THE PASTIn the past, most wearable technology allows the device to track your vitals, such as heartrate or exercise sessions. While this is great for tracking and giving the user a better sense of how much they exercise, it is a poor tool for guiding users to develop physical literacy. This created a whole new area of wearable technology that could change how we interact with others. The idea of a haptic feedback suit has been around for many years, with the earliest one created in 1994 with very rudimentary mechanics. Ironically, this iliteration of the suit was the cheapest, sitting at a comfortable 100 dollar price range. The trend died down for a while until 2002, where a fashion company came up with the idea of interactive fashion. They pushed their ideas into the HugShirt, which allows the wear to send tactical feedback similar to an embrace to a distant person. This was revolutionary at the time as it was the strongest proof of concept that haptic wearable technology was possible. Unfortunately, the price of the shirt was at around 1000 dollars, which meant that it was not for the general public. The idea was further refined by the advancement of technology and the SoundShirt created. The SoundShirt was also very expensive, but allowed for opportunities for its users to feel the sounds that are around them. These inventions show the potential of these wearables and the huge amount of market space for them.
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THE FUTUREThe most futuristic piece of wearable technology is being developed by Tesla. The TeslaSuit is a full body suit that introduces a lot of capabilities to its users. While the technology is currently used with gaming devices such as VR and AR gear, there is immense potential in using it for the purposes of improving physical literacy. Imagine a world where one would want to develop boxing skills independently. Previously, they would have to go to a gym, seek out a real-life instructor, and pay money to go through the training and lessons. This is inefficient as you would have to research whether if the coach is any good, transit to the gym, and potentially discover that you might not be the next top talent in boxing. However, with the TeslaSuit, the learner could potentially wear the suit and run a boxing simulator. The suit would then give different haptic feedback based on how well the learner performed the physical actions, thereby increasing physical literacy.
Unfortunately, these suits are not fit for regular consumers are they are VERY expensive, at around $20,000 dollars! The technology does have its merits though, being used for many forms of professional training from astronauts to professional athletes. The major critique for this technology would be to commercialize it for the general masses. |