Project Jacquard

How would you like to be able to control whatever you want buy touching your clothing? Google has unveiled “Project Jacquard”. This project allows for interactive connectivity and electronics to be woven into clothing and furniture coverings.

 They are able to accomplish this feat because of the specialized yarn that was created by Google and its collaborators. The yarn takes standard materials such as cotton or silk and combines them with thin metallic strands. The strands of yarn are strong enough to be used by industrial looms as well as being able to carry electrical current. Surface areas can be designed with sensor grids that are interactive. The material can also have different gesture-sensitive areas or touch controls. The clothing or furniture coverings may have tiny electronics embedded into them that are undetectable to the user as well.

 The materials link up wirelessly to smart phones or other capable devices to connect to Apps and the Internet. The project is geared so that the developers and the fashion industry can be the creators for what the material is used for. The sky is the limit for the information and the ability that you can create from the material. The cost of the material is inexpensive as well as adaptable. No special machinery is needed to make the material. The same industrial loom that your jeans were made from can be used with the conductive yarns. I guess you could design a mother board of a sweater for your mother.

Project Jacquard. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2015, from Google: https://www.google.com/atap/project-jacquard/