A CLOSET THAT HELPS YOU DRESS SMARTLY
Having fashion faux pas? or may be dressed in pajamas and shirt in your house (sheesh…)? and certainly if you are a geek then you really wish you could dress just like those hunks back in high school or college days. Now, here’s a closet for you that will help you dress real smart. It’s called “smart wardrobe”.
The “smart wardrobe” keeps track of when you wore any cloth and can even tell you when your clothes need to be dry-cleaned. Here’s how it works: When hung, clothes embedded with “electronic panels” talk to electronic hangers, which then communicate with the closet computer (it’s a computer trapped inside the body of a closet!). The computer will track what you’ve worn and warn you if you’re about to meet a person for the second time in the same clothes, or suggest what tie matches your shirt.
If you’re not sure what tie matches your suit, if your skirt is too tame for your new animal print pumps, or whether you should go business casual or dressy for a weekend dinner with the boss, researchers say the smart wardrobe can tell you that, too.
Australian researchers are still working on this Smart Closet system that will take all thought out of the process of matching your duds. Prof. Bruce Thomas, director of the wearable computer laboratory at the University of South Australia say (as quoted by businessedge):
Fashion faux pas aside, the smart-wardrobe technology can also be adapted to preload news, music and daily schedules into smart garments.
And it gets better. Your clothes will not only be able to alert you to incoming cellphone calls during meetings, but you’ll also be able to determine whether a call is important – all by looking at a tiny flashing LED light in the cuff of your jacket. The technology may also be a lifesaver – literally. That’s because the smart suit doesn’t miss a beat. It can monitor your heart rate and other vital statistics. With an aging population, future uses could include monitoring outpatient care and whether elderly people are missing meals or falling over.
As a tech demonstration, the Smart Closet is impressive, if impractical, but we’re sure some of these technologies will find their place in our everyday lives soon enough. There’s no word yet on how much technology such as this might cost for the average user.
The invention is still a lab prototype and researchers aren’t sure when it will be available in Canadian closets, but many professionals are already interested in how it can help them suit up for success.
[businessedge via switched]
[Photo courtesy of University of South Australia]