Serving the age old fit dilemma of intimate wear for women, Professor Julie Steele from Breast Research Australia had envisaged the ‘bionic bra’ that would change depending on the work that the wearer was doing. Following the advances in fibres and electro materials, a prototype has been developed on the same lines at the University of Wollongong. “We’ve engineered nanoparticles and they fashion electrical conductivity into a fibre, so as you stretch it, that conductivity changes and it changes over a wide range, which is important for monitoring human movement. We’re at a stage now where design becomes critical, so we can integrate the sensors all within a seamless garment,” informs Professor Gordon Wallac, Centre Director, University of Wollongong. Talking about the potential of the product to be mass manufactured, the team avers that this product is an opportunity to create the next manufacturing industry. “We’ve got plenty of young people with lots of enthusiasm who can get behind this,” tells Wallace.
