Swedish researchers are working on a new-fangled discipline wherein technology can be built into clothes that give an extra boost during heavy lifting, give hugs at a distance and help the visually impaired navigate the urban environment.
- The research field is ‘textile muscles’, which originated at Linköping University and the University of Borås.
- In 2017, researchers led by Edwin Jager, professor at Linköping University, together with researchers at the University of Borås, showed how an ordinary thread with a coating of conductive plastics (PEDOT and polypyrrole) can be stretched and shrunk when subjected to an electrical current.
- The news received considerable attention at the time.
THE SCIENCE: A single thread does not have high tenacity. Therefore, the researchers parallel connect several threads and weave them together into one fabric. The tenacity is then much higher. However, the dynamics of a moving fabric are far more complex than you might first think.
ONGOING DEVELOPMENTS: In a recently completed Horizon 2020 project, the research groups at LiU and the University of Borås, together with the University of Twente in the Netherlands, CY Cergy Paris University in France, and the companies Elitac Wearables and Wearable Technologies, have developed a sleeve with woven textile muscles that can provide haptic feedback.
- They focused on haptics in the project because the textile muscles are currently a bit too weak and slow to function like actual muscles.
- The researchers were able to show how the sleeve can be used for social touching at a distance. The users each wear a sleeve that is connected to its own computer. When one person stroked their own sleeve, the other felt the stroke through their sleeve.
- What happens is that integrated sensors feel the pressure of the person doing the stroking. These signals are passed on to the receiver's sleeve, where the textile contracts due to the textile muscles. This creates pressure on the skin that is perceived as a touch. But the technology is not only useful for couples longing for proximity in a distance relationship.
- For the visually impaired, it could be an option to get information about surroundings through their clothes to facilitate navigation in, for example, urban environments.
- It could also be used in the gaming industry as a complement to VR that enhances the experience of a game. For example, you could feel pressure on your body when you get shot in a game.
- The Horizon 2020 project, called Weafing, has now been completed, but research and collaboration between LiU and the University of Borås continues thanks to a grant of SEK 6 million from the Erling Persson Foundation, which has supported the research since 2017.
GOING AHEAD: The next step for the research is to increase the weight that each textile muscle can lift. In the long term, the vision is to make entire items of clothing where textile muscles are integrated. These would provide a soft exoskeleton that is not visible on the outside.
- In the care of older persons, it would be an excellent option both for the staff, who could then avoid repetitive strain injuries from heavy lifting, and for the older persons who can get a boost when they get up. But it could also be relevant for construction workers and others who have a lot of heavy lifting in their jobs.
WHAT THEY SAID:
The fact is that we have muscle fibres in our body, and who are experts on fibres if not the textile world? There is much we can be inspired by from nature and realise in textile. After the scientific successes, we look forward to developing an innovation that can benefit people. I’m very pleased because in 2017 we had a small yarn thread that moved and only worked in liquid, and now we have a fully functional prototype sleeve. I think it’s fantastic that we’ve managed to come all this way in only seven years.
— Edwin Jager
Professor
Linköping University
We are in contact with textiles 99 per cent of our lives—the clothes you wear, the sheets you sleep in and the car you drive. There’s also a huge potential to weave smart textiles that can be helpful in everyday life for many people.
— Carin Backe
PhD student, Department of Textile Technology
University of Borås
