Wearable device design is the process of creating modern wearable technology that uses advanced sensors to track a person’s movement and biometric data, which it sends via wireless connectivity to the cloud, a computer, and/or a smartphone.
Wearable tech design must balance an uncommon number of constraints and considerations, including a tradeoff between device feature and battery life, a balance between functionality and style, and the need to be both resistant to environmental factors like moisture and dust and compliant with regulations for electronics that touch the body.
Wearable tech devices are a complex challenge for designers and manufacturers because they require more design constraints than average consumer products. The most popular wearable devices—smart watches and fitness bands—are electronic devices greatly limited by space yet involving advanced sensors and displays for monitoring heart rate, blood pressure, physical movement, sleep, and more. This requires tradeoffs between features and the lifespan of small batteries. These devices and other wearables, like AR/VR headsets, may be subject to additional regulatory requirements because they touch the body. They also have environmental requirements like dust- and moisture-resistance, as well as balancing aesthetic concerns with functionality.
For the above reasons, wearable technology designers and manufacturers should conduct thorough customer research, including user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) research, to ensure they develop wearable devices in line with their target audience’s behavior and desires. Wearable technology should follow user-centered design, as these devices are often used every day, throughout the day. They need to fit into everyday situations and balance easy navigation and focused features with pleasing physical aesthetics.
Because of the small size of most wearable device displays, they need to prioritize “glanceability,” the ability for users to quickly glean the information they want from a glance at the screen. This takes a UI that efficiently uses the limited display surface area. Wearables can also give haptic feedback and take input from the user’s voice and gestures to be interactive with less emphasis on the screen itself.
Balancing functionality with style, safety, and weather resistance means that material selection is also vital for wearable tech design. Popular materials often combine flexibility, durability, and biocompatibility, such as different types of silicone and elastomers. Emerging materials are also important for designing wearable devices, such as “smart fabrics,” which blend the breathable flexibility of clothing fabric with electrical conductivity, and the ultra-thin, ultra-strong graphene, commonly used in sensors and flexible displays.
When choosing materials for wearable device design, software like Autodesk Fusion can provide cost estimates for different materials, as well as find ways to reduce material use through its generative design capability. Fusion’s robust simulation abilities and photorealistic 3D visualization can reduce the need for producing physical prototypes for the different use cases and design iterations that wearable devices go through. When it is time to make physical prototypes, Fusion’s computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) functions can simulate and virtually test machining processes to reduce production errors and material waste from processes like 3D printing and CNC machining, which make prototyping faster and more cost-effective.
Additive and subtractive manufacturing processes like 3D printing and CNC machining that improve prototyping can also aid wearable technology manufacturing, particularly when making custom-fit wearable devices for medical, athletic, or other purposes or for small-batch production.
As more consumers and governments demand environmentally friendly products and higher sustainability standards, advanced manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing can promote the use of biodegradable or recycled plastics and reduce waste while producing customized wearable electronics.
For wearable technology manufacturing at scale, smart manufacturing makes use of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to make mass production more flexible and efficient. These techniques can keep manufacturing costs at bay while also boosting quality control by, for example, reducing the number of post-delivery returns.
Choosing Autodesk software for wearable device design confers a variety of valuable benefits.
Sometimes a product looks good as a CAD model, but then the production process gets ugly. With the design for manufacturing features in the Autodesk Product Design & Manufacturing Collection, you can consider manufacturing processes, materials, and constraints from the outset for a smoother production workflow.
Autodesk Fusion includes mechanical and electronic design for printed circuit board (PCB) creation. It can help ensure that the typically small PCBs required for wearable device development are functional, reliable, and cost-effective.
Sometimes, specialty wearable devices for medical, athletic, or other purposes need to fit an individual body exactly. Fusion’s generative design can make custom fits easier and more precise, while integrated CAM can set up production on 3D printers and CNC machines for custom manufacturing.
When using finite element analysis (FEA) simulations in software like Autodesk Inventor, wearable tech designers and engineers can virtually test the effects of multiple real-world forces on their device. FEA simulations more accurately model outcomes from heat, vibration, and other stresses on wearable device performance.
With Autodesk software, wearable technology designers and manufacturers can involve all departments—electrical engineers, firmware engineers, systems engineers, the design team, and so on—from the very beginning of a project with cloud-connected remote collaboration features that update files in real time.
Autodesk Fusion software includes tools to calculate the sustainability impact of a product's materials and manufacturing methods. It also includes extensive simulation and virtual testing abilities, allowing wearable device designers to reduce physical resource use by handling more of the prototyping process digitally.
