Ricardo O´Nascimento presented his work today in the DesignLab. His lecture was organized in collaboration of the UT and the Rijksmuseum Twenthe as a joint event mainly intended for students of Creative Technology. 'Cooperation with the Rijksmuseum is a great opportunity, because it gives our students access to their wide network of international artists,' says Marielle Stoelinga.
Tweet about every step you take
Ricardo O´Nascimento has created many examples of wearable technology in his design studio POPKALAB. One of them was a 'Rumbler', shoes that tweet your steps. 'This project was meant as a critique of Twitter and of how people use it,' explains O´Nascimento. 'People tweet about everything nowadays, so we thought: what would be the least useful thing to tweet? Steps! These shoes detect pressure and post Twitter messages about every single step you take.'
Sneakers that post on Facebook or make music
Based on a similar concept, O´Nascimento made different sneakers that can post updates on social media. 'Sneakers called 'Jump' enable the wearer to leave both physical and virtual path,' describes the inventor. 'They are connected to your phone and if you happen to go somewhere you like, you jump and the sneakers post a tweet. If you jump three times, you also post on Facebook and automatically upload a Google Maps picture of the place where you are. By jumping, you also make a pin on Google Maps and can later get an overview of your whereabouts that day.'
On top of that, Ricardo O´Nascimento is now working on another type of 'smart' shoes - sneakers that detect your movement and create music based on the way you dance. Besides footwear, O´Nascimento has made a shirt that controls your music player or a hat that moves when it detects a mobile phone signal. As he says: 'Technology should be invisible, functional and beautiful.'
