Computerizing Clothing at Virginia Tech
From: Collegiate Times - 10/17/2007
By: Ashley Oliver

Virginia Tech professors Tom Martin and Mark Jones have spent the past six
years developing electronic textiles and clothing with embedded wires and
sensors. One such piece of clothing is a suit that can monitor the movement
of the person wearing it, including whether the person is walking, running,
standing, or sitting. "One student could even figure out what dance you were
doing," says Martin. The suit contains steel wires that are so thin and
lightweight that they feel and move like fabric, and the sensors can be
removed so the suit can be washed. Such technology may eventually be used to
make clothing that can be used to tell when a person is about to fall, or to
monitor a person's heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and other
statistics. The collected data would be sent to a computing device, possibly
a home PC or mobile device, where it can be analyzed and monitored for
potential health problems. Currently, the garments Martin and Jones are
creating are not really suitable for wearing in public because the
researchers are focusing on computer engineering more than aesthetics.
However, the researchers have also designed a rug that lights up in different
patterns when stepped on. "It's a really good example of what I call working
in the margins with computer engineering, textile design, and garment
design," Martin says. "You really have to pay attention to all three of them."  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2007/10/17/computerizing_clothing_at_tech

Links:
Creating the future’s wearable, washable, potentially life-saving computers
http://www.research.vt.edu/resmag/2007summer/textiles.html

E-Textiles
http://www.ccm.ece.vt.edu/etextiles/