The cool side of RFID tagged apparel

A while ago RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tagging of apparel has been a literally hot item which soon cooled down rapidly.

RFID tagging of apparel using woven or embroidered RFID antenna typically on labels of apparel would allow a wireless logistic control from production floor to inventory control at the shops.

The potential risk of seamless (= hidden) integration of RFID label into our clothing could come from the dark forces using it to track every movement of every smart clothing wearer across the world – at least in theory. This reason set a huge roadblock to a FRID enabled apparel future.

It’s a little sad that such – theoretical – misuse of an otherwise useful function is stopping development at an early stage. I am using a knife to cut my steak on the plate but – theoretically – I could kill someone with that knife as well. I guess you get the point.

How cool the use of RFID tagging for apparel could be is demonstrated by Gomus, a Brazilian Sound Branding agency which links the clothing purchase experience with music experience inside a fitting room.

The RFID tagged apparel once brought into the fitting room will activate an associated background music depending on the apparels nature and style.

Yeah, this is not ricochet scion from technology point of view but a very cool concept, much better than to have the monotone, standard sound servings in most shops.

Maybe using FRID enhanced clothing could be used to open doors for me, to get the barrister get’s started preparing my regular coffee refill as soon as I enter to coffee shop. Oh there would be lot’s of nice little conveniences attached to a simple RFID enabled, branded T-Shirt from hospitality to entertainment business.

Maybe RFID tagging in apparel is not such a evil idea after all.

[via: PSFK]

Staying connected over distance with Lullaby

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.

Pulse Sensor – wearable heart-rate sensor for Arduino

The Pulse Sensor is a plug-and-play ready component that hooks up to the Arduino platform which opens a ton of possibilities to incorporate biometric data into wearable electronic designs thanks to it’s very small form factor.

The creator of the Pulse Sensor, Joel Murphy and Yury Gitman, set up a Kickstarter account to get the necessary funding and move that great idea from  prototype stage into mass produced, open source reality.

The Pulse Sensor works similar to a optical heart-rate pulse sensor, picking up the blood flow rate, preferable on a ear lobe or finger tip, via photodiode. It is not intended to be of medical grade accuracy but still – it gives highly reliable values according the the duo’s own testing.

With just 1/2 inch in diameter (about 12mm), looking like a piece of jewelry and having two holes to sew the button shaped Pulse Sensor to fabric, this little bugger is inviting itself for an easy integration into wearable tech designs that react and act in sync with the heart beat of the wearer.

You can find all the details about the Pulse Sensor on Kickstarter and on The Pulse Sensor home page. If you want to be one of the first to get your hands on the Pulse Sensor – you can still pledge your contribution to the already well funded project until Sept 7 and get the Pulse Sensor Kit including Software & Source Code, PDF User-Guide, and a “Special Thanks” on PulseSensor.com

[via: GizmoWatch]

Stock Market Lingerie

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.

Warning Signs – smart shirt points out pollution

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.

Networking Garments

According to industry experts and cell-phone manufacturers NFC (Near Field Communication) will become a standard function in the near future for short range wireless communication between portable devices.

NFC works on high frequency like Bluetooth but over a shorter range, only a few centimeter and is based on inductive-coupling, where loosely coupled inductive circuits can be used to share power and data between devices.

Some of the application already existing based on NFC is cashless payment, access to restricted areas or as entry ticket, to name a few.

In time for the big scale roll out of NFC, Austrian research teams at Seibersdorf Laboratories and Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) came up with a woven NFC tag for integration into garments.

The new tags use standard NFC RFID chips that are attached to an antenna manufactured from thin copper wire, Seibersdorf scientist Stefan Cecil has told NFC World. The antenna is integrated into the fabric during the textile production process and, while the NFC chip currently then needs to be attached by hand, Cecil expects this process to also be automated in the future.

Whenever I am talking with people about wearable electronic the most burning question is always: can it be washed? It seems the team at the Seibersdorf Laboratories anticipated such question and tested washing cycles at 60°C, spin dried and ironed with a conventional electric iron – without impacting the functionality of the NFC textile tag.

On the technical side of NFC is a big plus point over Bluetooth, it does not need any pairing, it forms an instantaneous form of networking, similar to people that meet on the spot and start talking networking.

What does this exiting development mean for wearable technology? Imagine having the NFC tag inside a pocket of your garment where you keep your cell-phone. The garment can send it’s information coming from integrated senors monitoring your fitness or work conditions. The cell-phone can either process and visualize the data via an App or send it to the mother-ship in the cloud for processing.

Washing machines equipped with NFC (yes such machines are in the making) can ‘talk’ with the NFC enabled garment and select the required cleaning program.

For the high-tech fashionistas – changing color accents of a high-tech, illuminated dress via an App from the smart phone in the pocket before hitting the party scene is not a vision of the future but can be reality sooner that you might think.

[source: Near Field Communication World]

Take That – video jacket by Moritz Waldemeyer

Besides having cool songs what do have Take That, Will.I.AM, Rhianna, Bono and OK-Go in common? Their light fashion designer Moritz Waldemeyer.

Moritz Waldemeyer started to electrify and illuminate the fashion world by cooperating with Fashion design icon Hussein Chalayan back in 2006/07 with the Robotic Dress which was followed by a LED and laser light elements as part of the Haute Couture collection of Hussein Chalayan.

Based on the experience acquired during this cooperation Mortiz explored the show biz, lighting up performers on stage, integrating light show elements into a performers outfit by merging the on stage light show with the artist.

The latest video jacket designs for Take-That and Will.I.AM from Black Eyed Peas feature Mortiz’s in-house developed wearable LED video system, specially designed LED modules that are capable of displaying animations at video speed from a built in SD card in the Will.I.AM jacket or even a miniature video player in the jacket for Take That.

Dynamically changing light pattern on clothing is a fascinating, eye catching fashion design element that never fails to amaze people around.

Logically the entertainment industry is being at the forefront when it comes to utilize wearable light in it’s fullest and at the same time making the fans carving for owning such cool outfit.

Moving textile illumination from the stage into the mainstream wardrobe is the next big step for the wearable technology community. But this next big step might happen sooner than we think as history has shown many times before, the restless and creative mind of human beings always find a way to make the impossible happen.

Imagine the visual effect when people in the audience wear sound reactive outfit (see our blog post from yesterday) that interacts with the performer and the light show on stage – a new dimension of interaction of artists with their fan community.