WIS rocks

Researchers at

have created a “wearable instrument shirt" which enables users to play an “air guitar” by moving one arm to pick chords and the other to strum the imaginary instrument's strings.

‘Freedom of movement is a great feature of these textile-based interfaces,’ said Dr Helmer who led a team of researchers at CSIRO Textiles and Fibre Technology in Geelong. ‘Our air guitar consists of a wearable sensor interface embedded in a conventional “shirt” which uses custom software to map gestures with audio samples.

‘It's an easy-to-use, virtual instrument that allows real-time music making - even by players without significant musical or computing skills. It allows you to jump around and the sound generated is just like an original mp3.’

The WIS works by recognising and interpreting arm movements and relaying this wirelessly to a computer for audio generation. There are no trailing cables to get in the way or trip over.