We have smart windows, smart cars, smartphones and smart TV, so why not smart fabrics as well? I remember seeing this comic that touted the virtues of smart stuff all around us, and the muse was this – why not spend all the money developing smart products to educate people so that we end up with smart folks running around instead? Jokes aside, the smart fabric that we are going to talk about here might actually see action on the battlefield in the near future as it is used to construct a soldier’s uniform. This particular advanced uniform for the British army might rely on electrically conducting yarn woven that has been directly into the clothing, which means there would no longer be the need to use cumbersome batteries and integrate cabling. The “e-textiles”, as it is called, might actually offer uniforms a single, central power source, enabling soldiers to recharge just one battery instead of having to manage many, and will also help reduce the total number of cables in their kit for higher efficiency. Anything for our boys at the frontlines to lighten their load and make them into even more efficient killing machines, no?
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