Smart clothing and wearable technology / DataArt Blog

Have you ever wondered why we wear clothes? Unlikely. But the need for clothes is one of the most important for us; hardly any of the people can do without clothes. So why don't we think about such important things for us? Probably because clothing is so important for us that it has become an integral part of life - it is something very natural for us. Nevertheless, it is still worth thinking about clothes.

After all, if earlier we often talked about “smart” phones, “smart” refrigerators, televisions and vacuum cleaners, now we are increasingly starting to talk about “smart” clothes - such clothes that integrate with modern information technologies. And this, in fact, is not surprising, given the importance of clothing for us. To paraphrase Ralph Lauren, the initiator of the development of PoloTech smart T-shirts, we can say that we have too focused on inventing new devices, but we have forgotten about what we have been using for thousands of years - about clothes. After all, here you can find a place for innovation!

The technologies that allow the creation of “smart” clothes are called “wearable techonologies” in English - this phrase is usually translated into Russian as “wearable technology”. In addition to “smart” clothes, wearable technology allows you to develop other devices - all of these devices have in common that they can be carried with you. After all, if we look at the word 'wearable', we will see that it is divided into two parts - 'wear' and 'able', and therefore we can translate it this way: “with the ability to wear”, or “wearable”, or even just “wearable”.

Where wearable devices are used

Let's talk about wearable devices. So, wearable devices are those electronic devices and accessories that we can wear and wear. We can say that these devices help us interact with other people, with the world around us and even with our own body, if we talk about devices that measure our physiological parameters. Now there are already a huge number of such technologies and devices of various categories.

• In the field of safety and security, such devices can be used for remote monitoring and control, detection of hazardous substances, profiling, etc.
• In the medical field - monitoring patients, helping patients with diabetes, remotely receiving electroencephalograms, electrocardiograms, etc.
• In the field of health - monitoring sleep quality, stress indicators, weight, receiving distance advice from doctors, etc.
• In the field of sports and fitness - tracking physical activity, monitoring physiological parameters, monitoring and managing goals, transmitting geolocation data, etc.
• In the field of everyday tasks - task planning, training optimization, complementing reality, real-time data transfer, etc.
• In the field of communications - providing communications, access to multimedia, the use of social networks, etc.
• In the field of fashion - changing patterns on clothes, tracking and expression of emotions, reaction to light, etc.

As you can see, now wearable devices are already widely used in a variety of spheres of life.

Now a little history

But where did the fascination of people with wearable devices and “smart” clothes begin? Perhaps the first wearable device was mentioned in 1884: then, in the New York Times, a dress was mentioned that could illuminate the streets - it was just a dress with bulbs. This article also spoke about dancers who used light bulbs in ballet costumes during performances.

Then, during the Second World War, scientists thought about how to increase the survival of military pilots. As a result, flying clothes with heating elements were created.

Thus, despite the seeming novelty of the idea, a kind of “smart” clothing began to appear more than a hundred years ago, but these technologies began to be actively introduced not so long ago. For example, maybe we remember that ten years ago a T-shirt was shown in fashion, showing the level of Wi-Fi. But now it is hardly relevant, because such a T-shirt will show a high signal level almost everywhere.

In what areas are smart clothes used?

We have already examined in which areas different wearable devices are used, and now let's see in which areas “smart” clothes are currently used:

• The medicine. Smart clothes can increase our chances of survival - this is especially true for people with diseases and physiological abnormalities. So, “smart” clothing allows you to control basic vital signs (heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature), body position, etc. It helps to monitor the condition of people working with hazardous substances. Thanks to smart clothes, you can remotely conduct tests and provide remote medical advice.
• Sport and fitness. Here, “smart” clothing can be used to collect and analyze various data on physical activity, which helps us monitor our health.
• Military, survival and security. Smart clothes can help you survive in extreme conditions. Thanks to her, you can track the location and condition of soldiers during combat missions. You can control the fatigue level of the pilot or driver. These are spacesuits, exoskeletons, etc., which help us to act more effectively in difficult situations.
• Fashion. These are clothes and accessories combining high technology and style. Many people are scared away by all kinds of strange gadgets like Google glasses, but there are those who like it - these are people who are looking forward to the release of new devices in order to use them as soon as possible.

