Abstract
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), which is rapidly increasing the number of network-connected and interconnected objects, could have a far-reaching impact in identifying the link between human health, well-being, and environmental concerns. In line with the IoT concept, many commercial wearables have been introduced in recent years, which differ from the usual devices in that they use the term “smart” alongside the terms “watches”, “glasses”, and “jewellery”. Commercially available wearables aim to enhance smartphone functionality by enabling payment for commercial items or monitoring physical activity. However, what is the trend of scientific production about the concept of wearables regarding environmental monitoring issues? What are the main areas of interest covered by scientific production? What are the main findings and limitations of the developed solution in this field? The methodology used to answer the above questions is based on a systematic review. The data were acquired following a reproducible methodology. The main result is that, among the thermal, visual, acoustic, and air quality environmental factors, the last one is the most considered when using wearables even though in combination with some others. Another relevant finding is that of the acquired studies; in only one, the authors shared their wearables as an open-source device, and it will probably be necessary to encourage researchers to consider open-source as a means to promote scalability and proliferation of new wearables customized to cover different domains.
Highlights
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), a spider web of networked and interconnected objects that have proliferated over the past decade, could have a far-reaching impact on determining the relationship between human health and environmental quality [1] due to its ubiquitous intelligence [2].Various studies have made it possible to thoroughly investigate the potential of IoT to improve all aspects of our lives, from industrial IoT to connected health or smart cities [3,4,5]
The smartphone has become a disruptive presence in all essential various human activities: in some applications, the smartphone can be used to check the health of the users [6], or it can be used to acquire geographic coordinates from the real life of the users, which define the most relevant “place-of-interest”, described as “a location where the user usually goes and stays for a while” [7]
While smartphones have been confirmed as a ubiquitous technology that inevitably interferes with our daily lives, more and more users are interested in using wearable
Summary
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), a spider web of networked and interconnected objects that have proliferated over the past decade, could have a far-reaching impact on determining the relationship between human health and environmental quality [1] due to its ubiquitous intelligence [2].Various studies have made it possible to thoroughly investigate the potential of IoT to improve all aspects of our lives, from industrial IoT to connected health or smart cities [3,4,5]. The United International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) addressed the issue of wearables by proposing a competition on wearable design, with the intent of highlighting the ethical implications of wearable research. In this context, UNICEF aimed to highlight the potential of wearables to help consumers become more active, and to improve their quality of life, promoting social interest among the public. UNICEF recommended the following requirements for potential wearables: low-cost, low power consumption, robustness and durability, scalability, and created to be open source and in the public domain [29,30]
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