A low-cost rehabilitation glove

Students from Montreal's McGill University have created a prototype recovery glove that encourages stroke patients who suffer the loss of hand motor skills to "relearn" how to use it through game play. The prototype is also aimed to cost relatively little to produce and allows the patients to use it at home through a video game interface. If you can get past the rather scary looking, cyborg implementation, what's interesting is the use of game mechanics (a trending topic in the tech industry) to encourage rehabilitation. I hope to see further iterations on this concept as well as a more considered wearable implementation.

More at gizmag.

Wearable device helps chronic back pain

[gallery] Industrial Design student Justine Smith has looked to new technology for a solution to one of the most common ailments in the world today – chronic back pain. The result is Spinovo (spine + new) – a concept smart clothing product that uses modular packs to treat pain through heating, cooling, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapies, as well as incorporating bend sensors to ensure the wearer maintains the correct posture. Continue reading on Gizmag.

It's an interesting concept, however I would love to see it designed more elegantly and less medical. Can it look more soft and cozy and invite me to wear it as it eases my back pain?

Images from Gizmag

adidas megalizer dj-mixing footwear

[gallery] Paris-based "creative technologist" Didier Brun is developing a fantastic project for adidas to help promote the release of their sneaker collection MEGA. The project includes embedded sensors in the line of footwear that allow you to create your own beat depending on how you tap the shoes. The result is a playful composition of dance and music. Watch the video for a demonstration. Truly fantastic.

More info here.

Katy Perry Lights up the stage...again

[gallery] There's an abundance of light up stage-wear these days with another appearance on last night's American Idol show. Katy Perry enters the stage wearing a gorgeous and futuristic skin-tight suit covered in LEDs in her performance with Kanye West. Her costume was completely covered in lights and was quite mesmerising.

Illumination is definitely trending in the wearable space. And we're seeing some sneak into the mainstream market. I can't wait for more.

More at DailyMail. Images from DailyMail.

Book your tickets to Smart Textiles Salon

The Smart Textile Salon is coming up along with an exhibit that will showcase a variety of prototypes on April 21 in Ghent, Belgium. The projects range from child monitoring to reactive rugs. If you can get yourself to Belgium, you don't want to miss this line up:

  • PROETEX - Final prototype (Carla Hertleer, Ghent University, Ghent, BE) - An advanced E-Textile system bringing together sensors, connections, transmission systems, and power management to be used in smart garments of emergency disaster personnel.
  • ODITH - Interactive wheelchair posture monitoring system (Riccardo Marchesi, Texe srl, Firenze, IT) - A portable posture monitoring system "ODITH" especially developed for wheelchairs. Two textile pressure analog sensors are integrated in the chair backrest cover and two in the armrest covers, allowing a continuous monitoring of the upper body and arms.
  • Active Belt to capture & process ECG signals (Kunal Mankodiya, Dept. of Rehabilitation Science & Tech., University of Pittsburgh, USA) - winner of SYSTEX Student Award 2010 - A wearable ECG chest belt named "Active Belt" which contains stitched textile electrodes for ECG detection and analog preprocessing circuits embedded in tiny cell-phone plugs.
  • Heatable Coverall (Vera De Glas/Geert Hebbrecht, Sioen, BE) - A coverall including heating elements, connection wires with energy supply through a battery.
  • Dance with Light - UGent TextielMobiel (Nicki Vlaemynck, University College Ghent, Ghent, BE) - A garment that can be used for playing the Sync-in-Team - social dance game. Integrated LEDs, accelerometers and a textile antenna ensure interaction between the players.
  • A delicate phase of matter: a collection of liquid crystal colour-change surfaces (Sara Robertson, Heriot Watt University, Galashiels, UK) - A collection of flexible colour-change surfaces that demonstrate design potential for future directions in responsive surface design.
  • Saturday Light Fever Super Hero (Evelyn Lebis, Swedish school of Textiles and Boras University, Boras, SW) - Saturday Light Fever is inspired by butterfly bio-mimicry and blinds the bad with brightness! A super hero costume with which the evil will be beaten through innocent appearance and dazzles with surprise effects.
  • Flexible Light for Health and Wellbeing (Frank van Abeelen, Philips Research, Human Interaction & Experiences, Eindhoven, NL) - A 'blanket' for treatment of neonatal jaundice. Early born babies often suffer from this condition, which is visible as yellowing of the skin and must be treated with blue light.
  • Human-computer Device integrated into Fire Fighter Jacket (Patrycja Bosowski, Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der RWTH Aachen, Aachen, GER) - A garment that helps fire-fighting personnel on duty through integration of a keybord in the sleeve or the garment and textile buttons and textile transmission lines.
  • Prospie 1st prototypes (Hein Daanen, Thermal Physiologist, VU-University Amsterdam, Department of Human Performance, TNO Defence, Security and Safety, Soesterberg, NL)
  • A garment that incorporates a cooling and a warning system for the industrial worker in the heat.
  • Communicating child's jacket and mother's purse (Inese Parkova, Institute of Textile Materials Technologies and Design of the Riga Technical University, LVA) - a smart child's jacket and a mother's purse, which are communicating using a wireless data exchange protocol
  • Remote control pillow (Patrycja Bosowski, Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der RWTH Aachen, Aachen, GER) - A pillow that incorporates a textile matrix serving as switch or remote control.
  • UMIC Healthnet Shirt (Melanie Hörr / Till Quadflieg, Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der RWTH Aachen, Aachen, GER) - A shirt that measures your measure pulse through textile ECG electrodes.
  • Canvas (Malte von Krshiwoblozki, Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Zuverlaessigkeit und Mikrointegration IZM, Abteilung SIIT, Berlin, GER) - A canvas that gives light which can be adapted to different shapes and rooms.
  • AXON superhero (Joost Aanen, Eindhoven University of Technology, NL) - A superhero that has full control over the energy in its body. The superhero directs his energy into his hand to vanquish his opponents with a stunning blow of light.
  • Lightening Textile (Melanie Hörr/Ivana Cujic, Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der RWTH Aachen, Aachen, GER) - A multilayered textile with integrated conductors and light emitting diodes.
  • LUMINOUS CURTAIN & COVER (LC) (Miguel Ridao, SENSING Tex, Barcelona, SP) - A textiles with new functions for covering spaces or upholstery, and the emission of light.
  • Intelligent rugs as pressure sensor (Ignacio Chanzá/José Gisbert, European Affairs -Textile Research Institute, Brussels, BE) - A carpet that stimulates blood circulation or can be used to control video.
  • The NO Mosquito Shirt - From the idea to the market (Hélder Rosendo/Manuel Pinheiro, Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal, PT) - A shirt that provides several levels of protection through micro-encapsulation of active repellent.

More at Smart Textiles Salon.

Funding a computational dress project

Kickstarter, a crowdfunding service, has been opening up doors for designers and artists to help fund their projects. One of the latest projects includes Mary Huang's computational couture called Continuum, which has already attracted 70 backers. Continuum is a user-generated fashion collection that is the "application of interactive technologies for bespoke design. In short, an app lets you draw a dress, turns it into a 3D model, and exports a cutting pattern to make the real dress, sized to your measurements." The result gives it a gorgeous, geometric aesthetic.

Go to Kickstarter and help her fund her project!

Continue reading on Kickstarter. Image source.