Embedded technology in wearable garments and accessories is not just a passing trend but a real obsession with many opportunities for fashion designers keen on looking into this field with an open mind. Yet there are different technologies and applications out there and you can expect some real surprises to be developed later on this year, thanks to the researchers working on Google Soli, such as software engineer for hardware and creative technology interfaces Nick Arner.
Arner contributed core code for AudioKit, an open-source audio analysis and synthesis project currently being used by McDonalds and, together with his friend Paul Batchelor, he is among the 80 developers worldwide to be accepted into Google's Project Soli Alpha Developer Program and one of only 14 Alpha Developers to be invited to Google HQ to workshop new ideas regarding an upcoming new technology.
Project Soli revolves around the possibility of embedding tiny radar chips into electronics that can then be controlled by minute hand gestures. According to Ivan Poupyrev, from Google's Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP) research lab, if such tiny chips can be embedded in devices as small as the smartwatch Poupyrev and his team developed, then they can be embedded in any kind of other product.
The details of such project are extremely complicated, especially considering the size of the radar chip and the amount of power the chips need, and researchers have been studying in depth this issue and the gesture language providing the interaction with the device.
While this device would allow programmers to design for the eye and de-clutter touchscreens, it would also open up new possibilities, especially when the radar-powered finger gesture control is applied to wearables.
ATAP recently worked with Levi's on bringing its touch-sensitive Project Jacquard smart fabrics to market a jacket that allows the wearer to interact with a smartphone just by touching a sensitive area on its sleeve. A built-in Soli radar would take the wearable discourse further.
Arner and Batchelor's work focuses on the use of SOLI in interactive music (their project was selected to be shown in the official Alpha Developers video released by ATAP and featured in this post) and for now we can't reveal more about it, though we may wonder at this stage if it will end up having interesting connections with fashion and, who knows, if it may develop a new system of communication between wearers.
In the meantime, to discover more about Arner's work, you can check out his MSc research thesis entitled "Investigation of the use of Multi-Touch Gestures in Music Interaction" and exploring the use of multi-touch gestures in the use of music apps run on mobile devices, and don't forget to check out Paul Batchelor's work on Sporth (what was used to generate the audio in the SOLI project) here.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Related articles
Rispondi