Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

Smart clothes powered by AI could monitor health

June 10, 2021 By Sean Whooley

Purdue University Smart Clothes

The fingertips of a wireless voltage detection glove illuminates when the wearer’s hand approaches a live cable. (Purdue University photo/Rebecca McElhoe)

Purdue University engineers are touting a method for turning cloth items into battery-free, wearable and wireless “smart clothes.”

The engineers at the West Lafayette, Ind.–based university developed a new spray/sewing method designed to transform any conventional cloth item into these smart clothes that can also be cleaned in the washing machine like normal clothing.

“By spray-coating smart clothes with highly hydrophobic molecules, we are able to render them repellent to water, oil and mud,” Purdue School of Industrial Engineering/Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering assistant professor Ramses Martinez said in a news release. “These smart clothes are almost impossible to stain and can be used underwater and washed in conventional washing machines without damaging the electronic components sewn on their surface.”

Typically, waterproof garments have a rigidity and a reduced breathability that make them uncomfortable after being worn for a few hours, the researchers say, but, with an ultrathin coating, the smart clothes they’ve developed remain as flexible, stretchable and breathable as standard cotton t-shirts, Martinez claims.

Additionally, the clothes do not require batteries for power, instead harvesting energy from Wi-Fi or radio waves in the environment to power the circuitry sewn onto the textile.

The researchers gave an example of a battery-free glove that illuminates its fingertips every time the user is near a live cable, warning about the potential for an electric shock. Another possibility is a miniaturized cardiac monitoring system sewn onto a washable sweatband, offering health monitoring for the wearer.

According to the researchers, the technology can be fabricated in conventional, large-scale sewing facilities to accelerate the development and commercialization of smart clothes.

“Such wearable devices, powered by ubiquitous Wi-Fi signals, will make us not only think of clothing as just a garment that keeps us warm but also as wearable tools designed to help us in our daily life, monitor our health and protect us from accidents,” Martinez said. “I envision smart clothes will be able to transmit information about the posture and motion of the wearer to mobile apps, allowing machines to understand human intent without the need of other interfaces, expanding the way we communicate, interact with devices, and play video games.”

Related Articles Read More >

Instron TrendTracker Software (1)
Instron releases TrendTracker data analysis workflow platform
A portrait of AcuityMD co-founder and CEO Michael Monovoukas
Device commercialization platform AcuityMD raises $31M Series A to fund R&D engineer hiring
An illustration of a cloud-shaped room filled with medical devices
The cloud is transforming medtech: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, J&J, Philips and GE Healthcare leaders explain
A smiling portrait of AWS Chief Medical Officer Taha Kass-Hout
Amazon Web Services is powering medtech innovation: Its chief medical officer explains

DeviceTalks Weekly.

July 1, 2022
Boston Scientific CEO Mike Mahoney on building a corporate culture that drives high growth results
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech 100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech