Developing stretchable sensors and contracting textiles: Emerging technologies for wearable devices

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Wearable devices, robot skin, soft robotics, imperceptible electronics and ionic skin are rapidly evolving research themes that have attracted the attention of electronic device manufacturers, automotive giants and medical device companies. There is tremendous interest in creating intelligent fabrics and devices that can fold and stretch, be integrated into clothing, be applied as a skin on a machine, or even be used inside the body. We aim to spur on development by contributing:1. Actuating fabrics composed of coiled heat-driven polymers and yarns that contract in length by as much as muscle does, but with much higher stresses;2. Highly stretchable and tough gel-based thin films for sensing touch, proximity, pressure, shear and bending; andThese emerging technologies will be further developed by:1. Adding a catch state to the coiled polymer actuators in order to remove energy loss when they are operating at constant load, as increasing speed and modeling load dependence;2. Demonstrating new functionality in gel based ionic skin sensors.The material and mechanism based innovations will set the stage for integration into devices that could include:1. Garments that promote circulation in the legs by generating time varying pressure; and clothing that changes stiffness and breathability depending on level of activity. It may also be possible to provide assistive forces for short duration, intermittent activities (such as getting up from a chair). The active fabrics may also provide mechanisms for driving fingers in low cost humanoid robots, or help with rehabilitation; They may also provide protection from biological and chemical warfare agents.2. Smart sheets for detecting sleep state, and pressure ulcers, as well as robot skin to help with grasp and human interaction;The proposed work aims to focus on advancing the materials-based innovations in sensing and actuation. As these innovations reach the point where they are ready for application in smart textiles, wearables, and health/fitness monitoring devices, they will evolve as spin-off projects with industry.