Crazy future wearables: smart tattoos, electronic muscles for extra strength and more on show in Chicago
- Forget the Apple Watch. At a future wearables exhibition in Chicago, the devices on display will truly blow your mind
- We picked out five favourites, including a tattoo that can control your phone and clothing fused with robotics to help movement
If you thought we had a few years before the world turns into a real-life Black Mirror episode, think again. The latest exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, “Wired to Wear”, makes it very clear that the future of fashion goes well beyond a smartwatch that can pay for your coffee.
With more than 100 innovations from 15 countries – and featuring brands like Google, Nike and Intel – the exhibit is dedicated to the future of wearable technology. Some of the items in the exhibit are in production, some are near completion and others were constructed to showcase the possibilities of new technology in need of a mind-blowing application.
Looking for something to make a statement at one of this summer’s music festivals? How about a tattoo you can play like a keyboard.
“Wired to Wear” runs until May next year. Here are five of our favourite things from the exhibition.
A tattoo that transforms your skin into a touch screen
Microsoft’s temporary “smart tattoo” by Asta Roseway and Paul Johns – dubbed DuoSkin – transforms a gold leaf skin embellishment into an interface. It can be added to an existing tattoo or can be used on its own, and allows you to control your mobile devices, become a living keyboard or store information on your skin – all while making a major style statement.
A really smart jean jacket
Levi’s is always in style, especially its denim jackets. But now, through a collaboration with Google, the brand has updated its iconic jacket to have touch screen functionality.
Just imagine tapping your cuff to change a song or turn on the lights or feel a vibration when your Uber is arriving.
Micro-thin jacquard threads are sewn into the fabric, allowing sensor grids throughout the jacket to function as a touch screen that links to your mobile device via Bluetooth. As the technology advances, the jacket updates just like your smartphone – and it’s machine-washable.
You can stop imagining, because this is actually happening. The first iteration of the jacket launched in 2017, retailing for US$350.
Yes, my dress is watching you
Commissioned by the Museum of Science and Industry, designer and technologist Behnaz Farahi created the Iridescence dress to highlight vision-activated technology.
The collar of the dress is constructed with a tiny camera and 200 quills that follow and react with lifelike behaviour to a viewer’s facial expressions and movements. For example, when the collar detects an angry face looking at it, the iridescent quills express anxiety with jittery movements. As the viewer moves around the dress, the quills shift to follow the viewer, creating a new pattern and shape in the collar of the dress.
This takes the mood ring to an entirely different level.
Does this mean we can skip the gym?
Feeling tired? Can’t get off the couch? No biggie. Seismic Powered Clothing literally has your back.
The lightweight undergarment, which fuses apparel and robotics, provides extra strength for standing and sitting. “It essentially has the equivalent of a pulley system in it. They call it electronic muscles,” said Kathleen McCarthy, director of collections and head curator at the Museum of Science and Industry.
A digital backpack to impress your friends
Toss the Game Boy out because now you can play old-school video games on the LED-illuminated Pix Backpack, which can be customised from your mobile device.
You can also fulfil your inner artist and embellish the flexible, programmable screen with designs from a library, or ones that have been created from scratch using your smartphone and sent via Bluetooth.
Pix also allows you to display the time, weather and your mobile notifications through the backpack’s widgets.
Applications that are in the works include designs for biking. You will be able to, for instance, connect the backpack to a device on your handlebars that will allow you to signal (on the back of your backpack) with a digital arrow when you are turning left or right, or display a stop sign to indicate that you are about to stop.
Fresh out of campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, the backpack was created by a group of young inventors from Ukraine and is available now.
