Smart dressing

Researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) have taken smart suit technology a step further by producing washable garments that measure vital signs even when you change outfits.

The UniSA research uses garment integrated electronic technology in clothes that download monitored data and recharge themselves when hung on a hanger.

‘For continuous monitoring, you can take off one garment and put on another smart garment so, instead of having just one heart monitor, you can have a wardrobe of them,’ Prof Bruce Thomas of the Wearable Computer Laboratory, said.

Although the concept is not new, the UniSA researchers claim to have developed the first functional smart garment management technology.

‘The wardrobe has a touch screen on the outside and conductive metal bands spanning the hanging rail inside, with wires connecting it to a computer in the base of the wardrobe. When we place electronic hangers, each with their own ID and metal connection, on the rail, it detects the hangers and smart garments incorporating the conductive material and integrated electronics,’ Thomas said.