An historical account of the ´WearComp´ and ´WearCam´ inventions developed for applications in ´personal imaging´

We are entering a pivotal era in which we will become inextricably intertwined with computational technology that will become part of our everyday lives in a much more immediate and intimate way than in the past. The recent explosion of interest in so-called "wearable computers" is indicative of this general trend. The purpose of this paper is to provide an historical account of the author\´s wearable computer effort, from the 1970s (WearComp0) to present (WearComp7), with emphasis on a particular variation whose origins were in imaging applications. This application, known as \´personal imaging\´, originated as a computerized photographer\´s assistant developed for what many regarded as an obscure photographic technique. However, it later evolved into a more diverse apparatus and methodology, combining machine vision and computer graphics, in a wearable tetherless apparatus, useful in day-to-day living. Personal imaging, at the intersection of art, science, and technology, has given rise to a new outlook on photography, videography, augmented reality, and \´mediated reality\´, as well as new theories of human perception and human-machine interaction. The author\´s current personal imaging apparatus, based on a camera and display built within an ordinary pair of sunglasses, together with a powerful multimedia computer built into ordinary clothing, points to a new possibility for the mass-market.