance workers. That way, they can have the digital manuals and diagrams with them as they crawl around an aircraft, using the microphone to operate the wearable computer by speech recognition.

Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals
Another technology, one that goes hand-in-hand with wearable computers, is the Interactive Electronic Technical Manual or IETM, which is currently being developed and tested by the military and various industry organizations. IETMs have differing levels of sophistication. At their most basic, they are electronic reproductions of paper technical manuals -- page turners. At their most sophisticated, they are changing the face of how many types of equipment are repaired and upgraded. IETMs use multimedia, as well as conventional text and diagrams, to lead engineers and technicians through the repair or upgrade job. For example, if an aircraft engine needs repairing, the engineer can click (or use voice commands) to launch a video of the whole process -- which he or she follows on the tiny monitor attached to the wearable computer's goggles or eye-glasses.

Trainees obviously benefit enormously as it is like having an expert on hand to learn from.

Reporters in the field
Broadcast journalism is another area in which wearable computers hold great promise, says Kevin Sites of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, a former ABC and NBC News producer who has had to transport cameras, lights, sound equipment, and crews across the globe to cover news. "It's ludicrous in a war zone or disaster ... and costs $10,000 to $50,000 a day," he says. "We must be able to travel faster and lighter."

Wearable computers would allow a TV correspondent to write, shoot, and edit stories from the field unassisted. TV reporters can "be freed by technology, rather than handicapped by it," adds Sites.

Other uses
Other uses abound. Language translation software from Munich-based Linguatec can turn a wearable PC into a Star Trek-like universal translator, and medical software from Nasiff Associates of Brewerton, NY, can transform any wearable PC into a multi-diagnostic workstation for doctors. Corinna Lathan, a biomedical engineering professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., runs AnthroTronix, which makes wearables controlled by "gestural interfaces," so those with disabilities (or marines in trenches) can wirelessly control a computer, robot, or other device.

On a more down to earth level, when consumer versions of wearables come out the main use is likely to be product manuals -- similar to the IETMs being used by the military and industry today. "A basic example could be putting together a swing set," says Xybernaut Chief Technology Officer Mike Jenkins. "Wear the computer and it could walk you through the process, leaving your hands free to hammer and turn the screws."

Melding of man and machine
Some people already can't live without their wearable computers. "The notion of being disconnected is foreign to me," says Steve Mann, a computer engineering professor at the University of Toronto and a one-man demonstration project for wearable computers. He has been living in prototypes for 20 years. He notes that when his wife met him, he was already a "cyborg," and now she advises him remotely when he buys groceries.

These days, his system is relatively unobtrusive. His miniaturized headset is built into glasses or sunglasses, and wires are hidden by his hair. But this wasn't always the case. A 1980 photo on his website shows Mann sporting a helmet with a huge antenna, like something out of a 1950s Science Fiction B Movie.

Some might view Mann as eccentric. But it is developers like him who have set the stage for what is happening now with wearable computers in the workplace and in military situations.

DCLnews Editorial

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