Karthik Ramani has spent years finding ways to bring computer technologies closer to our fingertips — literally.
In doing so, the mechanical engineering professor at Purdue University hopes to find ways to make computers easier for us to use.
His team’s latest creation is a soft sensor for computing interactions, something it believes you can use just about anywhere. Called iSoft, the sensor is a thin, stretchable sheet with electrodes that works with low-cost sensors.
“One of the big motivations that drives my research and thinking is to make computing — the way we interact with computers — the best we can make it,” he says. “The phone is a great example. Prior to that we sort of assumed [how] you interact with computers.”
That thinking helped produce the new device, which Ramani says can be used in the medical industry, in athletics or just about any other area where portable computing would be an advantage. But Ramani’s true innovation is in developing a technology that works when worn on the body.
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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!