Google Inc announced on Friday that it is working with iconic US jean maker Levi Strauss & Co to make clothing from specially woven fabric with touch-screen control capabilities.
The Internet titan used its annual developers conference in San Francisco to reveal Project Jacquard and to spotlight Levi Strauss as its first partner.
Named after a Frenchman who invented a type of loom, Project Jacquard is in the hands of a small Google team called Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP), which is different from the Google X lab that develops big-vision innovations such as self-driving cars.
Photo: AFP
“We are enabling interactive textiles,” ATAP’s Emre Karagozler said, as the smart fabric was shown off in an area set up to look like cloth coming out of a loom. “We do it by weaving conductive threads into fabric.”
The special threads can be woven into a wide array of fabrics, and be made to visually stand out or go unnoticed depending on designers’ wishes.
Conductivity can be limited to desired parts of fabric or spread across the entire cloth.
“It is stretchable; it is washable,” Karagozler said, as people controlled lights and computer screens with finger strokes on a blue cloth covering a table in the display area behind him. “It is just like normal fabric.”
Project Jacquard makes it possible to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile using standard, industrial looms, according to Google.
Anything involving fabric, from suits or dresses to furniture or carpet, could potentially have computer touch control capabilities woven.
Conductive yarn is connected to tiny circuits, no bigger than jacket buttons, with miniaturized electronics that can use algorithms to recognize touches or swipes, ATAP said.
The data can be sent wirelessly to smartphones or other devices, enabling actions such as making telephone calls or sending messages with brushes of fabric.
“In our hyper-digital world, people constantly struggle to be physically present in their environment while maintaining a digital connection,” said Levi Strauss’ head of global product innovation Paul Dillinger, who took part in a Google presentation at the gathering.
“The work that Google and Levi’s are embarking upon with Project Jacquard delivers an entirely new value to consumers with apparel that is emotional, aspirational and functional,” Dillinger said.
Separately, Google and Infineon Technologies AG are developing a chip that is small enough to be put in watches or wristbands and that can detect gestures and recognize individuals.
Infineon has developed a radar sensor semiconductor and is working with Google to integrate the device for applications such as automotive safety, Germany’s biggest chipmaker said yesterday.
“The chip detects motions, recognizes people and is so small it could be used in applications enabling the Internet of Things in watches, in wearables like fitness wristbands, or in driver-assistance systems,” Infineon spokesman Bernd Hops said by telephone from Munich, Germany. “We are contributing the hardware, and Google its unique expertise on applications and user-experience interface.”
Google’s push into cars is meeting growing opposition in Germany, where lawmakers are backing the likes of Audi AG and Mercedes-Benz as they seek to limit the software company’s access under the hood.
Infineon’s cooperation with Google is open-ended and is based on technology already used in automotive safety, Hops said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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