TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

Intelligent Clothing Fibers Could Have Medical Applications

Dave Greenfield | Date: 08-02-10 | Comments

Sensatex's Smart Shirt monitors vital signs, external impact and other bodily functions to help hospital staff more effectively treat patients.

As we draw closer and closer to the magical year of 2015, the famed date used in the futuristic comedy Back to the Future II, many of us are wondering where our flying cars, hoverboards and smart clothes are.

Recently, we wrote about a flying car that will be for sale soon, and smart clothes are also jumping into the futuristic marketplace. Clothing with embedded microchips and ones like the Smart Shirt developed at Georgia Tech University are now a reality. Both fans of the future and those in the medical field should take heed.

(Source: Sensatex)

Imagine a hospital of the future where all patients wear smart shirts. The days of needing a ventilator or a heart monitor are gone. The shirt itself can monitor blood pressure, pulse and body temperature, and regulate all of these functions from a central control panel. For those who are critically ill, or for those who are too young, too old or too incapacitated, the value of smart clothing is even more evident. Sensors in the clothing could tell doctors where injuries are, how healthy you are, what you swallowed in cases of poisoning, and more. In essence, the potential for smart clothing in a medical environment is limitless.

The idea of smart clothing is what you call a paradigm shift. Computers used to take up entire rooms. They slowly evolved to only take up a desktop, and now they fit in the space of your lap. Soon, computers will cease to be separate entities and will be woven into the very fabric we wear every day. Call it a good bit of foresight by director Robert Zemeckis. His 1989 Back to the Future II featured one-size-fits-all sneakers and jackets that automatically shape themselves to the frame of whoever was wearing them. What once sounded like science fiction is now only the tip of the iceberg.

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