In the 1970s, Edward Thorp and Claude Shannon reportedly experimented with one of the earliest wearable computers ever created — and the goal was to beat casino roulette.

Long before smartphones, smartwatches, or modern tech gadgets existed, the pair allegedly designed a tiny hidden computer system small enough to fit inside shoes. The device was built to calculate roulette wheel timing and predict where the ball was most likely to land, giving gamblers a statistical edge while betting.

What made the project so groundbreaking wasn’t just the casino angle — it was the technology itself. At the time, wearable computing was almost unheard of, making the experiment decades ahead of its era. Tiny switches hidden in shoes reportedly allowed users to input wheel speed information while discreet audio signals delivered predictions back to the player.

According to later accounts, the system successfully improved winning probabilities during testing, although casinos eventually became far more alert to unusual gambling methods and hidden technology.

Today, many historians view the project as more than just a gambling experiment.

It’s considered one of the earliest real-world examples of wearable computing ever attempted.