How about making those “Frustrating Wires” smart? | Smart Wires
Many electronic manufacturers have been long using different textiles and fabrics in an attempt to improve comfort, ergonomics, and aesthetics. From outer bodies of speakers to braided cables, various fabrics have been used, textiles have definitely made their place in the electronics industry. But are we leveraging them to the full potential?
Scientists across the world are desperately trying to find ways in which humans can technologically interact with their clothes. But, as of now, except some Tron type lit clothes nothing significant has come up. Looking from the perspective of the electronics industry, where fabrics are mostly used in specific places, it is a bit easier for them to design a system to interact
Well, guess who did it?
Google it is!
When companies like Apple are crazy about wireless technology, Google went a step ahead in innovating what we call “The Frustrating Wires”. I know this is a bit contrary to their step of removing the headphone jack from Pixels, but a company like Google can easily leverage this innovation in their wide range of products
After researching for about a couple of years, they have come up with a material braided using a conducting yarn that senses different interactions like twist, touch, etc. Imagine this-
Boom!
The buttons on your earphone’s buttons are gone. The matrix of these yarns is capable of detecting touches, twists, flicks, and slides along with the intensity, duration of interaction, and the area of contact. These detections makes it easier for the braid to categorize between a grab and a pinch and further helps in neglecting out the accidental touches.
The conductive yarns detect the senses using a similar technology we see in most of the modern touch screens, but in this case, the limited sensitivity requirement makes this comparatively cheaper than the one we see in screens.
The scientific results and accuracies are off the roof!
Comparing the parameters with our typical buttons or even the scrolling we do using our touchpads/screens, these braids are competing head to head! With a variety of interactions, they stand way ahead of the conventional 1/0 buttons. Although, they cannot compete directly with the touch bars, borrowing some of the controls in which these braids perform better can possibly enhance the user experience.
As most of us know that most of the big companies are getting rid of the concept of wired earphones, these braids potentially have a future in controlling IoT devices like smart speakers and other gadgets. Additionally, incorporating these braids into our clothing would increase the engagement, along with making it funkier :)
But how?
Before you go!
Did your wanderer mind come across any other use cases of this? Let me know in the comments :) Also, claps please :)
And Hey!
Did I mention that these braids are based on “E-textile Microinteractions” and they have interactive lighting too? Arghhh, my memory ;_;
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About the author
Vishant Batta
Vishant is an undergrad student at IIT Varanasi. He loves tech and enjoys learning about new technologies and their use cases in various domains. A curious technocrat since childhood, he has worked on various projects involving different technologies like AI, AR, Blockchain, etc. You can find him on LinkedIn. Ohh wait, he loves food too :)
