Second Skin: A Bio-I/O Platform for Wearable Fabric
We are building a wearable fabric to support millimeter-accurate location and bio-parameter tracking at thousands of points on the body. Such a fabric can compute and predict 3-D representations of human activity and use them for a closed-loop control to augment human performance. The goal is to support a detailed analysis and control of higher-level human activity. The basic technology uses a new, optical motion-capture method we have recently developed. The first phase of the project involves building next-generation optical communication tools.
The fabric is suitable for a variety of applications. (i) Live mo-cap for TV virtual sets (or post-capture special effects) in natural lighting and clothing (ii) Improving and training for performance, sports, dance, tai chi, etc (iii) Physical therapy for mentally and physically challenged individuals and (iv) Assisting elderly people who might have difficulty with daily activities.