Released in 1993, “The Wrong Trousers” is a clay-animated movie featuring a pair of futuristic pants that allows people to walk on walls and ceilings. Researchers in England who were inspired by the idea created their own version of the pants that can help humans with everyday functions.
“The Right Trousers” are pants embedded with electrical pumps which force air into tiny tubes that expand. The pants can help elderly or disabled people with day-to-day activities like getting up or putting on their clothes. “The Right Trousers” have many unique abilities which makes them useful for millions of people. The trousers can help you stand up, they can change shape with a touch of a button, and they even can take themselves off, without any help from the person wearing them.
The inventor of the trousers said their goal was to “replicate the biological muscles in clothing.” By doing this, they can help the 6 million people in the UK who need ability assistance move around easier.
Following “The Right Trousers” lead, university labs, material scientists, computer programmers, and fabric designers across the world started working on advanced robotic clothing.
Researchers said their work is rapidly advancing and very soon they could unlock an era where clothing will act more like a computer, sensing your body’s movement and instructing your clothes how to help.
Yoel Fink, a materials science professor at MIT said, “we’re sort of at the pre-iPhone announcement [stage].”
In June, researchers in Australia created robotic textile fibers, which allows fabric to move automatically. Last year, scientists at MIT fabricated computer programmable threads and built fiber batteries that could embed into clothes and power robotic clothing (The Washington Post).
In July, the intelligence community announced plans to develop smart clothes for soldiers and spies.
In the coming decade, scientists said customers can expect a whole range of futuristic offerings. A few significant ways robotic clothing could drastically improve human life include: Pants that can help lift elderly or disabled people up, athletic socks that can promote blood flow through automatic compression, and maternity clothes that could passively track fetal heart rates to improve pregnancy outcomes.
Robotic textiles still face many challenges. The biggest challenge is making the robotic features small enough to be weaved easily with yarn and other fabrics without adding bulk. Than Nho Do, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, said his team has created tiny silicon tubes that are designed like muscle fibers. Currently the tubes have a .5-mm diameter, but they are aiming for 0.1mm – roughly the size of a syringe needle tip.
“The Right Trousers” are pants embedded with electrical pumps which force air into tiny tubes that expand. The pants can help elderly or disabled people with day-to-day activities like getting up or putting on their clothes. “The Right Trousers” have many unique abilities which makes them useful for millions of people. The trousers can help you stand up, they can change shape with a touch of a button, and they even can take themselves off, without any help from the person wearing them.
The inventor of the trousers said their goal was to “replicate the biological muscles in clothing.” By doing this, they can help the 6 million people in the UK who need ability assistance move around easier.
Following “The Right Trousers” lead, university labs, material scientists, computer programmers, and fabric designers across the world started working on advanced robotic clothing.
Researchers said their work is rapidly advancing and very soon they could unlock an era where clothing will act more like a computer, sensing your body’s movement and instructing your clothes how to help.
Yoel Fink, a materials science professor at MIT said, “we’re sort of at the pre-iPhone announcement [stage].”
In June, researchers in Australia created robotic textile fibers, which allows fabric to move automatically. Last year, scientists at MIT fabricated computer programmable threads and built fiber batteries that could embed into clothes and power robotic clothing (The Washington Post).
In July, the intelligence community announced plans to develop smart clothes for soldiers and spies.
In the coming decade, scientists said customers can expect a whole range of futuristic offerings. A few significant ways robotic clothing could drastically improve human life include: Pants that can help lift elderly or disabled people up, athletic socks that can promote blood flow through automatic compression, and maternity clothes that could passively track fetal heart rates to improve pregnancy outcomes.
Robotic textiles still face many challenges. The biggest challenge is making the robotic features small enough to be weaved easily with yarn and other fabrics without adding bulk. Than Nho Do, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, said his team has created tiny silicon tubes that are designed like muscle fibers. Currently the tubes have a .5-mm diameter, but they are aiming for 0.1mm – roughly the size of a syringe needle tip.
