OpenWearables 2025

Overview

Open hardware such as Arduino are an accelerator for research in ubiquitous and wearable computing. In recent years, an increasing number of open-source wearable devices is emerging. In this workshop, we seek to create a dedicated forum and venue for publication for topics around open wearable computers. The whole day workshop will include a keynote speech, paper presentations, demo sessions, group discussions, and networking opportunities.

In the afternoon, the workshop will feature a hacking session where participants can prototype new ideas using wearable artifacts presented in the papers or any wearables brought by attendees.

Through our activities, we seek to create a future where wearable technologies are accessible, interoperable and impactful across applications and industries.

Call For Papers

The OpenWearables 2025 workshop aims to create a dedicated forum for open source wearable technology.
OpenWearables favors papers that present wearable artifacts that can be demoed and "hacked" in the afternoon hackathon session of the workshop. We are particularly looking for technically or otherwise exciting work, while novelty and in-depth evaluations are optional (although a plus). Technical, concise, even bullet-point descriptions are preferred to literary forms of expression, we favour technical soundness and excitement over artificial benchmarking. The system must not have been published in OpenWearables before, unless there are significant differences or additions to previous work, and the wearable artifact should be original work by the authors.
We invite papers including but not limited to the following topics:

• open-source designs of wearable devices
• applications and evaluation of open-source wearables
• software and systems that supports designing, developing, or building open-source wearables
• frameworks simplify the interaction between open-source wearables
• prototyping and fabrication techniques for open-source wearables
• open-source wearable fashion and aesthetics

Submissions should be concise, limited to a maximum of 6 pages excluding references, and demonstrate the use, build and interface processes of open hardware, software or systems. In addition, it is expected that authors submit "open-source materials" which are, for example, design files, 3D-printing files, schematics or any other materials that are required to reproduce the wearable device. Papers should use pictures, graphs and functional diagrams as often as possible in the explanation of the work. An essential requirement is that the projects presented adhere to open source principles. Papers will be selected based on adherence to these principles and the clarity of the paper. During the workshop, authors will be required to present their research paper and also provide a demonstration of their open wearable work to showcase the practical applications and potential impact of their research.

The workshop will feature a mix of a keynote speech, paper presentations, demo sessions, and group discussions, providing a platform for participants to showcase their work, share insights, and foster collaboration within the open wearables community. We particularly encourage demonstrations of open source wearable projects during the hands-on demo sessions, in addition to the paper.

All accepted papers will be considered for inclusion in a special position paper summarising the results of the workshop, which will be published in the proceedings. We will also make all workshop materials available on open-wearables.org and GitHub, creating a lasting resource for the community.

Join us at OpenWearables 2025 to help democratise wearable technology, accelerate innovation and establish standards for open wearables. Together, we can create a future where wearable technologies are accessible, interoperable and impactful across applications and industries.

Submission Instructions

All papers are submitted via PCS. To create a new submission select "SIGCHI" society, "UbiComp/ISWC 2025" Conference/Journal, and then select the "UbiComp/ISWC 2025 OpenWearables" track.

• Submission Deadline: July 11th, 2025
• Acceptance Notification: July 26th, 2025
• Camera Ready Deadline: July 29th, 2025

The submission template can be downloaded from ACM site. Alternatively, the Overleaf version can be found here. Latex documents should use the “sigconf” template style (double column). Word users should use the interim template.

Reviews will be double-blind: no names or affiliation should be included in the submission. Papers will receive two reviews from the technical program committee. If accepted, papers will be published to download in the ACM Digital Library. Papers must be presented in person at OpenWearables 2025.

Review Criteria

Papers will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

• The paper introduces an open-source artifact for wearable computing
• The papers includes all materials for replication
• Full evaluation, studies, and benchmarks of the system are optional (but a plus!)
• Novelty is not a criterion if not previously published in OpenWearables (significant delta would be ok, though)(the presented system must be original work of the authors!)
• The work is exciting