2012 will see hyper activity in research and development of smart shirts for sports/fitness apparel – at least this is my view on the ‘killer application’ in wearable tech this year.

Smart shirts, having textile sensors integrated that pick up the electrical signals generated by muscle activity like heart rate form the heart muscle or respiration from the lung activity and many more.

The electrical signals are transmitted to devices that record, process, analyze and visualize them for the purpose of monitoring and assessing ones fitness and performance.

Integrating sensory functions into clothing makes sense as it does take away the need of wiring up before starting a workout. Smart sensing apparel can even monitor activities over the whole day if wanted to check out the excitement spikes coming up in heated debates in the office.

A group of students from from Northeastern University in Boston designed the SQUID Shirt, an activity monitoring shirt that places the electrodes around the shirt in a form factor resembling squid tentacles.

The SQUID Shirt is designed to ‘talk’ with Android phones via an App that processes and visually present the activity data.

According to the Northeastern press release the SQUID could be in the market in 2-3 years which seems to me a rather long timeline considering that most if not all elements used to create the SQUID shirt functionality is fairly advanced developed and ready to move into into the consumer market.

[via Engadget]

Integrating light elements into clothing never ever fails to attract astonishment and the ‘wow’ effect when unsuspecting people come for the first time in contact with illuminated clothing.

I experienced this first hand while working on illuminated textiles, a rewarding feeling for the designer. What puzzles me is why textile illumination has not been more adopted by now by fashion brands.

There are a few exceptions like the gorgeous light emitting dresses from MOON Berlin and Cute Circuit and a range of stage-wear created by various designer for artists but besides this very limited availability it’s still dark in the fashion world.

How exiting illuminated fashion is has been once again demonstrated by fashion graduate student Caitleen Moloney at the CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology) in Australia last December.

For her final year project Caitleen designed five outfits featuring LED’s integrated into pockets that create indirect, soft light effects.

Caitleen Moloney does not see this type of fashion design ready for every day wear but is more interested in costume design for performing art and artists.

Is it because textile illumination is not yet developed to a point where it can be used for consumer products? If this is the case the challenge would be in the wearable tech community to do the homework and create reliable systems fit for use in ready-to-wear fashion.

Fashion represents a very emotional, luxury item in our life, it does not (only) fulfill a basic functional need. Fashion is allowed to dream, to imagine, to be playfully creative yet, in reality, our fashion in the ready-to-wear market is made from very traditional materials, the creativity is limited to cut and color variations.

How well received textile illumination can be … read the last part of the Canberra Times article featuring Caitleen Moloney’s illuminating collection.

The growing number of Global Citizen, people who’s place of residents and interest is spread all over the globe face the problem of how to stay connected, to stay in touch with their family.

Traveling around is cool but can be also cold at times when not being able to get the all important personal touch from love ones.

The Hug-Shirt was one of the first wearable technology based designs that explored the possibilities of exchanging a personal touch over long distances. Following designs used a pillow showing another from factor to exchange intimidate, hugging and caring messages around the globe.

A unique design variant with huge potential, technically and commercially, for a long-distant cuddle concept using soft technology has been created by a team of students at the University of Venice, Alberto Elizondo, Francesca Pizzutilo and Roberto Picerno created the ‘Lullaby‘, a quilt equipped with illuminated patches and wireless communication.

How it works: Gestures and touches on one quilt will be transmitted and reproduced on the other quilt which basically could be anywhere around the globe, using the internet and WiFi as link between the two quilts. I can imagine an App for smartphones acting as access point for the Lullaby quilts to establish a 2-way communication.

There is nothing in this world that can replace a stroke down the back or a hug but when this is not an option, long-distance intimacy via Lullaby and similar design concepts should become reality – a growing number of global citizen would love to have them.

Stock Markets are in the spotlight today more than usual so I thought to look for something fitting to all the Stock Market talk but of course with a wearable technology touch.

To my surprise and thanks to a fabulous wearable tech project from emerging artist Erin Lewis, currently studying Integrated Media and Wearable Technology at OCAD University, the ‘Stock Market Lingerie‘ is the perfect match.

Erin’s motivation for this project comes from the relationship between sex and the stock market (money).

Her research uncovered the ‘hormonal changes in men who play the stock market‘ such as elevated testosterone levels when placing successfully big profit deals which in turn leads to even more higher risk taking behavior until disaster strikes ( the last few words are mine).

