Wearable

A patent filed in November of last year shows plans for an eye tracking unlock system. The plans strongly suggest that the feature is intended for use with Google Glass, Mountain View’s hot-topic, wearable-tech product.  Read More

The Pentagon has long had a fascination with machines that turn soldiers into supermen. Back in the 1960s, it funded General Electric’s work on Hardiman, an exoskeleton that was intended to allow its operator to lift loads of 1,500 lbs (680 kg). Almost half a century later, it’s still pouring money into all sorts of exoskeletons, assisted lifting devices (think robotrousers) and similar aids. Now Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has been selected by DARPA to spearhead the effort to develop a new “smart suit” intended to improve the endurance of soldiers in the field.  Read More

The current US space suit used by NASA is a dinosaur. Designed in 1992, it was only ever intended to be used by crews aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. That may have been good enough in the days of 14 kps modems, but with eyes turning increasingly toward missions to the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, space explorers need something better. That’s why NASA is designing its first new suit in twenty years. Developed by NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems (AES), the Z-1 prototype space suit currently undergoing vacuum testing at the Johnson Space Center is a wearable laboratory of new technology. And it’s a hatchback.  Read More

NeuroSky’s brain-computer interface (BCI) technology has found its way into a variety of devices over the last few years, from the MyndPlay media player and MindSet video game headset to the XWave and XWave Sport. The latest product sporting the company’s brainwave-reading technology features a slightly more fun form factor – fluffy, wearable cat ears.  Read More

No one likes going to the doctor. There's the inevitable wait in the waiting room before eventually being ushered into the office of the harried doctor who spends most of his day dealing with relatively minor complaints or simple follow-up visits. Then, of course, there's the bill. But what if patients could get a check up without having to actually visit the doctor? A smart T-shirt fitted with various sensors is designed to do just that.  Read More

California-based company PLX Devices first came to our attention in 2010 with its XWave brainwave interface accessory for iDevices that read a wearer’s brainwave information. It appears the call center headset-like form factor may not have appealed to many as the device no longer appears on the company’s website, but it has been replaced with a similar device in a design that should make the wearer much less self-conscious – a brain computer interface headband.  Read More

If you’ve ever worn a knee brace, then you may have noticed what a large change in angle your knee goes through with every step you take, and how quickly it does so. A team of scientists from the U.K.’s Cranfield University, University of Liverpool and University of Salford certainly noticed, and decided that all that movement should be put to use. The result is a wearable piezoelectric device that converts knee movement into electricity, which could in turn be used to power gadgets such as heart rate monitors, pedometers and accelerometers.  Read More

Since the 1980s keeping fit has become an ever more popular pursuit and these days, the diversity of fitness programs is truly breath-taking and increasingly high tech. With a prototype created by an avant-garde Seattle design lab, exercise looks set to become positively futuristic. Along similar lines to the MotivePro vibrating suit we looked at last week, Move, designed by Electric Foxy, a company that develops wearable technology, is a kind of sensorial tank top that monitors movements during exercise to help people improve their performance, with particular emphasis on movement precision.  Read More

Many professional athletes employ motion capture technology to help identify problems with their techniques so they can be corrected. However, such technology generally takes the athlete out of the usual performing environment and only lets them review their technique after the fact. Now researchers at Birmingham City University have developed a wearable device, dubbed the “Vibrating Suit,” that provides feedback to the wearer about where their body is in space in real time. Aside from assisting athletes perfect their technique, the technology could also be used to help prevent injuries in those that perform strenuous activities as part of their job.  Read More