It’s a familiar scene in high schools and colleges all over Britain. You get to class, make yourself comfortable, reach into your bag and SHOCK HORROR, where’s your book? You see your teacher (or lecturer) scanning the room and, noticing a vast area of space on the desk in front of you, they shout “Where’s your book?” across the room. Time for some quick thinking, will your answebe one of the following:
“My dog/cat/sister/gran ate it!”
“I suffer with amnesia so I can’t help forgetting things”
“My mum forgot to pack it for me this morning!”
“I don’t own a smart bag...”
All quite believable excuses I’m sure, but just what on earth is a smart bag? Well, in the future scientists are hoping to develop a bag that never forgets – a smart bag. Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have already developed computerised fabric patches, each containing either a microprocessor, memory, radio transceiver, sensor, microphone, LED light, batteries or a display.
When the patches are combined, they provide information. If the patches were attached to a bag they could warn you if you have forgotten your wallet, umbrella, or indeed, book! This is how it will work – one patch will be programmed to listen for signals from tags placed on objects like keys and wallets. Then a sensor on a patch inside the bag will detect when the bag is being lifted by the owner. This will make another patch, containing a reader, check through the contents of the bag: wallet – yes, keys – yes, book – NO! If something is missing, it will warn the bag’s owner!
So go on, try a smart bag on...
