Researchers have developed a prototype of intelligent, or “smart”, clothing designed to improve the safety of blind and visually impaired people by combining embedded electronics with sensors that detect hazards, falls, and emergencies. Details of the system are reported in the International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering.
The garment integrates an embedded system, computer components built directly into the material, with sensors that monitor the surrounding environment and trigger warnings. Tests found the warning system remained effective at distances of up to 30 metres in complete darkness, while a dedicated fall-detection module identified incidents in less than half a second, leaving sufficient time for an integrated airbag protection system to deploy.
The study also highlights the potential of smart clothing to provide monitoring, feedback, and automated responses while remaining wearable in everyday life. The work thus addresses a gap in existing assistive technologies. While white canes and handheld guidance devices focus on obstacle avoidance and navigation, the researchers argue that less attention has been paid to accident detection, emergency alerts, and impact protection.
The researchers explain that there are some obstacles that need to be removed for widespread adoption of the technology to be possible. Embedded components reduce comfort, the durability of some hardware has yet to be tested over long periods, and manufacturing quality could vary at scale. They also identify cybersecurity, data privacy, and regulation as areas requiring further development.
Sun, Z. (2026) ‘Research on intelligent clothing design integrating visual communication and embedded system – taking the blind safety clothing as an example’, Int. J. Computational Systems Engineering, Vol. 10, No. 10, pp.1–9.
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