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More on E-textiles: Electronic Smart Fabric

Little Hamster writes "The IEEE spectrum has an article on e-textile, where conductive fibers woven into fabric using standard textile techniques carry power to sensors, actuators and microcontrollers embedded in the cloth. The result is snowmobilers jacket that can detect crashes and txt an SMS message for help, carpet that can detect motion, or a T-shirt that shows videos. Oh, and the smart fabric is washable too."

34 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. It's a start by (54)T-Dub · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is the kind of thing we need for Invisiblity Cloaks, chameleon camouflage and Invisible Cars. Of course we still need a revolution in computing to handle the optic information but it's a start.

    --

    "I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance" - Isaac Asimov
    1. Re:It's a start by dustmote · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I just want a t-shirt that changes picture every so often. Maybe one that I can set for "work mode", so it plays mostly subdued patterns that are suitable for work, and "casual mode", which has whatever t-shirt templates I have downloaded into it from iShirt, or the equivalent. (99 cents a pattern, although I hope some of you will still get seven of them, I know us geeks' reputation for BO already)

      --


      -1, "1337" speak
    2. Re:It's a start by mesach · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'd rather have a carpet that would change.

      that way when I have a party and someone pukes on it, and its still stained after I clean it up, the carpet can change to match the color of the carpet, and thereby mask the stain...

      Just don't go drinking southern comfort, I don't think that a nuclear orange carpet would look good, but by that thought I can't think of any shade of puke that would look good.

      --
      moo.
    3. Re:It's a start by taylorius · · Score: 2, Informative

      Alas, this technology will not enable any (good) invisibility cloaks. If you look at the same piece of fabric from different directions, you'll need to see a different colour to match whatever background it's currently obscuring. Some kind of dynamic holographic cloth could do it, but I'm guessing that's more than a little way off yet.

      I envision a slew of early adopters creeping furtively into women's changing rooms, dressed head to toe in highly non-invisible, brightly patterned gimp suits.

  2. Let's see here... by Ikn · · Score: 2, Funny

    /me glances over today's headlines So, what we can look forward to seeing are t-shirts that can answer homework questions. Rock on!

    --
    I know nothing
  3. Oh great... by djhankb · · Score: 4, Funny

    What happens when my shirt or pants lock up?

    --
    --- #@$DF@#2%@^%3^&*$%FRHG%%[NO CARRIER]
    1. Re:Oh great... by Nykon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Im more concerned about when someone hacks my underwear.

      --
      "It's better to be a pirate then join the Navy"
  4. Dammit honey by Soporific · · Score: 2, Funny

    I told you not to bleach my monitor, it causes all the colors to wash out!

    ~S

  5. Hmm... by JoeLinux · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't wait until the first time someone says, "Hey, you have a loose thread", yanks it, and gets a voltage shock.

    Hmm...come to think of it, that'd be a worthwhile application...I'd buy one. :)

  6. no cheating by Brahmastra · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clothes that report whenever they are being removed to the spouse.

    1. Re:no cheating by kfg · · Score: 2, Funny

      And carpeting that lets her know when you try to sneak back in at 4 A.M.

      Yeah, that's gonna be a big seller.

      KFG

  7. You could also make .... by pavon · · Score: 5, Funny

    a high tech chastity belt!

    Wondering what that guy is doing with your daughter? This sensors on her clothes will monitor everything from body temperature, to heart rate, to surface contact! Using this you can determine if articles have been removed and remotely activate an electric shock - or using the builting GPS, track down the guy and beat him to a pulp the old fasion way!

    Furthermore, the dancing images of Hello Kitty displayed on the clothing will ensure that any girl will be dying to have them! Yours for only $199.99!

  8. Landwarrior by BWJones · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Army has also been a big backer of this sort of technology for their Land Warrior program. They want the ability to dynamically update their cammo for a variety of conditions from light to dark, from desert to urban to forest.

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
  9. No Sweet-thing by kfg · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was staring at your video, honest.

    Great, just what the world needs, a Tommy Hilfiger jacket that can implement the [marquee] tag.

    KFG

  10. a likely scenario by sl0ppy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    someone walking down the hall, passes someone with a small handheld computer.

    the handheld computer quickly negotiates with the clothes on the walker's back, when bingo! the break in happens.

    from that point on, the subject walks around with Kick Me! labelled on their back.

    another victim, and a smile breaks out on the person holding the handheld computer.

    1. Re:a likely scenario by pavon · · Score: 2, Funny

      The best part of this is that the jocks would never be able to hack the nerds clothes, but nerds could hack their letterman jackets all day long and they would never know who was doing it! Oh, sweet revenge :)

      Until they decide to just pulverise the first nerd they see :(

  11. Yes, but can it... by Esion+Modnar · · Score: 2, Funny

    detect when you've run out of TP in a public toilet and send txt for help?

    --

    They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
  12. Obvious joke... by show+me · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now that's what I call multi-threaded computing!

  13. Or better yet... by El · · Score: 2, Funny

    how 'bout shoes that can detect someone is trying to light a fuse stuck into them?

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  14. how long... by Schwartzboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Before we see the Blue Shorts of Death? Will we have to drop our pants to "reboot"?

    I can see a lot of potential here if the technology gets far enough...instead of a wrist-mounted little GPS device that shows "you are here" info, you might have the length of an entire shirt-sleeve for a display. Maybe Big Brother can implement some sort of forced personal information display so that wi-fi sensors in the shirt respond to remote commands issued by police to display your name, address, etc. across the front or back of your shirt. Heck, they could just forget that and track you using the homing signal in your cyber-undies.
    And, of course, the obvious: the day somebody ports an emulator or three to ThreadIX, the Clothing Operating System of the Future, "pocket pool" will take on a whole new meaning.

