When you meet someone and shake hands, you are sharing information. It’s a friendly gesture that signifies a desire for social interaction. However, in the future, we may use gestures like this to share everything from full names to contact addresses. Thanks to a new generation of smart clothing that uses sensors and integrated circuits to exchange data and wake up devices.This is the so-called invisible computingAnd two researchers from the University of California have just given new impetus.
This article describes:
What is smart clothes
A wearable is any electronic device that can be worn as part of our body.This includes sports wristbands, smartwatches, Even smart contact lenses. By definition, smart clothes are the ultimate wearables. After all, if we’re wearing anything, it’s usually clothing.
Smart clothing is clothing equipped with sensors that have the ability to communicate with other devices and have computing power. However, the latter is not mandatory as data processing can be performed on another device such as a smartphone.there is Passive, active and even super-intelligent smart clothingIn other words, they adapt to their environment as if they were living organisms.
here are some example of smart clothing:
- Pajamas with sleep monitoring
- Footwear or socks with a built-in pedometer
- belt with warning system Work environment
- heart rate t-shirt
- Tactile clothing for the hearing impaired
- Jacket with integrated heat capacity and thermostat
clothes that speak to each other
So far so good, but here comes the real world where everyday wear, washing, and the passage of time make fragile electronics difficult to integrate. Simplification is the key, according to researchers at the University of California, who have just released prototypes of new smart clothing. And the new NFC (short-range wireless communication) standard.
the system they chose Flexible, durable and battery-freeTo accomplish this, they used copper and aluminum foils modified to work using magnetic induction. Thanks to the applied processing, it can transmit signals up to 3 feet away, unlike current NFC technology which has a range of less than 3 inches. Modification of these metals yields metamaterialThat is, an element with a radically different function than the original element.
Research team points to magnetic induction Eliminates the need for continuous circuits throughout the garmentSo, for example, you can integrate these meshes into your existing clothing to measure your steps on your pants and your heart rate on your t-shirt. It also makes it easier for two people to communicate with each other in different clothing, whether it’s shirt sleeves or gloves.
This quality also means the possibility of creating smart garments for hospitals with multiple integrated functions. increase.
An Unprecedented Approach: AI-Enabled Tactile Wearables
It’s true that smart clothing applications are promising, but they have to compete with other wearables. For example, someone wearing a smartwatch that measures their pulse might not be wearing her T-shirt with similar functionality. As such, researchers continue to search for breakthrough applications that could enable the leap into mass-adopted smart clothing.
One of the most exciting applications in this regard comes from a lab at MIT in the United States. Their approach was to develop tactile smart clothing, clothing that captures a person’s full body movements. This can vary from twisting the arm to bending and stretching.
The prototype they developed A combination of conventional textile fibers and specially modified fibers pressure sensing fiber Works as a sensor. In this way, the smart garment does not have an isolated sensor, but the sensor as a whole. Among the garments they have unveiled are socks that monitor your step pattern and t-shirts that monitor all your movements and contact surfaces. And all this is contained in washable and flexible garments.
The fact that the sensors are distributed throughout the garment also reduces the effects of wear. Therefore, in anticipation that any part of the clothing will stop emitting signals, the inventors Enhance technology with AI system Detect problems and automatically adjust data interpretation.
The researchers believe this innovative smart clothing technology could have interesting applications in training athletes, correcting bad posture, or rehabilitating patients. It has even suggested that it is possible to teach movements in difficult situations.
If you want to learn more about these technologies, be sure to check out articles like this one on life vests.
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