Maggie Orth
Art, Technology, Design

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Outdoor Gear Performance and Trip Management System. Filed 2007, Issued 2010.

Images from:
US 7716013 B2

Maggie Orth, Sheila Kennedy, Chris Verplaetse and Brian Elginsmith.

Design in collaboration with Moto Development Group and MatX Studios.

This early Wearable system was developed for the NorthFace. The project began before the iPhone release in 2007, and was designed to bring lighting, heating and cooling to various TNF products. The project consisted of four tech units: a central brain (the NetSwtch), and three funtional units (a heating pad, fan and a LED.) The NetSwitch controlled each unit wirelessly.

It's hard ot imagine, but there was no smart Phone to connect to back then, and bright white LEDs were rare, expensive, and got super hot!

The heating, cooling and lighting units all had internal RFID tag readers. When inserted in a piece of gear's pockets, they dientified the product based on an RF tag in the pocket. The technology then behaved according to the needs of the product.

The project was ready for manufacture in China 2008, but was cancelled when the market crashed.


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