Csiro's "wearable instrument shirt" makes music into fashion
The Csiro wearable instrument shirt is, essentially, an air guitar built into a shirt that really, really works. Sensors in the elbow detect motions for strumming and chording, and translate them into appropriate guitar sounds. The team has already tailored the software to produce an air tambourine and an air percussion instrument called a guiro. Mass producing these could – with economy of scale – make sophisticated music instruments available to those who couldn’t normally afford to experiment (you got little Janie a clarinet and she needs a saxophone? A little reprogram and away she goes – a Csiro shirt and a toy sax’ll do her until she shows enough commitment to merit a real one). They’re also obviously lighter and more transportable than most conventional musical instruments. They also have virtual reality implications once they’re programmed to interact with a computer (which is presumably happening even as I type) and should be able to provide physical training exercises in everything from ballroom dancing to first aid without having to leave your house, thus cutting down on random travel for training exercises. See the video at Csiro’s web site. [GT]
Csiro wearable instrument shirt
