ABSTRACT
Many maintenance activities begin with an inspection in which problems are identified. Job orders and repair instructions are generated from the results of the inspection. The VuMan 3 wearable computer was designed for streamlining Limited Technical Inspections of amphibious tractors for the US Marines at Camp Pendleton, California. The marine constantly gets into position, crawls out to read instructions, crawls back into position for the inspection, and then crawls out again to record the results. In addition, the marine tends to do one task at a time when he might have five things he has to inspect in one place. This extra motion has a major impact on the time required to do a task. By making information truly portable, wearable computers can improve the efficiency of this application and many other similar ones. Designing wearable computer interfaces requires attention to many different factors due to their closeness to the body and their use while performing other tasks.
