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from the especially-when-you-are-outdoors dept.
A team at MIT are developing a wearable HVAC unit that will supposedly keep you at a comfortable temperature. From Wired:
Wristify, as they call their device, is a thermoelectric bracelet that regulates the temperature of the person wearing it by subjecting their skin to alternating pulses of hot or cold, depending on what’s needed. The prototype recently won first place at this year’s MADMEC, an annual competition put on by the school’s Materials Science and Engineering program, netting the group a $10,000 prize, which they’ll use to continue its development. It’s a promising start to a clever approach that could help alleviate a serious energy crisis. But as Sam Shames, the MIT senior who helped invent the technology, explains, the team was motivated by a more prosaic problem: keeping everyone happy in a room where no one can agree where to set the thermostat.
After freezing in the dentist's office this morning, I want one!
(Score: 1) by deterioration on Friday October 03 2014, @07:11PM
One wonders what long term effects this would have on the body's ability to correctly maintain homeostasis. Continual 'override!' messages might also create a tolerance effect, so you'll either have to move the location of the device on the body over time, or increase the pulse's differential temperature.
I'm thinking over-reliance on something like this could end up running your internal organs too hot or too cold?