Surprisingly or not – women love such behavior and are more attracted to these big ticket players. Before going too deep into social behaviors I refer you to Erin’s project blog for further reading.

At this space we have a deeper look into the functionality of the ‘Stock Market Lingerie’ which is powered by a LilyPad Arduino and 2 Xbee radios.

As the man undresses the woman, the undoing of each clasp of the bustier triggers a web-based update on the latest stock market trades via Yahoo! Finance.

Oh well – one has to be a banker to get turned on by stock quotes in this way but besides that – I like the idea of combining so very much (or not) different parts of our life in a very personal, wearable tech enabled clothing item.

In it’s current design the ‘Stock Market Lingerie’ is communicating with the computer to make the visual update of stock movements but she imagines a upgrade of the ‘Stock Market Lingerie’ to give it a voice, to read out the stock quotes each time another clasp is unhooked.

I hope this article and the work of Erin Lewis can inspire and cheer you up a bit, technologically.

Carbon monoxide is part of cigarette and cigar smoke as well as car exhausts highly concentrated on road sides is the silent killer of our time. These gases are invisible and work over time to kill.

Sue Ngo and Nien Lam, two former students at NYU Tisch School of the Arts came up with a brilliant, visually powerful design to remind one self and the polluters how harmful their behavior is.

Their interactive fashion project called ‘Warning Signs‘ uses color changing, Thermochromic fabric with muscle wire integrated to heat up a vein pattern on the lung or heart organ shapes on the sweatshirt.

A carbon monoxide sensor inside the sweater picks up the pollution level and depending on the concentration of the carbon monoxide in the atmosphere around the wearer, the veins will light up more intense as the pollution level increases.

The ‘Warning Signs’ project reminds me to a similar smoking visualization project a few years ago made by Fiona Carswell called the ‘Smoking Jacket’ which featured a pair of lungs at the front and the wearer exhales the cigarette smoke into a pocket in the jacket containing lung image behind a transparent foil. Over time the exhaled smoke will change the lung image visualizing the harmful effect of second hand smoking.

Back to the future, the ‘Warning Signs’ sweater from Sue Ngo and Nien Lam gives a much faster, instant visualization of the environmental degradation caused by carbon monoxide but a range of other sensors sniffing for different harmful gases could be added to show in a playful yet very meaningful way how our environment is attacking us all day.

warning signs from Susan Ngo on Vimeo.

After watching this video clip I might think twice before taking a stroll along a busy road – but …. that’s exactly the point of this design, creating the awareness of what is going on around us.

Deja Vu comes from French and means ‘already seen’ (that). This interesting project title has been selected by MIT students Heidi Chen and Nicole Tariverdian for their intelligent bag, the ‘Deja Vu‘.

‘Already seen’ is applied to the situation at which their Deja Vu bag saves the peace of mind of people constantly either forgetting or having the fear to forget keys and other items  left behind when leaving the home, car, office …

‘Already seen’ also applies to the concept itself, such kind of intelligent, reminding bag concept designs have been around for a while, unfortunately not one of them made it into retail.

To compensate for the forgetfulness of the bags owner, RFID scanning and LilyPad processing helps to keep track of the stuff inside the Deja Vu bag.

Each time a (FRID) tagged item goes into or out of the bag, the movement is registered. Up to 5 items can be managed from the Deja Vu bag. The status of items inside the bag can be quickly checked with a squeeze of a soft button – checked-in items are visualized by lighting up a corresponding LED.

Instead of rummaging through the bag to check if this and that is there a simple button press indicates how many items are on board bag – cool.

Click over to check it out, to get inspired and it shouldn’t be a big deal to upgrade your favorite bag with some intelligence to give you pace of mind about misplaced stuff.

Although the girls fabricated a lady bag I can very well imagine to have such smart assistant in boys bags because boys are as forgetful as girls when it comes to the small but essential stuff in a bag.

[via: FashioningTech]

A recent trend in the show-biz points towards high-tech outfits for artists wearing technology enriched stage-wear to attract visual attention and enhance their performance during the show.

Loretta Faveri student at OCAD (Ontario College of Art & Design University) goes beyond and above the usual visual effects with her version of a Belly Dance costume by integrating wearable technology tightly into the performance, making  it an active part of the show.

Behind the project title ‘Chance Operations of the Body‘ unfolds a high-tech costume for Belly Dancer. But unlike other wearable technology designs, Loretta’s integration shows off in a almost provocative but beautiful and sensible way the tech part of the costume.

