Microsoft’s researchers are creating smart fabrics that can identify objects they come in contact with.
A pair of jeans reminds you that you forgot your battery-low Airpods in the back pocket. Or a tablecloth notifies you that you haven’t picked up your credit card before leaving the house. These are among the futuristic applications that Microsoft’s engineers have in mind for a new technology they are developing in the field of smart textiles. Dubbed Capacitivo, the project’s objective is to create fabrics that can identify the objects that they come into contact with, thanks to a recognition technique known as capacitive sensing. The method, which is already known among electrical engineers, relies on electrodes detecting and measuring the changes in electric charges when contact is made with a given object. Combining capacitive sensing with AI, Microsoft’s researchers have been able to create fabrics that can recognise non-metallic objects like foods and liquids, and typical household items such as books, bowls or candles. The results, so far, have been convincing, with Capacitivo making accurate identifications 94.5% of the time in tests involving 20 different objects. SEE: An IT pro’s guide to robotic process automation (free PDF) (TechRepublic) Although the system struggled to differentiate between different types of liquid — not always successfully telling beer from milk — Capacitivo was nevertheless able to establish whether a container was full or empty, and even whether the soil was dry or wet for a small tabletop plant.
