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Scientists from the Universities of Bristol and Bath have teamed up to advance new wearable technology, called SeamSleeve, that can capture and record body movements.
The research team conducted an experimental study to develop smart everyday clothing, by blending conductive threads into the layers of clothing to produce electrical circuits whose resistance changes with the wearer's movements.
The ultimate goal was to design an improved version of digital clothing that accurately senses and records body movements.
This can apply to various applications, such as healthcare, rehabilitation, consumer electronics and sports science, with the aim of improving health outcomes and user experiences. Providing precise movement data can also enable physical activities to be monitored and analyzed more efficiently, potentially improving the wearer's health and fitness goals.
“It lays the foundations for e-textile designers and apparel manufacturers to create cutting-edge apparel that can enhance exercise, physical therapy and rehabilitation,” the statement noted.
Professor Mike Fraser, from the University of Bristol's School of Computer Science, said: "The team is excited about the opportunity for clothing makers to implement our designs into sleeves and other clothing layers." He added: "We showed that the interwoven threads common in clothing can do a good job of sensing motion. The design avoids the need for a separate power source by drawing power wirelessly from a mobile phone in the pocket."
When low voltages pass through these threads, their resistance changes with the wearer's movements, allowing the clothing to detect and record subtle changes in position and movement, then transmit the data to the user's phone.
Artificial intelligence programs help analyze data on phones, which interprets certain gestures or postures, allowing monitoring of exercises, physical therapy and rehabilitation.
The research team noted that the clothing can capture a wide range of body movements while retaining the design advantages of traditional clothing.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the Interactive Systems Design Conference 2024 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Source: interestingengineering
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