It’s a dangerous world out there. Pianos fall from tall buildings and at any moment a coyote could use a massive amount of TNT to dislodge you from your latest hiding place. Wait, that’s the cartoon world. The real world, however, is also dangerous. Not everything we touch and ingest should be touched or ingested and it is becoming increasingly complicated to tell which is which. That’s where wearable technology comes in. Surely, there can be something we can put on our bodies that can alert us from the impending danger of toxic materials? Don’t worry about it. Of course there is.
Dr. Sabine Trupp, who runs the Fraunhofer EMFT Sensor Materials group, heads up a team that invented a glove that not only senses toxic materials, but also lets you know of their existence in a most innovative way indeed. It changes color! Like a safety-enhancing chameleon, this glove comes equipped with a body of sensors and the ability to change shades depending on what type of toxin it comes in contact with. Never again will you have to fear rooting around in a tub full of asbestos, although you should probably avoid tubs filled with weird stuff anyways.
It’s not just stuff you touch, however. The glove also senses and changes color if a toxin is floating in the air, as they are wont to do. Dr. Trupp envisions these gloves being especially useful for people that live or work near an active gas line and when dealing with food expiration dates. You’ll no longer have to take the packaging’s word for it, you can take your glove’s word for it instead. This is just a working prototype for now. As always, we’ll let you know when this kind of tech is available for purchase.
