Many people know that robotics will end up in our daily lives in many ways, but what people haven’t taken to account is that it might even be in our clothes. It was inspired by a clay animated movie where pants can climb on walls, University Labs have been programming textiles to everything from listening to your favorite songs and making your bed after a nice catnap.
These textiles are already here, simple stuff. The first prototype was used to help elderly and disabled to stand up or improve blood flow. More recently big tech and clothing companies have teamed up to create robotic clothing. For example, Google and Levi’s made denim, the textile found in jeans, jackets, backpacks and shoes that are phone connected. This lets the users for example, swipe their sleeves to change music. Adidas and Yves Saint Laurent did roughly the same thing Google and Levi’s did. What we might get in the future is even cooler, for example the University of New South Wales in Australia has made ting silicon tubes that can weave into sheets of fabric, and this can make the fabric into various shapes.
How this magic happens it deep inside these textiles, yearly make of silicon, the fabrics are triggered by electronic or thermal energy. There are still challenges before this technology catches on. For one thing, they have to be tiny. To do this example the University of New South Wales’s Than Nho Do, a senior lecturer team has been trying to create these robotic tubes to be only 0.1mm thick. Currently has a fabric .5 mm thick. Another problem is that this technology has to be resistant to be in washing and drying machines when being cleaned.
Even though this sound great this could also hurt us in a way. Like for example if fabrics that can help you stand up become available to everyone. We wouldn’t have to move around and without exercise it could hurt our bodies in multiple ways. Another example is that if they become able to heat or cool our bodies than we wouldn’t feel the seasons which find of takes away the fun of the seasons changing. But only time will tell us weather or not this was a good or bad idea.
These textiles are already here, simple stuff. The first prototype was used to help elderly and disabled to stand up or improve blood flow. More recently big tech and clothing companies have teamed up to create robotic clothing. For example, Google and Levi’s made denim, the textile found in jeans, jackets, backpacks and shoes that are phone connected. This lets the users for example, swipe their sleeves to change music. Adidas and Yves Saint Laurent did roughly the same thing Google and Levi’s did. What we might get in the future is even cooler, for example the University of New South Wales in Australia has made ting silicon tubes that can weave into sheets of fabric, and this can make the fabric into various shapes.
How this magic happens it deep inside these textiles, yearly make of silicon, the fabrics are triggered by electronic or thermal energy. There are still challenges before this technology catches on. For one thing, they have to be tiny. To do this example the University of New South Wales’s Than Nho Do, a senior lecturer team has been trying to create these robotic tubes to be only 0.1mm thick. Currently has a fabric .5 mm thick. Another problem is that this technology has to be resistant to be in washing and drying machines when being cleaned.
Even though this sound great this could also hurt us in a way. Like for example if fabrics that can help you stand up become available to everyone. We wouldn’t have to move around and without exercise it could hurt our bodies in multiple ways. Another example is that if they become able to heat or cool our bodies than we wouldn’t feel the seasons which find of takes away the fun of the seasons changing. But only time will tell us weather or not this was a good or bad idea.
