Sony raises the stakes in wearable technology with ‘SmartWig’ plans

The Japanese firm has made an application in the US for a ‘wearable computer device, comprising a wig that is adapted to cover at least part of a head of a user’.
The device would feature a sensor, a processor and a communication device, which would all be ‘at least partly covered by the wig in order to be visually hidden during use’.
Sony says the wig could be used to monitor the wearer’s brainwaves, blood pressure or pulse, or even combined with ‘artificial muscles’ so that ‘if the user is excited, the hair dynamically changes’.
Areas in which the ‘SmartWig’ could be used, Sony suggests, include, healthcare, the games industry or helping blind people to navigate.
Sony says, ‘The usage of a wig has several advantages that, compared to known wearable computing devices, include a significantly increased user comfort and an improved handling of the wearable computing device.’
It adds, ‘The user can wear the wearable computing device as a regular wig while looking natural at the same time’.
Brands have been investing heavily in the wearable technology sector, with Google planning a further rollout of its Google Glass, and Samsung and Nissan investigating smartwatch technology.

(Wed, 27 Nov 2013 | Angus Montgomery)