Catalytic clothing purifies the air

Catalytic Clothing, a collaboration between designer/artist Helen Storey and chemist Tony Ryan in partnership with University of Sheffield and University for the Arts London, explores how textiles and nanotechnology can be used to form a catalytic surface to purify the air in our environment.

The clothing uses photocatalytic (light activated catalysts) to break down airborne pollutants such as industrial pollutants and car exhaust fumes by reordering the electrons in the atoms of the fabrics to create a more reactive surface. These radicals then react with the pollutants in the environment resulting in "cleaner" air.

According to the creators, "Catalytic Clothing indicates that a significant reduction in the level of airborne pollutants in a large city such as London could be achieved if, for every metre of pavement width, 30 people wearing Catalytic Clothes walked past each minute." Better get these garments into the mainstream!

Continue reading on Creative Idle, Triple Pundit Image from Creative Idle

Capturing and harnessing energy

Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is always up to something interesting that helps move the field of wearable technology forward. Recently, researchers have discovered a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems. By scavenging this ambient energy from the air around us, the technique could provide a new way to power networks of wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips. Professor Manos Tentzeris who is leading the research said:

There is a large amount of electromagnetic energy all around us, but nobody has been able to tap into it. We are using an ultra-wideband antenna that lets us exploit a variety of signals in different frequency ranges, giving us greatly increased power-gathering capability.

The devices are also rather beautiful and easy to create. Tentzeris and his team are using inkjet printers to combine sensors, antennas and energy-scavenging capabilities on paper or flexible polymers. They are flat, flexible, and have a strong graphical pattern...perfect for garment integration.

Continue reading on Georgia Tech. Image Georgia Tech.

Body as Platform workshop at CIID

[gallery]Students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) recently participated in a workshop around the topic of "Body as Platform". Here's a look at the workshop and some of the futuristic "tales" that came out of this 2-week long exploration.

Chlorophyllus, by Alix Gillet Kirt and Harsha Vardhan, explores a genetically modified skin that is being converted to a photosynthetic membrane.

Future ears, by Yufan and Hellicoper, is a human enhancement concept that explores the idea of additional and augmented senses. In the future, you can have 8 ears which can hear different frequencies of sound. You can pick one certain frequency and you can also mix two frequencies.

Explore more projects from the workshop at CIID.

The Oyster card wearable travel pass

[gallery]The Oyster card, London’s electronic travel card system, is something synonymous with natives and visitors alike. It's a handy card that gives you flexibility with your journeys around the city, and saves you money at the same time. Equipped with RFID, it allows travelers to jump on London tube trains, buses, trams and many regular train services without having to take out any cash. Designer Benjamin Parton thought it was time for a redesign- something fun and memorable with improved functionality. The Oi is a wearable oyster card that can be worn as a ring or “watchstrap widget.” Oi uses the same radio-frequency coil infrastructure as the existing Oyster cards and the final product can be bent and twisted without damaging the internal components and is also unaffected by interference from other radio frequency devices.

Continue reading on Yanko Design. Images from Yanko Design.

The new aesthetic of wearable medical devices

[gallery]There's an emerging trend focused on a new aesthetic of wearable medical devices that are beautiful, fashionable, functional, and ultimately celebrate an ailment rather than hide it. Afterall, if you have to wear one why make it look like a "medical device"? Here are few of my favorites that are paving the way toward aesthetically fashionable personal wellness: Bespoke Fairing™ are specialized coverings that surround an existing prosthetic leg, accurately recreating the body form through a process that uses three-dimensional scanning to capture the unique leg shape. But Fairings not only return the lost contour, they invite an expression of personality and individuality that has never before been possible.

Lanzavecchia + Wai design disability aids that become a stage to discuss, understand and cope with disability, illness and human frailty. Their designs create a bridge between the user and producer aiming to open the possibilities and new values that these vital body accessories can bestow upon the user.

Leah Heiss, in collaboration with Nanotechnology Victoria, has developed a range of jewelry with therapeutic properties, including functional insulin applicator jewelry for diabetics.

Image source Bespoke Fairing, Lanzavecchia + Wai, Leah Heiss

An interview with Asta Roseway at Microsoft Research

I recently visited Microsoft Research (MSR) to meet some of the researchers and designers who are doing some amazing work with wearable technology. One of the designers I met with was Senior Research Designer Asta Roseway (MSR). She recently collaborated with User Experience Designer Sheridan Martin Small (Xbox) on a project called The Printing Dress, which won Best Concept and Best in Show at ISWC 2011 in San Francisco last month.

Here's a look at their creation, how they made it, and what Asta's thoughts are about the future of wearable technology.

The Printing Dress You are probably familiar with the old saying, “You are what you eat” but how about, “You are what you tweet?” What if this concept were incorporated into garments of the future?

The "Printing Dress" is an artistic piece that explores the notion of wearable text and its potential impact on the future of fashion, as well as our social identity. Built almost entirely of paper, the dress enables the wearer to enter "thoughts" on to its fabric and wear them as public art. While constructed from materials of the past, the dress looks towards the future with a message indicating that we are entering into a new realm of social accountability, where you literally wear what you tweet.

The Dress is powered by four Lilypad Arduinos, a laptop, a short throw projector and uses a Processing sketch to display and animate the text.

Interview Participants Asta Roseway - Senior Research Designer, Microsoft Research Sheridan Martin Small - User Experience Designer, P10 Incubations/Xbox Tom Blank - Hardware Engineering Manager, Microsoft Research Desney Tan - Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research

Special thanks to Artefact, Microsoft Research, Xbox, and Issara Willenskomer at Dos Rios.

Also featured on Engadget, Cnet, PSFK, talk2myshirt, Ecouterre, Microsoft News Center.