Google wants to bring touchscreen control to clothing

When you say the word "wearable," Google doesn't want you to just think of smart watches and glasses.

The company wants to go simpler than that: t-shirts, pants, socks -- basically anything made of cloth. To do that, the company on Friday introduced new initiatives called Project Soli and Project Jacquard, aimed at reimagining touch gestures for devices and developing smart textiles, Cnet.com reports.

The idea for Soli is that the way we control our phones -- by touching and tapping and swiping -- can be applied to other things. To do that, Google developed small, radar-based sensors that respond to hand movements.

For Jacquard, the fabric responds to touch and and has a tiny grid of sensors woven into it. The company is partnering with Levi's to produce the clothing. Google is first thinking of its use in clothes, but the says the possibilities go way beyond that.

"Your hand can be a complete, self-contained interface control," said Ivan Poupyrev, who leads the projects for Google's Advanced Technology and Projects, or ATAP, division. "It's always with you." Poupyrev was speaking at Google's I/O conference for software developers here.

The initiative comes as Google continues to expand the scope of its products beyond its juggernaut search engine. Its search and advertising business is still the most dominant in the world, making more than $50 billion a year. But as the Internet evolves, CEO Larry Page has been looking to where future revenue streams will come from.

The company especially wants to make a big push in infusing its software into every aspect of consumers' lives. Google's software already powers everything from smartphones to TVs to cardashboards. On Thursday, the company announced a new project called Brillo with the aim of being the software platform that powers every disparate device in the so-called Internet of things.