Flexing with Power
How our energy sources are bending for wearable technology
One of my favorite skirts to wear for STEM outreach events features LED light–clad constellations. It draws people’s attention, gets them talking about science, and is a fun demonstration of a basic piece of wearable technology. It has one downside, though: the huge battery pack on the waistband. This pack demonstrates the problem with a lot of wearable and nonwearable technology these days: It’s heavy and inflexible.
Millions of people lug their technology around in bags and pockets every day. From cellphones to tablets to laptops, these electronics weigh down humanity, as many jobs and lifestyles require us to be connected at all times. It’d be natural for us to want to wear our technology rather than carry it. But to make wearable technology a real possibility, we have to move away from today’s rectangular solid pieces of hardware and migrate toward more flexible, lightweight solutions.
Storing Power
Conventional batteries are responsible for much of the weight in our modern-day devices. Attaching these power blocks to our clothes and accessories causes awkward weight distributions. So researchers are pursuing new ways to power our tech-clad accessories and create flexible fabric-like solutions.
