加拿大研究人员研制能充电的衣服

加拿大康科迪亚大学设计与计算艺术系的研究人员正在研制一种能够随穿著者的行为随时改变颜色和形状的衣服；另外，这种衣服的布料中织入了电子纤维织物，能够让衣服存储人体产生的能量，手机没电时，衣服就能给手机充电。不过，研究人员表示，要看到这种智能衣服面世，起码还要等二三十年。世界各地的研究人员一直都在进行有关智能布料的研究，比如，英国士兵们不久就能穿上布料中含有可导电人造丝的制服，这样他们出征的时候就不用费力携带那些笨重的蓄电池和线缆了。

Clothes that change their color and shape depending on the wearer's movement are being developed by researchers at a Canadian university.

The project - dubbed Karma Chameleon - involves weaving electronic fabric into clothes in a way that allows the storage of energy from the body.

Uses for the technology include a dress that "changes itself", and a shirt which can charge a phone.

However, it could be decades before the clothes are available to buy.

"We won't see such garments in stores for another 20 or 30 years, but the practical and creative possibilities are exciting," said Prof Joanna Berzowska, of the Department of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

"Our goal is to create garments that can transform in complex and surprising ways - far beyond reversible jackets, or shirts that change color in response to heat."

Many researchers around the world are looking at smart fabrics in various shapes and forms.

In the military, British soldiers' uniforms could soon use electrically conducting yarn woven directly into the clothing, replacing cumbersome batteries and cabling.

Other innovations include the possibility of clothes which are able to warm the wearer - opening up the chance of wearing Hawaiian shirts and shorts in the winter months.

Although the garments designed by Ms Berzowska and team are still years from being made available, prototype designs have been developed to show the concepts in action.

One other suggested use is as a performance device - where the state and shape of the fabric is controlled by someone other than the wearer.

Ms Berzowska's ideas will be presented at a conference dedicated to smart fabric innovation to be held in San Francisco this week.