For anyone in the states, happy fourth of July! Here's a little low-tech wearable to help you celebrate. Have a safe and fun celebration! Image at Fiskers.
Wireless display in your contacts
[gallery]Technology from STMicroelectronics for a Swiss medical startup points the way to integrating a display in a contact lens. The lens includes a wireless MEMS sensor that acts as a transducer, antenna and mechanical support for additional read-out electronics Not only does the lens integrate display possibilities, it's aimed to enable better management of glaucoma that is tailored to the individual patient.
We have a strong focus on developing and manufacturing wireless sensor networks for diagnostics and other applications in medicine. This wireless, self-powered, on-body sensor will be used in a product that promises to greatly help the millions of people at risk and suffering from glaucoma. Sensimed’s imaginative application perfectly illustrates how, by working with healthcare experts, we can combine two different disciplines and know-how, along with our manufacturing infrastructure, to improve the health and wellbeing of people all over the world.
Said by Benedetto Vigna, General Manager of STMicroelectronics’ MEMS, Sensors and High Performance Analog division.
Rights Through Making explores Wear Culture
[gallery]Students at Rights Through Making in partnership with Eindoven University of Technology's ID department are exploring on-body interactions and wear culture that promotes community and celebrates scientific advancement and its benefit. In their project InTouch, they are exploring ways to serendipitously connect people in crowded places turning "annoying moments" into shared moment between two strangers. The InTouch jacket includes a built in customizable ringtone and a touch-sensitive surface. When in a crowded location such as the subway, two jackets that accidentally brush up against each other will make a noise, bringing two strangers together.
Other projects explore the reinterpretation of ethnic garments that have a seductive twist, a suit that collects your traces and expresses your history, a series of sport and gaming garments, and more.
InTouch Designers, Fabio Novelli, Claudio Manetti, Joris Zaalberg, Saskia Bakker InTouch Supervisers, Ambra Trotto Kees Overbeeke, Caroline Hummels
Bringing beauty to diabetes
[gallery] I love it when simple ideas can have such a big impact. Designer and creator, Jessica Floeh, is investigating the union of fashion and technology at Parsons' School of Art and Design. She believes that merging the two fields presents opportunities to "rethink aesthetic systems and sustainability", which she has begun to do in her project titled Hanky Pancreas. The project includes a collection of insulin pump accessories that decorate and bring aesthetic beauty to clunky, techy-looking pump hardware that is worn on the body. The accessories hide the hardware while also celebrating it and merging it into the aesthetic of the outfit.
In addition to her demo in the video, Jessica has some great customer quotes on her website that describe the value of her collection and how important this simple solution can be to people who suffer diabetes:
It's not just a piece of technology I'm hiding anymore, it's actually a part of me and how I'm dressing
It's important to me to feel connected to others who share my condition
I like that it brings attention to my pump because I like to tell people about my diabetes...
More info at Hanky Pancreas. Images from Hanky Pancreas, Products & Tech News, La Placard.
Light-embellished cufflinks
[gallery]Adafruit creates wearable electronics that are "subtle and fun to wear". Their premiere product, iCuffLinks, is a rather beautiful set of geekwear cufflinks that mimic the breathing light patterns of an Apple PowerBook power switch. Simple products like this is a great way to introduce technology-integrated (in this case "embellished") wearables into a wider commercial market. And the kicker? They can be purchased OR you can make them yourself. The iCuffLinks are open source, which includes circuit board files, schematics and CAD file posted on GitHub.
To compliment the iCuffLinks, Adafruit is currently working on a necklace version. I can't wait for that one!
Composing music through gestures and muscle movement
[gallery] UK-based new media and sonic artist Marco Donnarumma is exploring new ways we control, compose and experience music with his project Xth Sense: Music for Flesh II. "The body is able to perform an impressive range of movements and to transform any amount of muscular energy into a kinetic event, from the most elusive to the most emphatic...This continuous kinetic energy created by every muscles of the body naturally becomes mechanical vibration, which is nothing but sound...Similarly to human voice, the body is capable of infinite movement combinations and expressive subtlety...with excellent control that can be achieved through practice." Continue on Marco Donnarumma's research blog.
The project is a free open-source software/hardware platform for the application of muscle-created sounds. See it in action here:
More info and images on Marco Donnarumma's research blog.
Other related research is Desney Tan's (Microsoft Research) Muscle-Computer Interfaces.