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Computerised clothing will benefit textile manufacturers
Cliff Randell
Almost every day we learn about new computing devices (such as mobile telephones,
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), MP3 audio players) that are designed to
be carried around by the user. Today, these products are a mere fraction of
the size of their functional equivalents of ten years ago: a state-of-the-art
computer that sat on the business executive’s desk in 1990 had the same
processing power as the onHand PC that can be worn on the wrist today. Scientists
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are currently investigating the
potential uses of computer processors that are the size of a grain of sand.
Already garment manufacturers are seeing the need to accommodate this new technology
in their products. Pockets designed to carry mobile phones are being designed
into jackets and trousers - Levis/Philips have even included a control system
for mobile phones and MP3 players in their latest range of outdoor clothing.
The demand for technically smart clothing will grow as applications for networking
computer-based devices on the body are developed.
Potential applications go beyond communications, mobile email, listening to
music and ebooks, and organising personal data - in the future body worn computers
will be able to learn about the user’s day to day activities and anticipate
the user’s needs.
Context Aware Applications
We are used to our computers knowing who we are. Every time we switch on, or
log into, our computer it returns to our preferred settings and offers the previous
pieces of work which we had most recently been addressing. Our bookmarks are
available, as can be our address book, diary and personal accounts. In the future
our computers will also know where we are, what we are doing and how we are
feeling.
Already mobile phone applications are providing location-based services, and
we are also able to use the Global Positioning System (GPS) with PDA’s
and in cars to determine our current location - which can then be displayed
on a map. US legislation requires that by the end of this year all mobile phones
will be able to make available their position to emergency services with an
accuracy of 50m. The placement of accelerometers and/or resistive sensor strips
in clothing make it possible to determine ‘what’ activity the user
is performing, and to modify a computer’s behaviour accordingly. Biosensors,
such as heart rate and skin conductivity monitors, are able to measure ‘how’
well we are. Combinations of this contextual data can enable body-worn computers
to react to the user’s behaviour and condition to provide timely and useful
information both to the user, and in extreme situations, can even call for assistance.
The Bristol CyberJacket
The Bristol Wearable Computing project - a collaboration between the University
of Bristol, UK and Hewlett-Packard Research Labs, Europe - has developed a ‘CyberJacket’
which provides a platform for developing and testing wearable computing applications.
The CyberJacket is based on a heavy duty Hein Gericke outdoor leisure jacket.
Built into it’s lining is a network computer along with a number of context
sensing devices including a GPS receiver, ultrasonic indoor location sensors,
an electronic compass and accelerometers. The user interface includes speech
recognition and audio playback, and displays can be handheld, headmounted or
worn on the sleeve. We have developed a Tourist Guide which uses GPS data to
determine the location of the wearer and an accelerometer sewn into a pocket
to monitor the user’s activity. When the CyberJacket detects that the user
is approaching an interesting place a short audio message is played through
an earpiece. If the user reacts by stopping, a page of relevant information
appears on the sleeve.
Another application senses the proximity of a shop and, using a wireless link,
sends the user’s shopping list to the shop’s database. If the shop
has any of the items on the list, the user is alerted and a list of the items
available - with their prices - is displayed on the sleeve of the CyberJacket.
We are interested in developing this further to bring more information on products
to the user as she moves around the shop - and also to enable payment for items
purchased to be made automatically on leaving the shop. There is also potential
for shops to alert the user to special offers, though we also recognise the
need for the user to be able to switch off some of these features!
Research is continuing on applications that bring information from the ‘virtual
world’ to the user in the real world. There already exists a large amount
of data relevant to everyday life, much of it available on the world-wide-web,
our goal is to make this readily accessible - providing the right information
at the right time and in the right place. This could be giving directions to
the nearest vegetarian restaurant - or providing improved vision to the partially
sighted.
Garment properties
It is unlikely that a user would want to wear a fully equipped CyberJacket for
much of the day. Already we see people carrying different combinations of electronic
devices depending on their activity - a mobile phone and PDA are useful for
the office, but the PDA is left behind and a digital camera carried for a trip
out with the family. An MP3 player helps reduce the tedium of long journeys.
We expect that computing devices and sensors will become integrated into the
clothes associated with particular activities: a pair of running shorts monitoring
and recording heart rate, activity level and location; a business suit with
a phone interface in the lapel and PDA display on the sleeve; an anorak with
location sensing, electronic compass and altimeter.
Garments will need to support these devices in many different ways. We have
already seen the introduction of pockets for computerised technology, and experiments
have been carried out with electrically conductive fibres, such as silk organza,
and with fabrics incorporating metals for hygienic purposes as well as for interconnectivity.
There are three other aspects which researchers are investigating which could
transform the ways in which we use our clothing. These take advantage of:
- the proximity of our clothes to our hands - to provide
control input surfaces;
- the shape and movement of our clothes - to monitor
our actions; and
- the visibility of clothes - to provide display surfaces.
Input surfaces
The conventional computer keyboard is obviously unsuitable for day-to-day wear.
Using speech to control our wearable computer is an ideal solution, however
we are many years away from achieving user independent continuous speech recognition
in noisy environments. Indeed once adequate speech recognition has been achieved,
we will still want to be able to control our wearable computers in a more discrete
manner. The solution to our immediate needs, and for future discrete control
could lie in touch sensitive fabrics. WRONZ, a New Zealand-based textile research
and development organisation and electronic materials company Peratech of Darlington,
County Durham, UK, have jointly developed a product called Softswitch.
Source: machen.mrl.nott.ac.uk/publicationstore/2001-randell
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