Knee brace creates electricity

Physiologist Max Donelan is specializing in the biomechanics of walking. One of his current projects is a biomechanical energy harvester. Sensors are incorporated into a knee brace that help control and assist hamstring movement. Energy is harvested when the foot comes down to the ground during the walking cycle (source).

Not the most aesthetically pleasing implementation, but the possibilities for wearable technology are incredible. Here's how Donelan describes it: "Portable electricity represents much more than just a convenience to some people. It allows a soldier to communicate, navigate and get home safely," he said. "It dramatically improves the quality of life for stroke victims, amputees, and others who rely on power-assisted medical devices to get around." (source)

Read the full article on cnet.com

Illuminating glass jewelry

German-born IT consultant and designer Marc Mann has created a line of gorgeous illuminating jewelry. According to the Hilde Leiss Gallery, "Exotic deep-sea creatures, early kaleidoscopes and gothic cathredal windows served as the inspirational source for the jeweLight collection."

Mann hides small LEDs inside the glass material, which results in a soft glow that brings out the aesthetics of its natural texture and characteristics. For power, the designer discretely integrates small coin cell batteries into the clasp or a small tag that is attached to the piece.

Pattern-changing swimsuits

Textile designer Yun Ding has created Aqua Chameleon, a line of delicate-looking swimwear printed with smart pigments such as thermochromatic and photochromatic ink that change patterns based on certain conditions. The patterns gradually shift from a geometric print into a decorative pattern by reacting to temperature, sunlight, or water conditions. These "swim costumes" challenge our notion of how a garment should function aesthetically by adding dynamically changing patterns based on the changing environment around us and displaying it back for all to see.

For more color-changing projects, check out Angel Chang's color-changing fashion line, or Joshua Hupper's AlphaMicron project that I posted earlier.

Solar-powered necklace

Designer, Plusea, created this solar-powered t-shirt with an integrated electronic necklace. A motor mounted on the shoulder runs continuously or in short bursts, depending on how much sunlight is available. The result "tickles" your cheek at variable speeds. This would make me want to sneeze all day, however, the designer put together a great tutorial on how to make this wearable on instructables so that DIYers can get an introduction into soft-circuits and wearables.

Pulsea also considered washability by integrating the circuitry into the t-shirt using conductive fabrics and threads and keeping all of the non-waterproof electronic components built into a detachable necklace so that it can be removed when washing the t-shirt.

Check out the project's flickr set here. And a recent workshop here.

Video dress aimed to hit the market

Future-thinking fashion designer Hussein Chalayan and Swarovski have created a dress that is covered in leds. It's one of the few attempts I've seen at creating an illuminating garment that is actually quite beautiful. The dress is made of two layers, the under layer is covered with a matrix of leds and the outer layer is used to diffuse the light making it seem soft and blended together.

The dress is also not just another conceptual exploration. The designers will be making it available in Japanese markets from fall and winter seasons in this year. (source)

Read additional postings on Chalayan.

Diana Eng's inflatable dress

This is an older project, but still worth a reminder. Diana Eng, in collaboration with Emily Albinski, created this gorgeous dress way back in 2003, which ended up making its way on the cover of ID Magazine. The designers used this project to explore how they could use electronics to change the shape and color of a gown. The dress inflates to allow you to change it's shape. Pump up the back or the sides to change its silhouette.

The designers made no attempt to hide the electronics, rather, they exposed the spaghetti-ball of wires and components as the main aesthetic. This was a pretty outrageous design at the time. Since then, inflatable and shape-shifting garments have been a topic of exploration from designers such as Hussein Chalayan, Extra-Soft (XS) labs, Ying Gao, and Teresa Almeida.