Award-winning
electronic socks track foot landings and cadence.
Credit: Sensoria
(December 16, 2015) It’s
not every day that there’s a news story about socks. But in November, a pair
won the Best New Wearable Technology Device Award at a Silicon Valley
conference. The smart socks, which track foot landings and cadence, are at the
forefront of a new generation of wearable electronics, according to an article
in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the
American Chemical Society.
Marc S. Reisch, a senior correspondent at C&EN, notes
that stiff wristbands like the popular FitBit that measure heart rate and the
number of steps people take have become common. But the long-touted technology
needed to create more flexible monitoring devices has finally reached the
market. Developers have successfully figured out how to incorporate stretchable
wiring and conductive inks in clothing fabric, program them to transmit data
wirelessly and withstand washing.