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BOAT LIFESTYLE
The leading audio wearable company in India used Autodesk Fusion software to speed up design iteration times and help streamline collaboration between outsourced vendors and internal designers and engineers. Fusion’s swift workflow helped spawn the design of a line of wireless smart earphones and also helped the company expand its offerings to smartwatches and other electronics.
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EDERA SAFETY
When developing its unique vest for protecting against rotational impact spinal injuries, Edera Safety took data from sensors in the wearers’ chest and waist areas to inform the generative design capabilities within Autodesk Fusion and produce an optimized structure for the design.
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
A PhD candidate at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, is working to simplify the operation of EEG brain-computer interface headsets so that spinal cord injury patients can use them from home. Nina Petric-Gray developed her own headsets using Autodesk Fusion’s generative design, which helped her 3D print custom headsets for individual patients based on 3D head scans.
Image courtesy of Nina Petric-Gray
Learn more about the status and future prospects for wearable technology design, including their potential for greater medical functionality and for harvesting some of their own energy.
Printed circuit board (PCB) design is at the center of electronics product development. When creating small gadgets like fitness trackers and other wearable technology devices, it’s especially important for design software like Fusion to include detailed PCB capabilities and electronic behavior simulation.
The booming extended reality (XR) sector—including augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR)—is altering many industries like product design, construction, and entertainment production. For XR to truly thrive it will require advancements in wearable technology design and manufacturing so that XR headsets like the Microsoft Hololens and Meta Quest Pro can reach scale.
Graphene’s remarkable combination of strength, flexibility, light weight, and both thermal and electrical conductivity make it highly desirable for wearable tech design in biomedical, sporting goods, and other industries. Ora Graphene Audio developed its proprietary GrapheneQ nanomaterial and uses Autodesk Fusion to accelerate product development cycles using simulations and CAM for CNC machines and three-axis mills.
Find out how the increasing utility of medical wearable technology kicked off trends during the COVID-19 pandemic that have shown no signs of slowing down, including the monitoring of vital signs like blood-oxygen saturation, better remote health care, and personalized fitness programs.
By integrating both ECAD and PCB design, Autodesk Fusion enables more seamless interaction between electrical and mechanical engineering teams and helps streamlines the design and manufacturing of smart products, including smartwatches and other wearable technology.
The many examples of wearable technology include the Apple Watch and other smartwatches, as well as dedicated fitness trackers like the Fitbit Inspire and the Whoop strap. Other wearable devices include biometric rings like the Samsung Galaxy Ring and the Oura Ring.
Wearable technology also covers other uses and parts of the body. For example, virtual reality (VR) headsets like the HTC Vive and augmented reality (AR) glasses like the Microsoft Hololens are wearable devices growing in popularity and functionality.
Other emerging wearable technology includes haptic vests—like the Woojer Vest—or other haptic clothing that gives physical feedback for gaming, VR, and other applications.
The key steps in designing wearable technology include user research to understand your target customers’ desires, followed by the initial brainstorming/conceptualization process. Creating the product entails multiple levels of design and engineering, including user interface/user experience design, hardware design, and software engineering.
A rapid prototyping process can include the production of a prototype, internal and user testing, and the creation of additional iterations based on testing results.
Before wearable technology manufacturing takes place, a company must also pass all the necessary regulatory compliances and certifications.
The materials commonly used in wearable technology are chosen for important traits such as electrical conductivity, biocompatibility, flexibility, and durability.
Materials include silicone, often used in wristbands, which is flexible, durable, and biocompatible. Different types of elastomers are also prized for their flexibility and biocompatibility.
Graphene, commonly used in sensors and flexible displays, and gallium-based liquid metals that can conform to body contours both have an electrical conductivity that suits them to the bioelectronics needed for some wearable technology. Certain “smart fabrics,” which combine the breathable flexibility of common clothing fabric with electrical conductivity, also feature in certain wearable technology designs and manufacturing.
You can design wearable technology by following the key steps listed above and using software that assists wearable technology design and manufacturing, such as Autodesk Fusion. In one cloud-based platform, Fusion combines CAD, CAM, CAE, and printed circuit board (PCB) design to connect your entire design and manufacturing process.
Best practices for wearable tech include user-centered design and simplicity to focus on users’ preferences and make the devices easy to read and operate. Any electronics should be interoperable with other systems and software, for example being able to integrate with both iOS and Android mobile devices. And the electronics functionality should be energy efficient to promote long battery life.
Because this tech is designed to be wearable, it should be comfortable and ergonomic for varying body types, as well as resistant to wear and environmental conditions like water and dust. Designers can also use their creativity to make wearable tech aesthetically attractive and fashionable.
