AUSTRALIA—A chemical engineer down under has invented a garment so loud it makes Hawaiian shirts seem subdued. “It’s not rocket science—it’s rockin’ science,” quips Richard Helmer, a weekend guitarist in a local rock band and researcher at Australia’s government-funded Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. His “wearable instrument shirt” enables wearers to play simply by moving one arm to pick chords and the other to strum an imaginary instrument’s strings—like an air guitar except sounds are real. His team—including IT specialists, chemical engineers, electrical engineers and textile experts—spent three years perfecting the textile-based interfaces. The sensor interfaces can be embedded in any conventional shirt along with custom software linking gestures to a library of audio samples. Move over musical socks, there’s a bigger game in town.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• The Engineering Alphabet: Chemical Engineering

Filed under: Chemical, Explore Engineering