Yeah, I'm with you. The generic tech is there, and we've seen it work. But only in helmets, i.e. on top of the brain.
If it was put into a uniform, maybe you'd have to get it close to the brain ... maybe the collar is close enough? In a cover?
To further reduce bulk, maybe it wouldn't be an "active" brain reader. Instead, more like an RFID chip that uses the brain's own electricity? Though how it would get power from the brain when it's embedded in a uniform collar ... hm. Seems like it'd have to be in a cover.
As far as my reference to telepathy: the generic brain reader tech we used in the Kylie and Daisy reads organic brain waves and translates them into actions the armor understands. It wasn't reading thoughts, and you had to be wearing the helmet.
That is in contrast to how SPINE via PANTHEON works, where it's actually translating the very thoughts of a Neko into actions, communication, so on. The functional understanding was that it's all digital anyway, so a Neko's thoughts are really just another kind of digitized data. "Thinking at the speed of Neko."
To get the same functionality a Neko gets from the Type 36 Communicator, I think you'd need to read the thoughts of an organic being. Even with a brain reader in a convenient place, that's not quite the same level of functionality.
Clearly also thinking aloud here.