Instead of hiding conductive yarn traces and other components she uses them as style element, blending them into the overall aesthetic of the dance costume. The result is a beautiful, sensational outfit for a performing artist.

How does it work? The costume makes uses the wearable processing power of the LilyPad Arduino which receives signals from various sensors such as accelerometer, tilt and stretch sensor to track the body movements.

The dancer’s movement is translated into signals and send via Bluetooth to a computer for sound processing based on Loretta’s predefined and prepared playlist. These pre-recorded sounds mixed with the movements of the dancer result in a ‘digitalized’ version of middle-eastern music that is often accompanying Belly Dance performances.

In the YouTube video clip below, Denise Mireau, the dancer and owner/director of The Studio for Movement gracefully demonstrates the work of Loretta Faveri:

Click over to Loretta’s project site for more details and inspiration.

The Belly Dance costume from Loretta Faveri is an amazing example how highly creative people weave today’s ubiquitous technology not only into clothing but into the fine arts, the culture of the digital age.

Talking with hands often refers to people who spice up their spoken words with generous gestures to hammer out the point they like to make.

Talking with hands is first and foremost a important communication form for people who unfortunately lost their hearing capability. There are other hand communication forms like people who spice up their spoken words with generous gestures to hammer out the point they like to make.

Interesting for both groups but most useful for the first one is a new developments made by a group from Osaka University and Shinshu University, a finger-language interface called Fingual.

The Fingual functions very much  like a microphone connected to a computer with the difference this it translates finger gestures into characters which are then fed into a text program.

The magic of gesture to written word transformation is made possible by magnets on the tip of each finger. A magnetic sensor measures the changes of the magnetic field as the fingers form different characters.

Each character formed be the fingers generates it’s distinctive magnetic field which is then matched with the set of magnetic data to character table – a simple yet genius principle. No huge processing power, finger tracking or the like.

A Photo-reflector on the glove produces a infrared light signal that transmits the finger signs to a computers text editor.

Spicing up gloves is one of the hottest congested items in the wearable technology arena. Concept studies and developments like the Fingual pointing towards meaningful and useful applications of soft, wearable tech.

[DigInfo via Ubergizmo]

Getting an unlimited stream of power for smart pocket devices while on the go is on top of the wish-list of billions, regardless where one lives, in the urban jungle or in the forest jungle.

Wearable power, how to make good electrical use of all the kinetic energy people generate as by-product while going, running and jumping around all day is the focus point of research and experimentation.

Joining this growing line of people to crack the mobile power challenge is Argentine designer Soledad Martin who envisions a nano-generator system in form of small bot attached to any kind of sports shoe.

The nano-generator uses the (kinetic) energy produced by the foot’s movement, converts this kinetic energy into electrical energy and stores it in a small battery, ready for charging cellphones or any USB connector ready device while your feet are resting.

The bot contains the kinetic transformer, battery and USB socket and is attached via interchangeable straps with snap buttons to the shoe. Different styles of this straps makes it possible for the power bot strap to blend into the shoes design.

A very smart idea, simple and I might say even practical to realize. Check out the complete set of photos on Design Buzz

A group of students at the Aalborg University in Denmark won the ‘Future Textiles International Prize Competition 2011′ for their design of a fabric capable to charge any mobile device by just placing the device on that futuristic textile.

Called Powertex, industrial design students Hans Christian Thiesen, Mads Gydegaard, Morten Ydefeldt and Marius Koppang aim to find a solution to one of the biggest hassles of our days: flat batteries when on the go and zillions of different adapters for each device we own.

The solution: a textile that can be used as table cloth, in upholstery of furniture on public transport like busses, trains and planes. Envision you ride the buss and place your cell phone on the seat cover and give it a quick recharge while riding to your office.

What is the secret ingredient of Powertex? the charging is done wireless via induction. Inductive charging is actually a old technology, as far as I can remember seeing it first in electrical tooth brushes. A wire coil generates a magnetic field that is picked up by the receiving end and transformed back into electrical current.

Over the past few years various companies started to develop and commercialize inductive charging pads, a two dimensional variant of the original transforming the three dimensional coil into a two dimensional spiral shape.

Powertex is pushing again the limits and suggest to integrate the inductive power generation into fabrics, fabrics that are around us almost each minute of the days, integrating mobile device charging really seamlessly into our life habits.

Watch the short video below and listen to the complete story of the Powertex innovators:

A brilliant idea that needs now some heavy lifting on the technology side to transfer it from a concept idea to reality.

[via: Innovation in Textiles]