Yoga can be a little more difficult to do than those who don't practice yoga understand. A lot of effort has to be put into perfecting the forms and shapes required. While this is a little easier for those with an instructor, it isn't as easy for those practicing alone at home.
Thankfully, a new pair of yoga pants have been released that are designed to make this a little easier. The pants are called Nadi.
The way they work is that they essentially offer users haptic feedback, or small vibrations, designed to tell the user where and how to correct their alignment. At first glance, the smart pants don't look very high-tech, but under the first layer of fabric is a series of electronics, which sit on the user's hips, knees, and ankles. The electronics communicate with each other to determine exactly which position the user is in.
"It's a wireless network for the body," said Ben Moir, who co-created the pants, in an interview with Fast Company. "We have a motion sensor in each part of the tights that knows exactly what angle you're in."
To calibrate the pants, Moir and his co-creator, Billie Whitehouse, consulted with yoga instructors. Once the wearer of the pants poses, the sensors are able to scan the body and report back to the accompanying app, which is expected to be available on Android and Apple devices later this year. If, for example, the wearer's hip is rotated a little too far inward, the pants will vibrate across the hip, indicating that the user needs to move their hip outward.
The pants are designed so that users will process the vibrations subconsciously. Instead of having to think about how to process the information offered by the pants, users should be able to automatically adjust their position based on what the pants tell them to do.
Using this technology, Whitehouse and Moir hope eventually to create clothing for all kinds of sports via their company, Wearable Experiments.
There's no word yet on pricing; presales are scheduled to start in May. The smart pants are expected to survive up to 25 washes. There's also no word yet on how to recharge them, although the company is trying to create a charging basket wearers can toss the tights into after a workout.
Via: Fast Company
