Sick of branded garments that give you hell in fittings? Tired of carrying around spare batteries and chargers for your iPod and cellphone? Well, it seems like God finally lent an ear to all your prayers. With some very interesting developments taking place in the intelligent clothing and textiles industry, your wardrobe could soon power your iPod and change size and shape to give you that elusive perfect fit. Coming hot on the heels of such futuristic inventions as the Maxwell Smart shoe phone, mobile-phone shirts which let you speak into the collar, and socks that mend themselves (Hallelujah!!!), these 'smart clothes' claim to lend power not only to your walk but also to a number of other portable devices.
Dr. Adam Best, a research scientist at the CSIRO division of energy technology has developed a shirt that produces electricity simply if the wearer walks around in it. According to him, 'The world is your oyster when it comes to the sorts of things you can do with clothing and technology. You're only limited by your imagination, really."
From seamlessly integrating MP3 players and mobile phones into clothing to changing color and shape and even conducting electricity, these 'wearable computers' and 'intelligent' fabrics are set to revolutionize the garment industry. Being developed for military purposes like constant energy supply for soldiers in the field, the power shirt- or flexible, integrated- energy devices- are basically wearable batteries that charge whenever the wearer is in motion. Theorizing on the use of this technology for civilian purposes, Dr. Best says that these fabrics could easily be used to power small portable devices such as the mobile phone and mp3 players.
Dr. Best says:
The technology basically enables you to get rid of the battery as we know it and will open up a whole new world for designers to put things in places that have merely been the realm of science fiction, so to speak. So, for example, you could quite easily build a device into your shirt, where your shirt literally becomes a mobile phone or iPod.
From CSIRO's Textile and Fibre Technology division, Dr Richard Helmer who recently developed an 'air-guitar' or a wearable instrument shirt, agrees with Dr. Best and says:
Our clothing has the potential to play a very different role going into the future. There are people all over the world engineering all sorts of different functionality into clothing, from sensing things to doing things, to self-cleaning, all sorts of things.
Helmer's shirt has embedded sensors in the sleeves that can detect and interpret the air-guitarist's arm movement and by wirelessly transmitting that information to a computer the appropriate sounds are generated. According to Helmer, the same technology can be adapted for purposes ranging from medical rehab to virtual games and even sports training. And while military, medical and various other industrial uses have driven the bulk of the early research and development in the field of smart clothes, more commercial uses of the technology are on the cards.
But these are not the only intelligent clothes doing the rounds in the tech-garment business. Here is a look at what all is on offer out there:
Phillips auto-fits: Electronics mogul Phillips took the first step towards ending the rather discriminatory and very tormenting issue of 'SIZE' for the buyers. Their prototype claims to change size and shape according to the dimensions of the wearer for the perfect fit. The fabric is delicately woven with the aptly-named 'muscle wires' which are made up of shape-memory alloys that expand to the wearer's perfect fit when a current is passed through them. And once the electricity is removed, the garment remains in the perfect size!
Phillips is currently looking at ways to make the technology work for a range of garments like shirts and trousers to even socks and undies!
The Hug Shirt: now you can use your mobile phones to send a virtual hug to your pals anywhere in the world! If a friend sends you a virtual hug, your mobile phone notifies your shirt via Bluetooth. The Hug Shirt then recreates your friend's distinctive squeeze, replicating their pressure, warmth, duration and even heartbeat. And it's fully washable too!
Wow! No wonder the Times nominated it as the invention of the year.
LED display clothes: if you can play music with a bikini, then you should be able to flash messages and ads on your shirt, right? Lumalive clothing Researchers at Philips Research have found a way to do exactly that. By integrating fabric with light emitting diodes (LEDs) you can display text, graphics and even animation on clothing. You can use it for promotions and advertisements or even as an eye-catching form of texting in a club!
But this a different technology from the one being developed in England that only emit light which are made from electroluminescent material that makes the wearer permanently visible and which could potentially improve personal safety for joggers, pedestrians and cyclists.
The solar bikini and the beer-chilling shorts: it's a bikini AND it's a solar charger! Developed by New Yorker Andrew Schneider, this bikini is covered with 40 flexible photovoltaic (solar) cells which feed into a USB connection. You can plug it straight into your iPod. With this crafty little thing you can charge your iPod shuffle by just two hours of sunbathing.
And as if this wasn't enough, Schneider is also working on solar-shorts for the guys, which with the extra sun-capturing area will be powerful enough to chill your beers!
Sun, sand, bikinis, iPod and beer! Can it get more exciting than this?
Marks & Spencer's iPod suit: The retail giant became the first in the industry to sell the iPod suit earlier this year. The collaborative effort of British smart-fabric specialist Eleksen and innovative tailors Bagir, the suit features Elekson's smart-fabric, touchpad technology that transforms the lapel into a five-button electronic control panel. This pad is attached to a cable that runs beneath the lining of the jacket and you can plug you iPod in it (which by the way has its own inner pocket!). The lapels have loops to hold and hide the earphones (heaven!). And if you can spare $350 for it, then I say you can give Mr. James Bond a good run for his money.
Nike Air Zoom Moire: Since we trust Nike to better themselves with each fresh pair we are not really surprised that they collaborated with Apple last year and came out with this great shoe that can tell the wearer how far they ran and how many calories they burnt. Made up of tiny transformers, the Nike + system is slipped into shoes which sends information to your iPod nano with every step you take. You can hear your stats through voiced progress reports which can also e downloaded on a computer for your complete progress record with time, distance, pace and calories burnt. And in case that isn't motivation enough to get going, you can also call up a pre-selected 'power-song' to give you a boost.
Self healing clothes: It's still in the pipeline but the developers are working towards making smart synthetic fabrics that would not only sense any defects in the clothing but also repair the damage automatically!! That means increased lifetime, utility and durability for clothes and other items.
3rd Space Vest: Originally designed by a US surgeon as a way to medically examine patients in isolated communities with limited access to medical facilities, the 3rd space vest is embedded with pneumatic cells that allow gamers to feel virtual events like getting hit, stabbed and punched.
The SmartBra: I know what you're thinking but this one not really related to the WonderBra. The SmartBra, developed by scientists at the University of Bolton, Britain, allows users to detect early-stage breast cancer. It uses microwave antennas that sense abnormal temperature in breast tissue that are linked to cancer cells. I guess it will be a wonderful world to live in when you can chill your beer and charge your mobile phone and mp3 player while lazing in the sun, and you never have to worry about getting the right size at the store anymore.
Now that's what I call smart!
Source: Stuff
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