To Charge your iPod, Plug in Your Jeans

January 21st, 2010 admin

A breakthrough in wearable computing lets researchers change ordinary cotton and polyester into electronic textiles that can double as rechargeable batteries. That means powering an iPod or cell phone could become as easy as plugging it into your tee shirt or jeans and charging the clothing overnight. “Textile-based power will boost the development and application of of wearable electronics,” say Liangbing Hu, Yi Cui and other researchers from Stanford University in their research paper. “With lightweight cheap cotton or fabrics and the existing textile fabrication infrastructure, large-scale energy storage with low material and processing costs is feasible.” Wearable electronics is an attempt to create a new category of devices that are flexible and lightweight such as wearable displays, embedded health monitors and textiles with electronics melded in.  In case…


Originally posted on Wired

 
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