Wearable Tech Show - London 2018

[Martin-O2]

Hey everyone, 

The Wearable Technology Show is currently happening in London so I thought is would be a great time to have another discussion on wearable tech! 

One of the main talking points this year is smart textiles. In the near future the clothes you wear will be able to take over many of the functions that your phone performs such as measuring your physical activity, counting steps or displaying information like text messages directly on to your sleeve. In addition these smart fabrics can monitor your health by taking an ECG and testing your sweat for signs of illness. They will also be able to heat up or cool you down automatically. There's also the more superficial applications such as having a screen woven directly into your t shirt! 

Personally I'm really excited to see how this technology develops and look forward to getting my hands on a smart t shirt in the near future. How about you? Do you see this tech as more if a gimmick and do you foresee any negative consequences emerging from the widespread use of smart fabrics? 

[Glory1]

This smart textiles brings books I've read which, at the moment are science fiction, one step nearer to science fact. I find that fascinating though not sure I'd wear it myself on a day-to-day basis.

Still any new tech is of interest to me as I love seeing what minds think up next. Not everything will prove useful but how fascinating to see what could be.

[Cleoriff]

Smart textiles able to take an ECG and test your sweat for signs of illness?

I wonder how on earth they will be able to do that...and even more importantly, will it be factually correct?

Fascinating stuff.

[Martin-O2]

@Glory1 It's crazy to see sci fi concepts slowly becoming a reality! There are a ton of really interesting applications for this tech so it will be interesting to see how it develops.

@Cleoriff Sensors are getting so small and sensitive these days they will eventually be woven into fabrics! I do wonder about the accuracy but I think as with most things they will start off a bit clunky and become more sophisticated with time. 

[MI5]

20 years ago we developed a smart material for car seats that incorporated switches for seat adjustment, heating etc.
No one was interested in it at all back then and it never caught on.

[Cleoriff]

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@MI5wrote:
20 years ago we developed a smart material for car seats that incorporated switches for seat adjustment, heating etc.
No one was interested in it at all back then and it never caught on.

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Probably cost too much?

[MI5]

Yeah I'm sure it wasn't cheap but generally, people wanted to push a button and couldn't understand how something worked without a physical button or a switch!.

[Martin-O2]

@MI5 Sonuds cool! It's a shame that didn't catch on! I reckon people would be more interested in something like that these days now everyone has a touch screen in their pocket. 

[MI5]

We use it now for pressure mapping to determine comfort curves for seat development and also for variable airbag deployment in crash conditions.
The Tesla Model X also uses smart materials quite extensively, but the automotive market still seems to prefer a touchscreen display to control most functions.

[Martin-O2]

Fascinating stuff @MI5! How does it help with the variable airbag deployment?