Could a Wearable save your life?

Today, I would like to tell you something about wearables for comfort and safety. I imagine that most of you know something about airbags for motorcycles. The airbag is in the jacket of the rider so that when an accident occurs, the sensors inside the jacket react and the airbag swells and wraps around the rider for his/her safety.

And now, an airbag system exists for cyclists too inside a helmet called the Hövding. It inflates when a sudden event occurs. To protect the head of the cyclist, the Hövding was invented by Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin (sorry for my pronunciation) for their master’s thesis at Lund University in Sweden.

Ok, airbags for motorcycles, bicycles, and cars. You will be thinking about the airbags in the steering wheels, seats and car doors, but now, an airbag can also be embedded into the seatbelt. Ford has come up with this. The airbag deploys within 40 milliseconds after a crash, compared to a conventional seatbelt, the inflatable one has been shown to be up to five times more effective. Airbags are incredible. They can even save your life at sea.

This is a Kingii wearable, a bracelet with an airbag inside. If you are in trouble underwater, this wearable can help you float back up to the surface. There are other times when a wearable airbag can make the difference. In an avalanche, for instance, the backpack Voltair Airbag by Arcteryx inflates within 5 seconds. But a backpack can also be used for comfort too. I refer to the backpack umbrella home-made by the self-proclaimed Practical Engineer. Look at the invention on his YouTube channel. A backpack can also save your life in a dangerous situation, like a fire in a skyscraper or a building. Check out this one made by Escape Rescue Systems Ltd. An alternative is the SkySaver rescue backpack which incorporates a harness and a fire-resistant steel cable with its patented, controlled descent device (CDD) technology. Three steps are enough to save your life. Buckle up, clip on the anchor point, and exit through a window or a balcony.

We have to guarantee the safety of firefighters too. These impressive wearable gloves can withstand tremendous mechanical stress conditions and are just about indestructible. Made by Schmitz Mittz, they contain Kevlar and carbon fibres that guarantee resistance against any kind of damage and heat of up to 2,500 degrees for 20 seconds. Let’s return to before where you are stuck in a skyscraper. Imagine you are wearing these pole climber shoes, an alternative to cranes, ladders, and elevators. Wearables are not only for safety purposes, but they are also for comfort too.

When you are in uncomfortable, hot conditions, this Seiryo jacket by Tajima can keep you cold and dry. It has a cooling system in the refreshed helmet. Consider also the self-drying jacket by Falyon Wearable Tech. This has both heating and cooling models. You set the temperatures and that’s it. A similar jacket is the Polar Seal which takes 10 seconds to heat up. You can choose one of three heating levels and apply it to the area of your body that you want to. Then there is the Unimark 3.0 by Shaumi. You can adjust the temperature. It also lets you charge your mobile device via a USB cable. POLO by Ralph Lauren incorporates a heating system powered by a portable battery unit producing up to 11 hours of heat. Eleven hours! Imagine the HALLAM New York SMART JACKET 2.0 running along with me. You will find a GPS tracker, a push-button for selfies, buttons for music control, a charger pocket, headphone pocket, battery pocket, neck pillow, smartphone loss prevention system, LED flicker and so on. There are up 29 functions. Then there is this shirt with hydrophobic fabric. You can wet it with a series of different liquids, and nothing happens. And the silic t-shirt by Harvey & Buckle cleans itself.

What about wearing a second skin? The Aura powered suit is a lightweight layer with sensors and motors that activate small electronic nodes. This supports and assists the general mobility of people with disabilities or reduced motor capabilities. This suit was designed by Yves Béhar and Superflex, a spin-off from SRI International.

The most impressive wearable suit solution, though, is bioLogic from the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab. This is really impressive. It is based on bacteria responsive to humidity which acts like nanoactuators, transforming bio-hybrid materials. What does it do? Well, it means that part of the fabric acts like flakes which open and close according to the body’s sweat map. The body lets out sweat when it is necessary and closes when it is necessary to conserve heat.

Here is a good one- P1 by Powerlace. This is as simple and thin as you like. And the final curiosity, the solar-powered bikini. That’s really ecological. It can recharge a smartphone while sunbathing.

That’s all for today. Thanks for joining me. A presto.