Finally a Smart Tech Bra #WearableWednesday

TechBraBig

Creating sensor studded exercise wear is definitely a good idea, especially since many treadmills don’t register my heart rate despite me clinging to the bars (zombie alert). I caught this Sensilk Flight Tech Bra on Fast Company and was pretty impressed. It’s not just the small electronics, it’s the fact that it actually looks non-techy.

Designer Ashley Tyler worked with design engineer Donald Yang to create the bra. One of their prime concerns was having the bra be an equal part of the product, instead of having the technology be dominant.

Good memory and support were priorities, as was a soft, malleable feel. The design needed to be modern to reflect the cutting-edge technology, but “I didn’t want to look like I was going out to a nightclub,” Tyler adds. The sensors also had to remain firmly near the heart despite the wearer’s activity; otherwise the readers wouldn’t be accurate.

TechBraSensor

The exciting feature on this bra are the proprietary SOAR sensors made of silver fiber that look like they have been knit into the cloth.

The placement is unobtrusive, maximizes comfort, and allows the bra to “pick up tiny biometric signals in really crowded gyms, something most other biometric monitors can’t do,” Yang says.

The sensors appear to meet the transmitting unit which is on the outside of the bra. That unit records the data and makes it available through an app on your phone.

One of the challenges the company is facing is production–how to bring the slower paced world of fashion together with the quick pace of electronics. This is a similar problem I remember uncovering with Van Dongen’s Solar Shirt.

Sensilk’s solution is to create an apparel supply chain that is as robust and adaptive as the electronics’ world’s is. It will allow for quicker style introductions and technology updates.

Their collaborative spirit is working in their favor and supposedly their pre-orders are shipping this month. Looks like an exciting product and I look forward to reading some reviews. If you feel like DIYing your own wearable, try our Heart Rate Badge tutorial. You’ll learn how to use a Polar Heart Rate Sensor which is worn around the rib cage. Pretty high tech stuff with a fun twist.


Flora breadboard is Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Join Adafruit on Mastodon

Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


Maker Business — “Packaging” chips in the US

Wearables — Enclosures help fight body humidity in costumes

Electronics — Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Silicon Labs introduces CircuitPython support, and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Guardian Robot, Weather-wise Umbrella Stand, and more!

Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — #NewProds 7/19/23 Feat. Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 CircuitPython Powered Internet Display!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.