Meet Ralph the Wearable Computer

DETROIT (AP), It's not much on fashion, but its wearers can surf the Internet, play games and write papers, all while walking down the hall or sitting in class.  It's called Ralph, and during a recent computer convention in New York City the high school-student designed device wowed Microsoft executives.

The device, created by a group of Dearborn High School students, is a wearable computer headset. It was born out of last term's project for Dearborn High's Advanced Video Production course.  Earlier this month, three of teacher and former rock DJ Russ Gibb's students took Ralph to the computer convention and created such a stir, organizers asked them to demonstrate the device away from the main exhibit floor.

``They were the hit of the Streaming Video convention,'' Gibb told the Detroit Free Press for a Monday story.

Ralph, named after a character on the TV show ``The Simpsons,' combines a connection to cyberspace with up-close access to the human race. For example, it can record walking down a school hallway, and transmit the recording to a Web site. It puts a darkened visor over the wearer's eyes with a Web video camera protruding from the side.   The visor has a transparent screen that can display Web sites called up by a Twiddler, a miniature keybord/mouse that fits in one hand. A miniature computer, encased in an aluminum box, dangles from a strap on the wearer's waist.

``Ralph does everything a normal computer can do, but it's more convenient,'' said Alex Fisher, 18, who graduated from Dearborn High in June.

The students aren't the first to design a wearable computer. But Massachusetts Institute of Technology guru Nicholas Negroponte toldthe students in an e-mail that they were probably the only high school designing such cutting-edge devices.   Since unveiling Ralph, the students have received e-mail from Anthony J. Bay, general manager of Microsoft's Streaming Media Division. Bay told them to keep Microsoft in mind when they're ready to hit the job market.  And Mark Cuban, president and chairman of Broadcast.com, also wants the Dearborn students to keep him apprised of future projects.

``We started off going to the convention, being like the little ants watching the big honchos,'' said Brandon Gheen, 15, ``and all of a sudden they're interested in us.''

Dress for success with wearable computers

By Bob Shemeligian
LAS VEGAS SUN

Flexibility is the key when wearing your computer to dress for success.

So says Allan Sprague of ViA, an upstart Northfield, Minn., company, who is displaying his company's latest wearable computer at COMDEX this week.

Worn around the waist, the Via Wearable, a 133-megahertz body-worn personal computer weighs only three pounds, is operated by a touch pad or through voice recognition, and can provide nearly four hours of operation on its lithium ion battery.

The company, which has sold 2,000 wearable computers at $5,000 per unit to various clients ranging from the U.S. military to automobile manufacturers, plans to launch the Wearable II early next year.

This model will pack 180 megahertz, function twice as quickly as the standard model, and contain many new features such as a trans-reflective screen that can be read outdoors while the sun is shining.

And the cost? Sprague estimates it will go on the market for about $3,500 -- a third less than the standard model.

"As production increases, the cost will come down," said Sprague, who believes that one day wearable computers will be as common as laptops.

"It's the logical progression of computers," Sprague said. said. "Look at telephones. They went from rotary phones to push buttons to cordless to cellulars."

ViA is one of several small companies that have come out with wearable computers in the past two years.

Last year, Rockwell and Speech Systems pioneered a decidedly industrial 5-pound wearable personal computer with an eye-piece containing a tiny video screen and a microphone for speech control software. The $10,000 price tag put it out of the range of many consumers.

Another company, Xybernaut Corp., has developed a similar body-worn personal computer, complete with a battery pack and a head-mounted unit containing a display, microphone and earphones.

But Sprague said the ViA Wearable has one important difference -- a patented flexible core computer, a three-piece hinged unit that actually wraps around the user's waist.

Among those who have purchased ViA wearable systems, Sprague said, are a major American automobile manufacturer -- which outfits final paint inspectors with the computers -- and the Air Force.

Sprague said the military has purchased several ViA wearable systems to be used by inspectors at McClellan Air Force in Sacramento, Calif., who oversee maintenance of KC-135s, aircraft used to refuel jets in mid-flight.

Still, outside of limited military and industrial uses, it remains to be seen whether wearable computers will make a dent in the worldwide multi-billion-dollar personal computer market.

"It's going to happen eventually, but not yet," said Ken Abbott, vice president of XD Inc., a Seattle applications development firm. "Ergonomics are really everything, and there are still a lot of problems with most wearable computers."

Processing speed, organization of data and bulkiness of the unit itself are three problems that still plague the industry, Abbott said.

"Typically, you've got a strap-on vest, a back pack and a head set," Abbott said. "You're like a medieval knight -- someone has to dress you."

Still, Abbott believes that in a few years, wearable computers will come into style. "It's such a great platform, it's pretty much unstoppable."

Top of Page