Wearable technology hits the big leagues

Three Northeastern University engineering students have developed a data-logging compression shirt that helps baseball pitchers avoid elbow injuries. "The high-tech sheath, which is fitted with motion sensors and a web of conductive threads, tracks its wearer’s pitching mechanics during a game in real time, then relays that data to a monitor in the dugout. By analyzing the information, coaches can spot inconsistencies that could result in injury, whether as a result of fatigue or poor technique." Continue reading on ecouterre.com.

I would love to experience this project in action.

Photo from ecouterre.com. More info on northeastern.edu.

Studio 5050 provides a collection of modules

[gallery] Designer and Founder of STUDIO 5050, Despina Papadopoulos, and her team have developed a set of modules for sound input and output, LEDs, and temperature sensing and display along with a flexible, removable and rechargeable battery system. The module schematics are available to download here and recreate. They have designed and developed a collection of garments that demonstrate the module's capabilities including Embrace-me and the Masai dress. Both projects include schemtaics that you can download so that you can build them yourself. Here's how they describe the explorations:

Embrace-me A fitted dark-blue canvas hoodie sports the collection’s abstracted logo in a  pattern made of a futuristic silver conductive fabric.  When two people wearing the hoodies embrace they actually power each other up through that pattern. The symbolic energy transfer becomes fully actualized and the embrace is instantly translated into an explosion of light and sound.

Small white lights flicker in the back of each hoodie forming a big-dipper pattern while a faint heart beat sound is emitted. The hoodies themselves take their design inspiration from the construction of early Siberian hooded coats, creating an enveloping safe haven, a tranquil vestige of protection and romanticism. The hoodies also come in a luxurious, cashmere-like 100% bamboo basket weave -- very huggable indeed.

Masai Dress Inspired by Masai wedding collars, this dress salutes both our global provenance and our desire to create our own soundtrack as we move in mysterious ways. With every step, strings of hand-formed silver beads that hung from the collar brush against conductive threads sewn into the dress, generating a series of sounds. A leisurely walk or a night at a cocktail party turns into an improvisational performance.

A long asymmetrical swoop in the back of the dress recalls Balenciaga’s famed wedding dress – an homage to a maestro that visually and aurally blends cultures, traditions and emotions. The dress comes in a luscious deep-sky blue silk jersey and white nourishing Sea-Tiva (75% cotton, 25% algae).

More on 5050ltd.com. Images from 5050ltd.com.

Despina Papadopoulos will be speaking at next week's Smart Fabrics conference in Miami titled "Theory and practice: The thinking and making of wearables". It should be good!

Embedding technology into textile patterns

[gallery] The DIY hacker-crafters at Aniomagic in Boulder Colorado have transformed an award-winning dress by textile designer Lynne Bruning called Bright Patches into an interactive music player. The project seamlessly integrates iPod functionality into the textile pattern and aesthetics of the dress and takes advantage of large diva-like gestures to manipulate your music. "For the prima donna in all of us, we can now interact with music with a 'swish, swish, click'. Like the diva you are, we expect you to dramatically reach for your dress to change songs on your iPod" Continue reading on aniomagic.com.

The project includes a set of detailed instructions that you can use to try it out yourself while refining your salsa moves!

More about Aniomagic here. Photos from aniomagic and flickr.

Connecting the body with its surroundings

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University of Applied Sciences (Berlin) fashion design student Mareike Michel has designed an interactive dress that translates the body's movement into light connecting the response with environmental surroundings. The gorgeous project is titled Klight.

"To achieve the effect, a new stretchable circuit board technology, developed by Fraunhofer IZM, was integrated into the textile. The result is a unique symbiosis of fashion and technology which combines ease and dynamism." Continue reading on mareikemichel.de.

Images from mareikemichel.de.

Personal, mobile, kinetic power generation

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Designer Mary Huang in collaboration with Jennifer Kay has created this beautiful, yet somewhat impractical wearable technology piece that explores ideas of personal, mobile power generation and kinetics titled Dandelion. I can't imagine wearing this around town, but the implementation is quite evocative. It definitely sparks conversation around the possibilities of our movement and environmental outputs generating personal and mobile power.

"Dandelion is a wearable that captures energy from wind and human movement. It is a structure of miniature windmills that embraces the wearer. It is fashion that creates an interface between nature, technology, and people." Continue reading on rhymeandreasoncreative.com.

Photos from rhymeandreasoncreative.com.

A smart hoodie that helps kids with autism

[gallery] There's a lot of discussion around wearable technology that debates the usefulness of solutions that integrate electronic functionality into garments. There are so many explorations that are short-term novelties and few that solve real and sustainable problems. Designer Leo Chao sets out to change this. His Beagle scarf is intended for medical therapy targeted to children with autism. The project is an example of solving problems that he uncovers by observing people and their context.

"Leo’s concept: the Beagle Scarf, a garment co-created with autistic children and their parents. Beagle Scarf integrates sound, smell, and texture, making it a wearable and portable medical assistance device for Autistic children who suffer from a sensory disorder where they sometimes need to be blocked or stimulated from certain senses to feel relieved,"  (source).

Continue reading on Yanko Design. Photos from Trends Update.