"The Walking Office" Wearable Computer Prototype, 1984
THF167210 / "The Walking Office" Wearable Computer Prototype, 1984
01
Artifact Overview
The Walking Office Wearable Computer is a prototype model created by the design group Salotto Dinamico. This proposed device subverted where (and when) the office could be, turning the human body into a mobile workstation. A keyboard, display arc, and cassette recorder became personal adornment--also capable of pairing with an acoustic modem to exchange data through telephone lines.
Artifact Details
Artifact
Prototype (Object genre)
Date Made
1984
Place of Creation
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
2016.112.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Maria Luisa Rossi and Vincenzo Iavicoli.
Material
Metal
Color
Silver (Color)
Dimensions
Height: 1.125 in (keyboard)
Width: 7 in (keyboard)
Length: 3.625 in (keyboard)
Height: 0.125 in (shoulder piece)
Width: 7.25 in (shoulder piece)
Length: 6.75 in (shoulder piece)
Length: 6.5 in (spring)
Diameter: 0.375 in (spring)
Height: 0.125 in (head piece with black shape)
Width: 6.75 in (head piece with black shape)
Length: 8 in (head piece with black shape)
Height: 1.25 in (mouse)
Width: 2.375 in (mouse)
Length: 2.75 in (mouse)
Inscriptions
The alphabet is listed on the front of the keyboard
on front of mouse:
PAUSE MIC / STOP PLAY REC
on bottom of mouse:
L[?]
Keywords |
|---|
02
Related Content
SetFeatured on The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation: Season 5
- 26 Artifacts
Cotswold Cottage is from the Cotswold Hills in southwest England. The Fords were attracted to the distinctive character of Cotswold buildings, which are characterized by the yellow-brown stone, tall gables, steeply pitched roofs, and stone ornamentation around windows and doors. Several decorative additions were made to the house in England, before dismantling and re-erecting it in Greenfield Village.
SetCommunications and Information Technology
- 50 Artifacts
This is one of the first 50 Apple 1 computers. Apple 1s were the first pre-assembled personal computers; Steve Wozniak assembled this one in Steve Jobs's family home. Before the release of the Apple 1, owning a personal computer meant building it yourself. Wozniak's refined engineering skills, coupled with Jobs's bold marketing abilities, led to a revolutionary and affordable product--as well as a successful company.
articleThe Walking Office
Learn the 1980s design story of the Walking Office Wearable Computer, which proposed turning the human body into a mobile workstation.