    --
    "Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix"- Kieren O'Shaughnessy
    1. Re:how long... by the_pooh_experience · · Score: 4, Funny
      ..instead of a wrist-mounted little GPS device that shows "you are here" ...
      I can tape a piece of paper to my wrist that has "you are here" written on it, and it will always be right! That paper doesn't even have to be e-textile-based.
  15. Parent is Article Pasting Troll by H0NGK0NGPH00EY · · Score: 3, Informative
    Come on moderators, can't you even read two paragraphs into a comment?
    Like a pack of ravid gorillas with ants stuck up their anuses, the editors of slashdot behave in a quite odd manner when it comes to censorship and poor journalism. Readers should rise up in sacred jihad against these practices; the moment draws near.
    Besides, the site isn't even remotely slow. Sheesh.
    --
    Do not read this sig.
  16. OMG! by Strange+Ranger · · Score: 4, Funny

    So now when I get my coffee from that darling teeny-bopper downstairs I'll be forced to see Brittany Spears and Justin Timberlake VIDEOS on her shirts. Oh the pain.

    Well, at least that gives me an excuse to stare.
    "I was just entranced by your... video, HONEST!"
    --

    Operator, give me the number for 911!
  17. Not like RFIDs or anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Put a uniquie indentifier in your razor and everyone is pissed put an ENTIRE F***ing COMPUTER in your shirt and noone thinks that might be a little open to abuse?

  18. Um. by toothfish · · Score: 2, Funny

    A flexible data bus in Sensatex's SmartShirt prototype carries signals from various sensors plugged into connectors in the shirt to a controller at the waist. An optical fiber woven through the shirt can detect penetration by a bullet.

    I'm not sure I'd need sensors on my shirt to be able to tell if it had been penetrated by a bullet-- unless I was far enough away from my shirt, and then I'd wonder why it was getting shot at.

  19. What about... by HungWeiLo · · Score: 5, Funny

    snowmobilers jacket that can detect crashes and txt an SMS message for help, carpet that can detect motion, or a T-shirt that shows videos

    What about some moral fiber that can detect corrupt CEO's?

    (rimshot)

    --
    There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
  20. Impractical by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The biggest problem with ideas like this is that they sound so great in theory and work so poorly in reality. The CyberJack fans (Neuromancer (sp?), Tek War, etc.) would have you believe that in the future everyone will want technology integrated into their bodies. Yet look at the most popular Sci-Fi such as Star Wars and Star Trek. Note the general lack of bodily implants and the revulsion such ideas produce. Sure, use the technology to make a blind man see or change one's appearance for spy work, but as a standard procedure? Nobody wants it! They simply want their technology like a protective cocoon. The very idea of mutilating one's self in the name of "progress" is seen as evil. (Case and point: The Borg)

    Electronic wearables are an exciting field with tremendous possibilities (such as clothing that stays a constant temperature) but don't expect people to be too excited about anything more than passive systems.

    1. Re:Impractical by switcha · · Score: 2, Funny
      The biggest problem with ideas like this is that they sound so great in theory and work so poorly in reality.

      ... CyberJack ... Star Wars ... Star Trek ...

      Only on /. would you see a statement like the first, backed up by citing examples from Science Fiction. ;)

      --
      You know what? ... A little club soda *did* get that out!
  21. They watched Back to the Future II by robogun · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Drying mode on...
    "Your jacket is now dry."

  22. No thanks by ecantona · · Score: 2, Funny

    Software controls the communications inside the on-fabric network and can send radio signals using Bluetooth or any flavor of the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard to PCs and PDAs, and over the Internet.

    I am sure someone can find a way to hack it and put malicious content on your t-shirt. Let say you are walking down the street and suddenly someone put some porn on your shirt, that can be very embarrassing .

    --
    I don't have a sig.
  23. Look at transmetropolitan for the alternate view. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    THe same people who are getting multiple piercings and tatoos with green hair and punk clotes today are the same ones who in 100 years will have the video screens built into their chests and the headlines playing across their forehead. Everyone else will just have animplanted hone and nanotech medical devices. Exelent comic series BTW

    --
    All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
  24. Black Berets from China by spartan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is probably what China did when US Army GEN Eric Shinseki, formerly Chief of Staff of the Army, ordered the Army to wear Black Berets. China actually landed some of the contracts for producing these berets and are now tracking US soldiers as they deploy around the world.

  25. Glad bags + Symantec? by Zildy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Norton AntiVirus for Clothing 2003 3-Ply Edition

    --
    Karma: Excer..ex...excellahhh...realll good (mostly affected by drinking not done in moderation)
  26. Flying Cars by Bugmaster · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The article is very heavy on breathless anticipation, and very light on details. It reminds me of all the "flying cars" types of articles from the 50s. Oh, how wonderful will it be when each household can have a flying car ! No more traffic congestion ! And the cars will fly themselves, too -- just push a button ! Golly gee ! Etc. etc.

    Yes, I agree, I would love to put on my e-textile t-shirt, hop into my flying car, and fly it to my vacation villa on the Moon. But, as far as I can tell, these technologies are a long, long way off from actual implementation. Our current limits right now are power storage (all that Bluetooth needs to be fed), durability and size (small chips are fine, but we are talking hundreds of pretty powerful computers), architecture (implementing that automatic handoff on failure is hard), cost (buy an e-shirt now ! Only $9999.99 !"), and dozens of other things. Until we can overcome these problems, I am not holding my breath.

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    >|<*:=