In the Wallace and Gromit clay-animated movie The Wrong Trousers, a villain designs futuristic pants, allowing people to walk on walls and ceilings and defy the laws of gravity. The film inspired researchers in England to turn a science-fictional concept into reality in order to help people.
As a result, researchers created “The Right Trousers.” These pairs of pants are designed to help elderly or disabled people with issues such as standing up or improving blood circulation. Theoretically, these high-tech pants are embedded with electrical pumps that force air into tiny tubes that expand, giving individuals the ability to walk better.
“In June, researchers in Australia created robotic textile fibers, which can make fabric move automatically. Last year, scientists at MIT fabricated computer programmable threads and built fiber batteries using battery gels that could embed into clothes and power robotic textiles. In a sign that the technology is approaching maturity, the intelligence community announced in July [that] it’s looking to develop smart clothes for soldiers and spies,” wrote The New York Times.
It was a turning point for engineers as they unlocked a new era of clothing that will act more like an AI computer. Their goal is to enable smart clothing to sense how an individual’s body feels and tell the user how to improve the situation.
In the future, scientists said, customers can expect a whole new revolution of futuristic offerings: pants aiding the elderly or disabled to stand up, athletic socks that help to improve athletes’ performance by promoting improved blood flow through automatic compression, and maternity clothing that tracks fetal heart rates to improve pregnancy outcomes.
“Software is going to determine what services you’re receiving,” said Yoel Fink, a materials science professor at MIT, “and that thing is going to look like your t-shirt and your pants that you’re wearing right now.”
Fink and other MIT researchers have already created fibers with hundreds of silicone microchips to transmit digital signals, which is pertinent to automatically tracking medical conditions such as heart rate or foot swelling.
These recent breakthroughs point toward a future in which smart textiles will become a part of people’s everyday wardrobes, improving wearers’ health and quality of life.
Link:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659262340718x970872137187247100/Shapeshifting%2C%20robotic%20clothes%20could%20help%20people%20stand%20up%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.
As a result, researchers created “The Right Trousers.” These pairs of pants are designed to help elderly or disabled people with issues such as standing up or improving blood circulation. Theoretically, these high-tech pants are embedded with electrical pumps that force air into tiny tubes that expand, giving individuals the ability to walk better.
“In June, researchers in Australia created robotic textile fibers, which can make fabric move automatically. Last year, scientists at MIT fabricated computer programmable threads and built fiber batteries using battery gels that could embed into clothes and power robotic textiles. In a sign that the technology is approaching maturity, the intelligence community announced in July [that] it’s looking to develop smart clothes for soldiers and spies,” wrote The New York Times.
It was a turning point for engineers as they unlocked a new era of clothing that will act more like an AI computer. Their goal is to enable smart clothing to sense how an individual’s body feels and tell the user how to improve the situation.
In the future, scientists said, customers can expect a whole new revolution of futuristic offerings: pants aiding the elderly or disabled to stand up, athletic socks that help to improve athletes’ performance by promoting improved blood flow through automatic compression, and maternity clothing that tracks fetal heart rates to improve pregnancy outcomes.
“Software is going to determine what services you’re receiving,” said Yoel Fink, a materials science professor at MIT, “and that thing is going to look like your t-shirt and your pants that you’re wearing right now.”
Fink and other MIT researchers have already created fibers with hundreds of silicone microchips to transmit digital signals, which is pertinent to automatically tracking medical conditions such as heart rate or foot swelling.
These recent breakthroughs point toward a future in which smart textiles will become a part of people’s everyday wardrobes, improving wearers’ health and quality of life.
Link:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659262340718x970872137187247100/Shapeshifting%2C%20robotic%20clothes%20could%20help%20people%20stand%20up%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.
