加拿大研究人員研製能充電的衣服

加拿大康科迪亞大學設計與計算藝術系的研究人員正在研製一種能夠隨穿着者的行爲隨時改變顏色和形狀的衣服；另外，這種衣服的布料中織入了電子纖維織物，能夠讓衣服存儲人體產生的能量，手機沒電時，衣服就能給手機充電。不過，研究人員表示，要看到這種智能衣服面世，起碼還要等二三十年。世界各地的研究人員一直都在進行有關智能布料的研究，比如，英國士兵們不久就能穿上布料中含有可導電人造絲的制服，這樣他們出征的時候就不用費力攜帶那些笨重的蓄電池和線纜了。

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.