Smart clothing and wearable device projects

Now there are already many projects within the framework of which the development and even production of “smart” clothes and various high-tech underwear devices is being conducted. Let us briefly review the most noteworthy of these projects.

Project Jacquard (Google ATAP)

Perhaps one of the most interesting “smart” clothing projects that currently exists is the Jacquard project, which is being worked on at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects division of Google.

In this project, a technology is being developed that will allow using the standard industrial looms to weave the functionality of the touch screen into any fabric. According to the founder of the project, Ivan Pupyrev (incidentally, a graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute), this is possible because the structure of the fabric is the same as the structure of the touch screens of smartphones. This means that by simply replacing some of the threads in the fabric with conductive threads, we can weave a fabric that can recognize a set of simple touches - that is, perform the same function as touch screens. This will allow integrating computer technology into various objects, materials and clothes. At the same time, sensory tissue can hardly be distinguished from ordinary: after all, the only difference between sensory tissue and ordinary is that some of the threads in it are conductive;

As for the microcircuits that will ensure the work of the fabric, Google experts are trying to make them as compact as possible - the size of a button, so that people will not only not see, but even feel their presence in their clothes.

The successful application of such technology will lead to the fact that we can use our clothes for all the same, for which we usually use our computer devices - for example, to work with different applications. Even different configurations will be possible, so how to apply such a fabric will depend on the developers and on the users themselves. Using interactive tissue will make the use of technology more natural and close to humans.

Project Soli (Google ATAP)

The Soli project is a parallel project from the same Google’s advanced technology division, founded by the same Ivan Pupyrev. This project is dedicated to the development of a new type of interaction with devices - contactless interaction through gestures. So, for example, just by the click of our fingers in the air we can launch a particular task on our wearable device. Or, for example, we can imagine that, touching the thumb pad of the index finger of the thumb, we press the button: let there really be no button, but this is a very precise movement that can be recognized and interpreted as a button press. A small radar that can track the movements of our hands with an accuracy of a fraction of a millimeter will allow this.

Such an approach would solve the problem of interacting with very small devices - so small that using the screen to work with them is very inconvenient or even simply impossible. This development can have great prospects: for the hand is a delicate, elegant tool for interacting with the world, the use of which is so natural for us.

Hexoskin

In 2013, the Indiegogo portal raised funds for the Hexoskin project, a project to develop smart biometric fitness clothing that allows measuring physiological parameters during training. The project was very successful - now we can purchase biometric t-shirts from this company. And this is not the only such project - now there are already ten of them without changing.

Athos

Another similar project is Athos. The project began with the fact that once two Canadian engineering students were engaged in a gym, but they did not have enough money for a trainer - then they decided to invent a product that would allow controlling any physical activity during training using electromyography. This allows you to see how well a particular muscle group is being worked out and how it is involved, calculate the pulse, etc. These data can improve the results of training. For example, professional athletes are very interested in such projects. Athos training suits are also available now.

Exoskeletons

It is worth mentioning, of course, the development of exoskeletons. An exoskeleton is an external "skeleton" that allows a person to be stronger, more flexible and more resilient. In other words, the exoskeleton helps you do the hard work, helps you adapt to difficult conditions and increase your chances of survival. For example, there is an exoskeleton concept for a fireman. Also, everyone knows the military development of exoskeletons. In addition, there is a project of an exoskeleton that helps people with disabilities get out of a wheelchair, and injured people recover from physical injuries.

Synapse dress

Another interesting project is the project of “synaptic clothes” from the Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht. Thanks to the use of technology from Intel, “synaptic clothing” printed on a 3D printer allows you to display the emotions that a person feels on the fabric in the form of light signals. This is done thanks to biometric sensors built into such clothes.

A little bit about the future

How promising is the use of smart clothes in everyday life? Will it become something ordinary in 10-15 years?

On the one hand, funds are actually invested in the development of such clothes - which means there are prospects. On the other hand, as psychology tells us, people are conservative in nature and reluctant to change their daily habits, and they often mistrust new technologies. Although there is already a small percentage of people buying such clothes, it is unclear whether such clothes will really become popular. Most likely, for such a technology to become mass, it will have to spend a lot of resources, time and money. After all, not all things become familiar so quickly and easily.

Posted by Dmitry Shcherbina, DataArt mobile developer.