Historical research suggests the first complete wearable computer, conceived in 1955, was designed to predict outcomes of the casino gambling game roulette. This wearable system was a cigarette-pack sized analog computer with four push buttons. A data taker would use the buttons to indicate the speed of the roulette wheel, then the computer would send tones via radio to a hearing aid worn by the bettor. This wearable was later prototyped in 1961 by Edward Thorp and Claude Shannon at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Thorp disclosed a similar system, featured in the March 27th 1964 issue of Life Magazine, for beating the Wheel of Fortune gambling game.
Since then, many researchers have experimented with wearable concepts. One such researcher, Steve Mann, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is considered a pioneer in the area of wearable computing. He has been designing and building wearable devices since the early 1980's. Early wearable computing systems developed by Mann consisted of head and waist mounted displays and cameras.
These apparatus have proved to be cubersome and awkward, therefore they are impractical for daily use. Today, Mann's wearables have shifted toward more comfortable and practical devices such as eyeglass based communication systems, 'smart shoes' that incorporate sensors to provide information on footstep force and velocity, and 'smart undergarments' that can monitor heart rate and respiration.