Meet Halo, Your Wearable Emoticon

A Ph.D. student at M.I.T. has created a wearable device that changes colors and patterns according to the weather and the mood and movements of the wearer. The device, called Halo, consists of one hundred and eighty independently programmed light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

Nan Zhao, the creator of Halo, originally designed it for the purpose of attaching lighting to individuals rather than to buildings. There would be no need to switch on a light during your midnight trip to the toilet, for example, if you were taking light with you.

Now, however, Zhao envisions a variety of applications. Waiters could use Halo to be more visible to customers and look more approachable. Travelers battling jet lag could use Halo to help adjust their internal body clock. Halo could even be used as an alternative to make-up.

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Halo comes pre-programmed with patterns that exude such emotions as happiness, sadness, and anxiety. It can even alter the way the world appears to the wearer, making rainy skies appear brighter and gray landscapes more colorful.

Made from lightweight aluminum, Halo can be shaped to fit discreetly around one’s head or body. One cannot help being reminded of emoticons. Halo may do for the body what emoticons have been doing for online communication!

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Having a bad day? Dim the lights and people will know to stay away. Don’t like the view outside your office window? Adjust the filter for a brighter view. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It is. Still, what ever happened to the good old-fashioned smile?