Wearable tech in the form of sweaters that reflect our state of mind at a particular time are meant only for the sincerest of us.
We sometimes wish to express our true feelings, but we end up constrained to smile, either because of some sort of social boundaries or simply because it’s our job to do so (I pity the ones working in customer service). Sensoree, the developer of this GER (Galvanic Extimacy Responder) mood sweater, really wants us to be true to ourselves and reflect through our clothes what we are really thinking. And yes, you got that right, extimacy (a word that has yet to be included in the English language) stands for externalized intimacy.
Incredibly enough, Sensoree has been tinkering with the idea of creating the GER mood sweater for more than three years, as this video from 2010 suggests. Kristin Neidlinger, the founder of Sensoree, started this project for her master’s thesis in interaction design. The idea behind it is rather simple, despite of how incredible this piece of wearable tech really looks. The mood sweater uses Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), a concept used in classic lie detectors, to tell whether a person is happy or sad. The LEDs found around the collar do a great job in providing visual feedback. I’d love to see politicians wearing such mood sweaters, especially during international negotiations. Also, wearing these during presidential campaigns might help people make better choices.
As exemplified in a Vimeo video, the GER mood sweater is capable of telling how excited you are about a particular thing. Upon doing so, the sweater translates the feeling into a particular color that corresponds to it. Ranging from calm to excited, the colors are turquoise, blue, violet, red and yellow. Corresponding to them are the following moods: tranquil, calm, ruffled, nervous and nirvana.
Sensoree is currently taking pre-orders for its GER Mood Sweater. Available in March 2014, these will be made in a limited run of 100 sweaters, all custom-sized, signed and numbered. There is no word on how much the mood sweater will cost, but I assume that the company will disclose this detail upon completing this pre-order questionnaire. It’s rather strange that Kristin Neidlinger and her company did not need crowdfunding for this project, but maybe that’s the next step after the first 100 GER Mood Sweaters are sold.
If you liked this post, please check these Super Mario block mosaic LEGO mood lamps and this ambient sound lamp.
