E-textiles

Researchers develop a comfortable, form-fitting fabric that recognizes its wearer's activities, like walking, running, and jumping.

Researchers have proposed a facile approach to develop elastic and conductive Janus membranes with excellent adhesion for advanced flexible multifunctional electronics.

A Finnish research group has developed a novel wearable for infants for the reliable assessment of motor abilities during early development. The smart jumpsuit is a wearable medical device equipped with multiple movement sensors, which assist in assessing and predicting children's neurological development.

The skin of cephalopods, such as octopuses, squids and cuttlefish, is stretchy and smart, contributing to these creatures' ability to sense and respond to their surroundings. A Penn State-led collaboration has harnessed these properties to create an artificial skin that mimics both the elasticity and the neurologic functions of cephalopod skin, with potential applications for neurorobotics, skin prosthetics, artificial organs and more.  

Scientists have developed a stretchable and waterproof 'fabric' that turns energy generated from body movements into electrical energy.

Imagine this: A smooth touchscreen display placed on top of a thin silicone polymer film suddenly generates the feeling of a tiny raised button under the user's finger. Or how about the idea of wearing that same polymer film like a second skin? If used to line an industrial glove, the film can provide valuable feedback by gesture recognition and by sending tactile signals, such as pulses or vibrations, to the wearer.

Borrowing a technique from inkjet printers, researchers have rolled out a pixel-by-pixel method to program and manufacture soft structures for use in robotics, biomedical devices or architectural features.

In the quest to build smart skin that mimics the sensing capabilities of natural skin, ionic skins have shown significant advantages. They're made of flexible, biocompatible hydrogels that use ions to carry an electrical charge. In contrast to smart skins made of plastics and metals, the hydrogels have the softness of natural skin. This offers a more natural feel to the prosthetic arm or robot hand they are mounted on, and makes them comfortable to wear.

Researchers have taken a major step forward in the development of sensitive electronic skin with integrated artificial hairs. E-skins are flexible electronic systems that try to mimic the sensitivity of their natural human skin counterparts. Applications range from skin replacement and medical sensors on the body to artificial skin for humanoid robots and androids.