Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks

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14

14. How to Build a

Wearable Computer

Cost

Time

Difficulty

$100–2000

several weeks

very difficult

The prescience of Moore’s Law continues as we see the delivery of more

and more computer power in smaller and smaller packages. What does this

mean? For one thing, building a computer that you can wear has become

very feasible.

In this chapter I will outline the components and subsystems you need to

build your own wearable PC, and then describe a typical system that you

might build. There are a number of companies that make commercial wear-

able PC systems, but these can cost many thousands of dollars. You’ll be

able to build your own wearable computer for much less.

This project can take anywhere from a few weekends to many months to

complete, depending on the parts you choose and the overall complexity of

the system.

I’d like to thank Cliff Leong (http://www.zerospin.com) for inspiring parts

of this chapter.

Credits

Figure 14-0 copyright © 2003 Cliff Leong.

Figure 14-2a, 14-2b copyright © 2002 Io

Display Systems. Figure 14-3a, 14-3b copyright

© 2003 MicroOptical Corp. Figure 14-4 copy-

right © 2003 TekGear Inc. Figure 14-11 copy-

right © 2003 Cliff Leong. Figure 14-13, 14-14

copyright © 2003 Matias Corporation. Figure

14-15 copyright © 2003 Belkin Corporation.

Figure 14-20 copyright © 2003 Biocontrol

Systems.

What You Need

• A low-power CPU board

• A portable display

• A wearable input device

• A power supply

• Optional wireless data link

• Optional sensors

• Wearable carrying case

• Other items listed in

Exhibit A

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