Wearable technology has become the hot new trend in the technology sphere, and undoubtedly the credit goes to Glass project. Right from head mounted gear to smart watches, there are new wearable devices coming up. Cashing up this opportunity, element14 has launched a challenge for engineers and developers to design and develop their own piece of wearable technology.

To pursue the same, element14 has selected the Adafruit’s FLORA kit to be used as the computing platform for the challenge. element14 is the first information portal, collaborative community and electronics store specifically built for electronic design engineers.

The global competition will focus entirely on technology integrated within clothing and wearable accessories that show an advanced level of integration than first-generation wearables like Google Glass. In the past, element14 organized wireless power and energy harvesting challenges, where a wide range of projects were developed right from beer brewing to a carbon monoxide detector that never needs batteries.

“Wearable technology is incredibly popular at the moment, from Google Glass to the successful Pebble watch on Kick Starter. Yet we’re still waiting for a product that brings wearable technology together with clothing and that’s what makes this competition and the Adafruit kit stand out. In this challenge we’re calling on our talented community to create something new in wearable technology that will make a difference to the everyday lives of the user. From tracking the vulnerable or elderly to finding a lost handbag in a nightclub, wearable technology is only just getting started and has the potential to do so much and this is why we’re all really looking forward to seeing the submissions in this competition,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community, element14.

Adafruit’s FLORA kit allows designers to create wearable products that are more integrated and less expensive, and allow creating a plethora of useful wearable designs, such as a cycling jacket with built in visibility sensing lights. It is as small as a watch and can be easily sewn into a cloth or fabric accessory using a special steel wire to run the circuitry within the seams. It is programmed via a built in USB and supports USB HID. It weighs only 4.4g, and is completely fabric-friendly.

Interested developers and engineers can submit their basic ideas here, from which five will be chosen and given a free FLORA kit to develop their project fully with support from the element14 community and other Arduino developers. The winner will be announced in September on the potential of the prototype to be practical to the point where it can be developed into genuine and mainstream products.

Adafruit FLORA kits can also be purchased in the US from Newark.com and in Europe from Farnell.com. Customers who purchase the kits are also invited to enter the project.