Microsoft is working on a smartphone-controlled smart scarf

Adding to the most recent announcements about Windows 10 and the ambitious Hololens, some Microsoft researchers are now known to be working on yet another wearable. Interestingly, the researchers are developing a smart scarf.

According to Geek, the Project Swarm (Sensing Whether Affect Requires Mediation) was shown during a presentation at a conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction at Stanford University last week. “Researchers proposed new ideas for how people could physically interact with technology, and for the graduate student and intern researchers at Microsoft, that meant creating a device that reacts to biometric data like emotions,” adds the report.

The scarf prototype is built of hexagonal modules of felt  and copper taffeta. The scarf can be paired with the smartphone using Bluetooth. They’ve also developed the Swarm app that can be used to command the scarf to vibrate or heat up. The team is also working to add some cooling modules to the scarf.

“While the scarf form factor was chosen to make the technology more discreet, according to Michele Williams, co-author of the paper explaining the project, users can also slip it into a more stylish sleeve. But as appealing as this may sound, right now the smart scarf is mostly for academic purposes,” further adds the report.

The report further says that the team also wants to add a music player to it. However, it is still a prototype and one shouldn’t expect it to hit stores any time soon.

Posted by : Gizmeon