Arduino and K-way

Arduino launches development competition in collaboration with fashion brand K-way
Contest focuses on environmental monitoring and smart fashion
Development kit includes a K-way jacket and the Arduino Nicla Sense Me with Bosch Sensortec sensors
The best projects will be featured during Arduino Day 2023

True to the motto "The jacket that senses the world", Arduino has teamed up with K-Way, a well-known outdoor brand with over 50 years of heritage, to launch a development competition. The project aims to promote a new way of conceiving smart clothing by addressing the increasingly important issue of air quality and environmental monitoring.

The call for applications invited experienced developers or novices to come up with innovative ideas for programming, monitoring and processing environmental data surrounding a person wearing a K-Way jacket.

Participants with the most compelling ideas received the Arduino Nicla Sense ME, packed with powerful sensors, in a special silicone mold attached to a K-Way jacket's eye-catching zipper:

Close-up of a jacket from K-Way on which an Arduino sensor is mounted. In the top left corner you can see a graphic showing which sensors contaion the Arduino sensor.

Packed with powerful sensors

BHI260AP

BHI260AP is a smart sensor that includes wide variety of software functionalities, a 32-bit customer programmable microcontroller, and a 6-axis IMU all in one package.

Self-learning AI software
Low power pedestrian position tracking
Personalized fitness tracking & swim analytics

Learn more about BHI260AP

BME688

The BME688 is the first gas sensor with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and integrated high-linearity and high-accuracy pressure, humidity and temperature sensors. The gas sensor can detect Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and other gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the part per billion (ppb) range. Additionally to all functions of the BME680, the BME688 comes with:

Specific detection of VSCs
Application-specific gas scanner
BME AI-Studio

Learn more about BME688

BMP390

The BMP390 is a very small, low-power and low-noise 24-bit absolute barometric pressure sensor. The digital, high-performance sensor is ideally suited for a wide range of altitude tracking applications, such as smartphones, GPS modules, wearables, hearables and drones.

Best performance in market
Unique accuracy and stability
Lowest noise

Learn more about BMP390

BMM150

The low-power, low-noise BMM150 is a 3-axis digital geomagnetic sensor that perfectly matches the requirements of compass applications. By means of sensor data fusion software tailored to the hardware, the BMM150 provides absolute spatial orientation and motion vectors with high accuracy and dynamics.

Outdoor/indoor navigation
Head movement tracking

Learn more about BMM150

The sensing capabilities of the development board include Bosch Sensortec’s BHI260AP AI sensor system with integrated motion sensor, BMM150 magnetometer, BMP390 pressure sensor, and the unique BME688 4-in-1 gas sensor with AI and integrated high-linearity and high-accuracy pressure, humidity and temperature sensors.

Its ability to capture and process different types of data opens up many opportunities for participants to develop their own personal Arduino x K-way experience. Edge Impulse AI supports this contest and allows participants to build AI directly into the jacket by using each sensor on the Nicla Sense ME for machine learning without having to write code using Edge Impulse Studio and the Arduino IDE.

“Imagine what could happen if you could get your hands on the most iconic rain jacket, paired with an Arduino Nicla Sense ME, and redefine the idea of sensing your surroundings.”

Close-up of a person wearing a K-Way jacket with an Arduino sensor attached to the zipper. In the foreground you can see a mobile phone that the person is holding in her/his hand.

Arduino has already developed an application example to show attendees the many capabilities of the hardware: With the Nicla Sense ME on the K-Way jacket, the level of air pollution and changing weather conditions near the user are detected in real time by communicating them through an LED light on the board or a smartphone app.

The best projects will be presented at Arduino Day 2023 on March 25. A follow-up report on this website will inform you about some of the ideas developed by the participants using the same technology.

The Arduino Nicla Sense ME x K-way zipper, as well as the latest air quality monitoring solutions from Bosch Sensortec will be presented at the Bosch Sensortec booth at embedded world 2023.