CRII: CHS: Developing Next-Generation Rapid Prototyping Tools to Catalyze Innovation in Smart Textiles

该项目旨在通过产生必要的核心见解来支持这一独特领域的更广泛参与，从而实现智能纺织品的快速原型设计。这项研究将通过设计、开发和系统评估一种设计智能纺织品的工具来产生这些见解。智能纺织品将古老的针织和编织工艺与纤维基智能材料的进步相结合，为广泛的应用创造了柔软灵活的电路。到目前为止，智能纺织品已经被设计用来做一些事情，比如从身体运动中收集能量，或者在衬衫袖子上集成智能手机的显示和传感能力。虽然智能纺织品的初步进展显示了它们对社会的巨大益处，但智能纺织品原型设计的困难限制了这个新兴但转型的设计领域的创新。这项研究将支持智能纺织品的创新，并通过综合纺织品和电路设计的工作流程，推进计算机辅助设计和制造的最新技术。开发原型工具将需要以下内容：(1)开发智能纺织品的计算表示；(2)开发和评估连接纺织品和电路设计的新技术，(3)研究从工具中出现的独特的表现力和参与形式。在此过程中，本研究将产生一套可推广的数据结构和用户界面技术，以支持广大受众设计和制造智能纺织品。此外，通过结合计算和工艺，本研究将产生新的表达形式和参与形式的见解，这对于进一步的泛在计算研究是必要的，该研究旨在将技术整合到日常生活中丰富的物质景观中。虽然许多人将从探索智能纺织品在生活和工作中的适用性中受益，但先前的研究表明，这项研究将使实践成为可能，可能会与科学和工程领域代表性不足的群体产生共鸣。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project works towards rapid prototyping smart textiles by generating the core insights necessary to support broader participation in this unique domain. This research will generate these insights through the design, development, and systematic evaluation of a tool for designing smart textiles. Smart textiles combine age-old processes of knitting and weaving with advances in fiber-based smart materials to create soft and flexible circuits for a wide range of applications. To date, smart textiles have been designed to do things like harvest energy from body movement or integrate the display and sensing capacities of a smartphone on the sleeve of one's shirt. While initial advances in smart textiles reveal their potential to significantly benefit society, the difficulty of prototyping smart textiles is limiting innovation in this nascent but transformational design space.This research will support innovation in smart textiles and advance the state of the art in computer-aided design and fabrication by synthesizing the workflows of textile and circuit design. Developing the prototyping tool will require the following: (1) developing computational representations of smart textiles; (2) developing and evaluating novel techniques for bridging textile and circuit design, and (3) studying the unique forms of expressivity and engagement that emerge from the tool. In the process, this research will produce a set of generalizable data structures and user interface techniques to support broad audiences in designing and fabricating smart textiles. Additionally, the insights this research will produce on new forms of expression and engagement that emerge from combining computation and craft are necessary to further ubiquitous computing research, which seeks to integrate technology into the rich material landscapes that characterize everyday life. While many will benefit from exploring the applicability of smart textiles in their lives and work, prior research suggests that the practices this research will make possible are likely to resonate with under-represented groups in science and engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.