Brussels (dpa) – Scientists in the Belgian capital Brussels are on the verge of being able to equip the world with a new generation of garments.
Imagine if a jacket could remind the wearer not to forget his keys in the morning or if a coat could warn that “someone is approaching” late at night in a dark park.
“Intelligent clothing” may not yet be available off the peg but the researchers have already manufactured prototypes for future, so- called “thinking” garments.
“Ultimately,” says chief scientist Walter van de Velde, “clothes will become a protective shell, actively participating in the wearer’s life.” Van de Velde already has wind-cheaters with integrated air conditioning and next-generation, energy-producing trainers.
At Starlab, a private Brussels-based research institute, physicists, biologists, medical and other specialists work together in harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence in everyday articles.
The laboratory keeps reminding the 60 boffins from 28 countries of their groundbreaking role with the slogan “Deep Future” above the front door.
The name they have given “clever clothing” at Starlab, or the Institute for Pure Research to give its official name, is “i-wear”. It’s only one of many projects which the laboratory has handled since it was founded three years ago.
International companies, such as Adidas, Levi Strauss and Samsonite, finance the inventions. “We work to no specific agenda,” says Professor Van de Velde. “We look for the gaps in innovative research.”
The laboratory itself is full of mannequins wearing clothes fitted with tiny sensors, minicameras and microcomputers.
Alex Hum, an engineer who hails from Singapore, is currently engaged in finding how best to electronically link the micromechanisms built into the shoes, trousers or jackets – naturally wireless.
His maxim for the wired garments: “People should be able to come into contact with their environment through their clothes.”
In practice, this could lead to a movement sensor being sewn into a jacket which emits a tone when somebody approaches. Many people out for a late-night stroll would appreciate this capability. Its functionality could also be expanded by a minicamera to transmit via mobile phone pictures of a possible assailant to the police.
When it comes to perspiration, i-wear could provide some answers. Tiny integrated bio-sensors inserted into sports clothing could measure heartbeat, blood pressure or body temperature, store the data and create a balanced training schedule or give the athlete encouragement during gruelling episodes by playing a favourite track on the Walkman.
Even professional sports are likely to benefit from these advances. For instance, the Brussels laboratory has come up with a football boot with a built-in chip which uses physical contact to recognize problems with the wearer’s feet and analyse his or her playing style. Starlab and its sponsors now have to decide if the huge cost of marketing the product makes them commercially viable.
While many of these inventions already work or are nearing completion, van de Velde is already considering future tasks. He wants to see fibres for clothes developed which transmit information and can store energy.
“And for that we require an alternative to batteries,” says Starlab’s chief researcher. The scientists are currently working on a special washing powder for the clothing’s “second skin”. It contains a cocktail of chemical substances which “recharge” the special fibres.
So, if your high-tech T-shirt loses power, you can just pop it in the washing machine for a reload.
