A while ago a reported on a shirt fitted with sensors to remotely monitor vital signs. Digital Chonsunilbo, a Korean online newspaper, now reports the first application of this technology. The Korean city of Daegu will fit 100 elderly people and people with chronic diseases with sensor shirts to monitor their vital signs. Cost for this project is an estimated $1.4 million.
Always wanted to display how you feel on your friends clothes? You soon might be able to with a device called MoBeeline. MoBeeline is a bluetooth device embedded in your clothes that can receive commands from a cell phone and display emoticons, for example by lighting up LEDs on the garment. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Your bluetooth enabled cell phone can receive sms message describing certain emotions from other cell phones, therefore allowing other people to display their emotions on your garment.
The MoBeeline is an “Emotional mobile service based on wearable technology” and has been developed by Chang Soo Lee and Hyejoo Lee as a thesis project at the ITP department of the Tisch school of arts.
[via we make money not art]
Already developed by the MIT in 2002, I’ve recently come across the No Contact jacket project. The No Contact jacket is a nasty piece of wearable technology, sending out electric shocks of around 80000 Volt, deterring any potential attacker who is stupid enough to try and lay his hands on you (or just the annoying boyfriend trying to give you a hug again).
According to the website, when getting shocked “the neuromuscular system would be overwhelmed causing disorientation and loss of balance to occur and of course pain. The pain experienced is non-lethal but is enough of a shock to effectively and immediately deter contact with her body and provide a critical life saving option for escape.”
The No Contact jacket is powered by a simple 9V battery and due to its insulation won’t shock its wearer, HOWEVER you are supposed to keep the jacket away from your other body parts, such as your head or your legs as you could get zapped. Scratching yourself could potentially become dangerous…
“A soldier’s after-action mission report can sometimes leave out vital observations and experiences that could be valuable in planning future operations. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is exploring the use of soldier-worn sensors and recorders to augment a soldier’s recall and reporting capability.”
According to the news release, different sensor systems are currently being tested and evaluated. Image and audio data, as well as GPS information is supposed to be captured by soldiers walking through fake Iraqi villages.
I find the idea of capturing additional information that can help in future missions and hopefully save lives fascinating, but the guy in the picture looks like they rolled him in glue and then chased him through an electronics warehouse. I strongly hope that this is just a mock up and does not mark the end of the first year out of a “five-year development effort”.
[via EurekAlert]
SignOnSanDiego mentions a device called the Reliefband in an article on how to treat motion sickness.
They write: “This FDA-approved device, which looks like a wristwatch and is worn on the underside of the wrist, uses gentle electrical signals to stimulate the nerves in the wrist. The little zaps are supposed to interfere with the nausea messages sent between the brain and the stomach.”
According to their article the Reliefband has got 5 stimulation levels that make your fingers tingle. I wonder what level 5 feels like. If I was busy trying to unclinch my fist and stop my fingernails from tearing through the skin of my palm I would forget about my motion sickness as well. All jokes aside though, the Reliefband is wearable technology that seems to work, as it has been approved by the FDA.
ElekTex has developed this Bluetooth keyboard made out of fabric. It can be rolled up to take up little space while out on the road. This is another gadget that’s technically not wearable technology, but I thought it looked quite cool AND ElekTex also develops iPod jackets and backpacks with remote controls sewn into the fabric, similar to the jacket I mentioned earlier.
As wearable technology USB flash memory devices come in all shapes and forms. I mentioned the USB wristband and the USB earrings.
dialog05 have taken this current trend one step further and created a range of unusual USB design studies.
My personal favourites are the USB bra, where the USB connectors serve as the front buckle to open the bra - fittingly titled “unplug and play”, and the USB stethoscope, which maybe one day could become a real device for downloading patients information, who knows.
[via ChipChick]
According to research most of the serious skiing accidents involve head injuries. And while wearing a helmet could significantly reduce the risk of head injuries, most people wouldn’t be seen dead on the slopes with an ‘uncool’ helmet. d3o has developed a solution that gives you protection (although not as good a protection as a helmet) that still let’s you look cool. It’s called Ribcap and is basically a beanie with some of d3o’s intelligent material incorporated.
What is this intelligent material you ask? The materal (pictured here as as ‘ribs’ but can be made into other shapes for different applications), also called d3o, is “made with intelligent molecules. They flow with you as you move but on shock lock together to absorb the impact energy. When the impact is over d3o returns to being soft and flexible, this all happens in less than 100th of a second.” Picture some play-doh that goes hard when you punch it but stays soft while you knead it.
Other applications of the d3o material include shoes, where it serves as a sock absorber, and body protection, for example incorporated in skiing suits. As a matter of fact the US and Canadian skiing teams wore these suits during the Turino Winter Olympics.
Note: d3o does not sell the products. The hats and beanies are available from ribcap.
Materious has come up with this WiFi enabled umbrella that can give you an indication of rain probability, before deciding whether you should take it with you or not.
The umbrella, suitably called Forecast, downloads weather information from the internet and the umbrella’s handle glows, depending on the chance of rain.
An interesting concept of wearable technology, where the technology bit is incorporated unobtrusively into an everyday item.
(picture by Inhabitat)
[via Inhabitat]
Mirage Innovations has developed a new personal wearable display, that claims to be cyber-stress free. Cyber-stress, which can lead to nausea or dizziness is caused by displays projecting two images that don’t align properly.
Mirage’s Nanoprism personal display claims to solve this by using a “single, color microdisplay source (such as a LCD, LCOS, MEMS or OLED)” and projecting one perfectly aligned image onto a single plate of plastic. The image projected appears to the viewer as a “42inch screen viewed from a distance of 7 feet”.
The benefits of this technology are:
- extremely light weight (less than 40 grams)
- no cyber-stress or sickness usually caused by image misalignment
- immersive or see-around vision (2 product types where the environment is either blocked out or visible)
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