Students develop SMS-enabled jacket 

A group of students has created a communication jacket that may help first responders in emergencies, a tech site reported.

 

Designed by students from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the jacket has a simple user interface, according to a report on Mashable.

 

"Whenever the user receives a message, he will feel a vibration in his neck via another sensor and be able to read it on the screen, which displays rolling text," the Mashable report said.

 

The screen is incorporated in the jacket's sleeve, while an open-source Arduino microcontroller allows communication with an Android phone via Bluetooth.

 

Such a display on the jacket promises to be a practical alternative to smartphones, which require holding by both hands and the holder's almost-full attention - something responders that firefighters and emergency medical technicians dodging debris may not have.

 

“Crews therefore need devices with a much simpler user interface. That was the basic idea behind making the jackets,” Mashable quoted Babak Farshchian of SINTEF ICT, a research organization in Norway, as saying. — TJD, GMA News