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Innovation

Feeling sad? Smart clothes can comfort you.

Wearable Absence will make your clothing interact with you. If your heart starts racing, the clothes will sense how you feel and a digital memory will be sent your way.
Written by Boonsri Dickinson, Contributing Editor

Can media really change your mood? A project called Wearable Absence wants its smart clothes to do just that.

The garment is embedded with sensors, so it can pick up a person's mood. Everything from the user's heart rate to how much he is sweating is sent to his smart phone. This way, the person's "feelings' are uploaded to a database for further analysis.

The BBC reports:

To accomplish this, the clothes are fitted with display made of LEDs and have speakers built in to the hood. The display can show scrolling text or simple images and the speakers can replay music, sounds or pre-recorded messages from friends or family.

So if you are scared, the phone can text the clothes to tell you that it will be okay. Or the user might hear a recording of an absent person's voice.

This clothing system seems very idealistic. If I started to cry, I don't really see a "comforting" text being enough to lift my mood.

SmartPlanet correspondent Sumi Das talks to researchers about how smart clothes can store energy and charge your phones: [video=430363]

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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