Recent Trends in Wearable Computing Research: A Systematic Review

Wearable devices are a trending topic in both commercial and academic areas. Increasing demand for innovation has led to increased research and new products, addressing new challenges and creating profitable opportunities. However, despite a number of reviews and surveys on wearable computing, a study outlining how this area has recently evolved, which provides a broad and objective view of the main topics addressed by scientists, is lacking. The systematic review of literature presented in this paper investigates recent trends in wearable computing studies, taking into account a set of constraints applied to relevant studies over a window of ten years. The extracted articles were considered as a means to extract valuable information, creating a useful data set to represent the current status. Results of this study faithfully portray evolving interests in wearable devices. The analysis conducted here involving studies made over the past ten years allows evaluation of the areas, research focus, and technologies that are currently at the forefront of wearable device development. Conclusions presented in this review aim to assist scientists to better perceive recent demand trends and how wearable technology can further evolve. Finally, this study should assist in outlining the next steps in current and future development.