Technology and Materials Research

Our final design should be suitable for the next realm of fashionable wearables. Researching growing trends, current, and newly developing technologies, will enable us to develop a product that exceeds today's current "wearable computer" technologies. Our non-intrusive device will enhance user communication on an intimate and personal level. We researched various technologies that we may want to incorporate into our device. Such tools as Bluetooth technology, will allow our user to seamlessly communicate to a significant other while apart. Using technologies that encourage harmony, rather than interruption of user routines or lifestyles, is our main goal.

Unique Technologies:

AudioCloud:
View AudioClouds

• Interacting with mobile computers,
  
• based on 3D sound and gestures
  
• creates interfaces that are powerful, usable and natural.

Ecology Coatings:
View Ecology Coatings

• "Liquid solids" that are cured by exposure to ultraviolet light for a few seconds. Made up of nano-size particles
  (molecules measuring less than 1 billionth of a meter)
  
• It contains a photo inhibitor that when UV light hits it, the light knocks electrons loose from the molecules. In their
  agitated state, the individual molecules all bind to each other, creating a uniform coating.
  
• "This is free radical curing"

Micro Emissive Displays (MED):
View MED's

• Micro Emissive Displays (MED) have produced a fully functional television screen less than half the size of a postage stamp.
  
• “…Can be fitted into a pair of glasses or sunglasses so it is next to the eye and will appear a viewable size” Dr Ian Underwood, co-founder of MED and a researcher at Edinburgh University
  
• The MED uses a light-emitting plastic mounted on a chip to produce digital pictures. Microscopic metal pads on the surface of the chip cause sections of the plastic to light up when they receive a signal.

Electronic Ink, E-Ink:
View E-Ink

• Principal components of electronic ink are millions of tiny microcapsules, about the diameter of a human hair. In one incarnation, each microcapsule contains positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid. When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule where they become visible to the user. This makes the surface appear white at that spot. At the same time, an opposite electric field pulls the black particles to the bottom of the microcapsules where they are hidden. By reversing this process, the black particles appear at the top of the capsule, which now makes the surface appear dark at that spot.
  
• Used on rollable/flexible TFTs (Thin Film Transistors)

Pixel Rollover:
Learn about the Pixel Rollover...
View Pixel Rollover Video

• Viewed like a hand printer; the pixel roller can roll out any image, video or text manually, at any speed or direction, round corners and over surfaces.
  
• The pixels are in the form of a series of 12 ultra bright UV LEDs situated along its axis. These UV LEDs excite phosophescent ink and leave trails of pixels that fade with time.

Bluetooth Technology:

Bluetooth Home

• Bluetooth is a technology launched by L.M. Ericsson to replace the cables connecting electronic equipment such as computers, printers and monitors with tiny radio transmitters. It has since been extended to cell phones and hand-held computers.
• Noise resilient
• Can be used in sensitive environments
• Low implementation costs, which means that it can be used in toys, consumer devices, control applications etc.

Why the name "Bluetooth?"

• The name comes from the 10th century Danish King Harald Blaatand, whose last name is translated into English as Bluetooth. King Bluetooth united Denmark and Norway, so the Swedish-based Ericsson borrowed his name for its linking technology.

"Since Bluetooth technology has low power consumption, it has a long battery life and can be efficiently used in consumer electronic items such as wireless keyboards, mice, joysticks and speakers. It can also be used in communication devices such as mobile phones (wireless mobile handsets). The technology has been used in MP3 players and cordless phones."Vinod Deshmukh, Senior Vice-president and CTO, R&D Services, MindTree Consulting

Virtual Scents-iSmell, Companies: DigiScents and TriScent

more Digiscent Info
Digiscent
Check out TRISENX

• The digitalization and broadcast of scent will enable consumers to send scented mail, smell'n shop, watch scented DVD's, and play scented games.
• DigiScents developed the scent generator, called iSmell
• It uses a cartridge, similar to an inkjet print cartridge that contains more than 100 scents that can be mixed or used separately. In small quantities, the user can easily identify these. When mixed, these generators can produce a wide variety of smells, ranging from the very pleasant to the unpleasant or unsmellable.
• The device samples a smell and breaks it up to its basic components. The information is then stored for future use. Later, when the user wants to re-create the smell, all the computer has to do is to remix the basic scents in the right proportions to duplicate the original smell.

This quote explains the use of Target Aromas as indicators:

"Olfactory cues and aromatic feedback can quickly and easily report on system status--as long as you know what the scents mean. Conceivably, unique scents, not occurring in nature, can be generated to provide all types of messages. If developers create a standard set of aromas, each easily distinguished from anything else and each having its own meaning, immediate status messages can be produced. You can turn your back on the monitor and still get updated status reports. The visually challenged may be even more capable of detecting these signals than sighted users. With an increasing number of devices using embedded browsers and Internet Protocol monitors, you should be able to log in to your backup device, NAS, SAN, or whatever and smell how the system is doing."

• Here is a list of chemicals and their molecular structures that can be combined to make a variety of scents :Example of a Chemical List

Electromagnetic Induction:

• Technology that uses inductive coupling as a means of power transfer.
• No wires required for charging, just simply place your electronics on the "splashpad"
• Can Charge many gadgets at once
  Splashpower-cut loose!
  
  

Examples of Light Emitting Flexible Material which can be incorporated into a flexible bracelet concept.