Wearables

Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought, "These ol' human faces just aren't expressive enough?" Perhaps you need the Qudi Mask 2, a gadget that lets you wear all your emotions on your robot-screen head, in the least subtle way we can imagine.

After years of bubbling online rumors, Sonos has finally revealed its first attempt to break into the overcrowded headphone market with the Ace wireless over-ears – which are clearly looking to dethrone the likes of Sony, Bose and Apple.

Many of the gadgets we use every day have a limited shelf life, and often end up as e-waste before their time. The Dutch company that launched a repairable, upgradeable, sustainable smartphone has now taken the challenge to true wireless earphones.

Two new technologies allow a single pair of glasses to track eye movements and read the wearer's facial expressions, respectively. The systems use sonar instead of cameras, for better battery life and increased user privacy.

An experimental new helmet could save drivers of construction vehicles from serious injuries. The device measures the extent to which its wearer is being shaken up while driving, and sounds an alert when the shaking gets to be too much.

An experimental new wearable could allow people such as stroke victims to communicate via subtle hand movements. The device takes the form of a relatively thin patch that is temporarily adhered to the skin on the back of the wrist.

If humanoid robots are ever going to fully integrate in society, they're going to need to get good at reading our emotional states and responding appropriately. A new wearable from researchers in Korea could help them do just that.

Some folks prefer to get a grip on things to better understand concepts. Researchers have developed smart gloves for tactile learners that use haptic feedback and AI to teach users new skills, fast-track precision training and control robots remotely.

Bose has launched a pair of wireless earphones that don't plug in and cut you off from the outside world, but clasp onto the side of your ears like cuffs. The Ultra Open Earbuds promise both all-day immersive listening and awareness of surroundings.

Imagine having a real-time translation service, nutrition guru, knowledge base and more on your face. That's the promise of an open-source wearable from Brilliant Labs, which taps into multiple AI models to put what you need in front of your eyes.

San Diego's audio gear brand JLab already sells inexpensive but capable true wireless earphones, but is now going premium with the launch of the Epic Lab Edition buds, which feature Bluetooth LE Audio and Knowles tuning.

If you want to continuously monitor your body temperature, and you already wear earrings all day long, why not just have those earrings do the job? That's the thinking behind the Thermal Earring, which may someday be coming to an ear near you.

There are many situations in which blind people don't necessarily have to see what they're holding, they just need it described to them. An experimental new wearable device, known as AiSee, is designed to do that very thing.

Most exoskeletons are big, expensive, wearable devices designed to reduce the load on body parts such as the shoulders, arms or back. The Artus is different, in that it's made to protect the fingers … and it costs less than US$110.

Soldiers and tactical unit police officers often have a lot of heavy gear to carry, including the ballistic body armor that they're wearing. That's where the ExoM Up-Armoured Exoskeleton is intended to come in, as it's load-reducing and bulletproof.