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.