This week’s Wearable Tech roundup features Sony’s SmartWig, GIST, and Muse.

Sony’s SmartWig

Sony has applied for a rather odd-sounding patent which pertains to a “SmartWig” device. In the patent applications, the SmartWig is described as a device that’s able to cover at least part of a person’s head, and is able to acquire data and communicate with other connected devices.  SmartWigs can apparently be made from horse hair, human hair, wool, feathers, yak hair, buffalo hair or any other kind of synthetic material.  It is embedded with various sensors that can help people with navigation or monitor their temperature or blood pressure and can also be used to assist the visually impaired.

We don’t know if Sony actually plans to commercially manufacturing any SmartWigs, but if it does, the company would probably make the device compatible with other mobile and wearable technologies.

GIST

At the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, University of Nevada computer scientists Vinitha Khambadkar and Eelke Folmer debuted the Gestural Interface for Remote Spatial Perception, otherwise known as GIST.  GIST is a wearable device worn around the neck that is designed to help people with visual impairments see things around them.

The technology behind GIST is based on Kinect.  Based on the wearer’s gestures, the device can deliver spatial information such as identifying if there’s a person or an object in front of them, the depth of a particular area, identify the predominant color of an object in front, or even look for objects.

Khambadkar and Folmer plan on adding object and facial recognition with further testing.

Muse

From InnteraXon, a Toronto-based company, comes Muse, the brain-sensing six-sensor headband.  Muse measures the wearer’s brainwaves in real-time and transmits the data to a smartphone app where it will be interpreted so it can interact with content within the app. Muse can be used to control games, reduce stress, and improve a person’s memory and concentration.