This Robotic Dress Will Poke People Who Invade Your Personal Space

If you've ever wanted to give that persistent barfly a not-so-subtle hint that you aren't interested, the Spider Dress is the fashion piece for you. Designed by Anouk Wipprecht and powered by Intel Edison, the dress features robotic "legs" that will extend from the shoulders (flexible!) and poke unwanted company. They are triggered by two sets of sensors—one that measures movement of those around you and one that measures your respiration to see if the attention is making you nervous. For example, if someone approaches too quickly and surprises you the dress could register that the behavior is aggressive and unwanted. According to Wipprecht, the movements adapt to more comfortable situations too: "When you walk up to the dress in a more cautious, friendly symbiotic way, you can almost get the dress to invite you closer, as if to 'dance with you."

Wipprecht debuted the piece at last week's Consumer Electronics Show as just the latest creation in a line of tech-enhanced fashion. She previously created protoypes for a Synapse dress that could detect mental states, a Smoke dress that could release a cloud of smoke if anyone got too close to it and a Faraday dress that let the wearer shoot bolts of electricity from her sleeves.

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