Everyday clothing may soon be able to capture and record body movements. Harmless low voltages can be passed through conductive threads which are stitched into garment seams to create electrical circuits, with their resistance changing with the movement of the wearer's body, researchers have found.
- The research by the Universities of Bristol and Bath opens up new possibilities to make digital clothing which senses and captures movements much more accurately than is possible using current phones and smart watches.
THE SIGNIFICANCE: The researchers have shown that common overlocked seams in standard garment constructions can do a good job of sensing movement. The design avoids the need for a separate power source by pairing the seam with a charging coil, drawing the energy wirelessly from a mobile phone placed in the pocket.
- This means advanced motion sensing garments could be made without altering existing manufacturing processes.
- They have also shown that smartphone apps using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can use this movement data to match body movement to specific postures or gestures such as physiotherapeutic exercises.
THE SLEEVE: The researchers introduced a new method for creating interactive clothing called SeamSleeve, which utilises seams as sensing channels.
- They conducted two user evaluations to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.
- The first study involved 10 participants, and the researchers systematically evaluated the optimal design and placement of seams. In the second study with 14 participants, they showed that SeamSleeve could accurately classify eight arm exercises with an average accuracy of 84%.
- The approach offers the creation of low-power interactive clothing while preserving the pervasive processes and systems used for manufacturing of everyday garments.
THE RESEARCH: The findings, presented in a paper at the Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) conference in Copenhagen 3 July, lays the foundations for e-textile designers and clothing manufacturers to create cutting edge garments that could enhance exercise, physiotherapy and rehabilitation.
- The authors of the paper are Olivia Ruston, Adwait Sharma and Mike Fraser.
