With colder temperatures rolling in, you may feel inclined to turn up the heat — which, in turn, turns up the price on your electric bill (and ensuing fights with roommates.)
A new bracelet may solve this problem by letting you control body temperature. A group of students at MIT created a thermoelectric bracelet that keeps tabs on air and skin temperature and allows you to control your body temperature — and, consequently, helps buildings conserve energy.
This year's theme focused on how materials science "can provide solutions for energy storage, building efficiency, transportation and many other critical needs," according to MIT's website. Each team received $1,000 to build its prototype.
Shames explains that the bracelet can be toggled from heating to cooling mode with a switch while the bracelet's software controls the pulses.
The team's inspiration stemmed from the members' personal experiences with temperature problems. For example, cofounder and team member Mike Gibson was living with a roommate accustomed to a different climate (other team members include David-Cohen Tanugi and Matt Smith).
The bracelet uses a thermoelectric module to provide controllable and customizable thermal pulses to heat or cool the wrist, according to Shames. He explains that if you heat up part of your body in a cold room, you'll automatically feel more comfortable — even more so than if you turn on a heater. The human body reacts more to direct skin changes than to changes in the absolute temperature of a room.
Wristify's prototype, shown in the video above, resembles a wristwatch and runs for up to eight hours on a lithium polymer battery. The team hopes to make it available to the public in the near future.
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Image: Flickr, ilovebutter
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