Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science have turned to more traditional techniques of knitting and braiding to enable wearable clothing to be used for sensing motion, diagnostic applications, and even storing energy. The wearable garment could then potentially be used to power mHealth devices or perhaps even implantables (if they can get the energy transfer aspect worked out).

“These advances are made possible by the combination of skills that ARC Centres of Excellence bring together to tackle challenging areas,” said ACES Director Gordon Wallace. “We are able to take fundamental advances in materials science and engineering and to realize wearable structures for use in sports training and rehabilitation applications.”

Wearable garments embedded with sophisticated technology could very well be the next generation of the wearable wristband many people are wearing today. They could easily communicate with our smartphones and provide an even greater level of monitoring since they are covering more of the body and could be used to cover critical monitoring areas. Also, this solution arguably offers a better solution than a wristband since it’s less likely someone is going to forget to put on their sensing shirt as opposed to a bracelet. On the flip side, the shirt does need to be laundered.

Following is a video that provides some additional insights on this specific research.