Fibre That Responds By Sensing The Activity Of The Wearer

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Fibre That Responds By Sensing The Activity Of The Wearer
18 Oct 2021
7 min read

News Synopsis

Researchers at MIT and in Sweden have invented a novel type of fibre that may be used to make clothing that detects how much it is being stretched or squeezed and offers immediate haptic input in the form of tension, lateral stretch, or vibration. By pressurising and releasing a fluid component, such as pressurized air or water, into the channel, this device controls the fibres' shape, allowing the fibre to behave as an artificial muscle.

Lining Yao, being an assistant professor of human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University mentioned that the study beautifully integrates fibre-level engineering and fabric-level design. Various machine knitting techniques, including inlay and active spacer fabric. She also conveyed that the improved state-of-the-art regarding ways of embedding actuating fibres into fabrics. When it comes to wearing interactions with actuating materials, integrating strain sensing and feedback is critical.

According to Afsar, who is pursuing this research as part of her doctoral thesis at KTH Royal Institute of Technology says that the biochemistry of breathing is actually rather complex. "We don't realise which muscles we employ or what the physiology of breathing is," she explains. When a result, the clothes they devised feature distinct modules that monitor muscles in the body as the wearer breathes in and out, as well as the ability to replay individual motions to promote muscle group activation.