Fiber is one of the basic elements in building the world and one of the most important inventions of mankind. According to Chinese archaeological discoveries, humans began to use fiber materials more than 5,000 years ago. They were woven into textiles to protect humans, keep them warm and resist the cold. In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology and artificial intelligence, fiber materials have developed a series of new functions such as power generation, energy storage, luminescence, color change, deformation, and sensing.
Compared with bulk and thin film devices, fibrous electronic devices can adhere tightly to irregular substrates, adapt to twisting and stretching, etc. It has complex deformation and unique properties such as breathability and moisture conduction. These advantages make fiber electronic devices have a wide range of applications in power systems, information technology, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big health, space exploration and other fields.
A new fiber developed by MIT and Swedish researchers could be made into clothing that senses when it is stretched or compressed degree and then provide immediate tactile feedback in the form of pressure, lateral stretch or vibration. The team suggests that such fabrics could be used in clothing to help train singers or athletes to better control their breathing , or to help patients recovering from illness or surgery to restore breathing patterns.
Multilayer fibers contain a fluidic channel in the center that can be activated by a fluidic system. The system controls the geometry of the fibers by pressurizing and releasing a fluid medium, such as compressed air or water, into the channels, allowing the fibers to act as artificial muscles. The fibers also contain stretchable sensors that detect and measure how much the fibers stretch. The resulting composite fibers are thin and flexible enough to be sewn, woven or knitted using standard commercial machines.
The fibers, called OmniFibers, will be unveiled this week at the Association for Computing Machinery Users Presented at the Online Conference on Interface Software and Technology.
The new fiber optic architecture has many key features. Their extremely narrow dimensions and use of inexpensive materials make it relatively easy to construct the fibers into various fabric forms. It is also compatible with human skin as its outer layer is based on a material similar to regular polyester. Furthermore, its fast response time and the intensity and variety of forces it can deliver allow for fast feedback systems using haptics (touch-based) for training or remote communication.
Afsar said the disadvantage of most existing artificial muscle fibers is that they are either heat-activated, which can cause overheating when in contact with human skin , either they have low power efficiency or the training process is heavy. These systems often have slow response and recovery times, limiting their immediate usability in applications that require fast feedback, she said.
As an initial test application of the material, the team created underwear that singers can wear to Monitor and playback the movement of respiratory muscles and then provide kinesthetic feedback through the same garment to encourage optimal posture and breathing patterns for desired vocal performance. “Singing is especially close to home because my mom is an opera singer. She’s a soprano,” she said. Afsar worked closely with classically trained opera singer Kelsey Cotton in the design and creation of the dress.
“I really wanted to capture this expertise in a tangible form,” Afsar said. The researchers had the singer perform while wearing a garment made from their robotic fibers and recorded motion data from strain sensors woven into the garment. They then convert the sensor data into corresponding tactile feedback. “We were finally able to implement our…��The desired sensing and actuation modes record and replay the complex movements we can capture from the physiology of a professional singer and translate them into the body of a non-singer, a novice learner. So we’re not just taking this knowledge from the experts, but we’re also able to pass it on to people who are just learning,” she said.
While this preliminary testing was conducted in the context of vocal education, the same approach could be used to help athletes learn how to best control their breathing in a given situation, based on monitoring the performance of various activities and stimulating muscle groups. AthletesAfsar says these are working. Eventually, the hope is that the garments could also be used to help patients regain healthy breathing after major surgery or respiratory illnesses like Covid-19 model, and even as an alternative treatment for sleep apnea (Afsar suffered from the disorder as a child, she said).
The system can also be used to train other types of muscle movements besides breathing.For example, “Many of our artists learn amazing calligraphy, but I wanted to feel the dynamics of the brushstrokes,” which could be accomplished with sleeves and gloves made from this closed-loop feedback material. He It is suggested that Olympic athletes can improve their skills by wearing clothing that mimics the movements of top athletes, whether weightlifters or skiers.
This soft, yarn-like fiber composite has five layers: an innermost fluid channel, a silicone-based elastic tube that contains the working fluid, and a soft, stretchable tube that detects changes in strain into electrical resistance. Sensors, a stretchable outer web of woven polymers that control the outer dimensions of the fibers, and non-stretchable filaments that provide mechanical constraints on overall extensibility.
“Fiber-level engineering and fabric-level design were well combined in this research,” Carnegie Mellon University Human-Computer Ning Li, an assistant professor of interaction, said he had no connection to the study. The work demonstrates “different machine knitting techniques, including inlays and actively spaced fabrics, advancing the state-of-the-art in embedding driven fibers into textiles,” she said. “When we talk about the interaction of wearable devices with actuation fabrics, integrated strain sensing and feedback are essential.”
Afsar Plan Work continues on making the entire system, including its control electronics and compressed air supply, more miniaturized to make it as unobtrusive as possible, and on developing manufacturing systems to be able to produce longer filaments. Over the next few months, she plans to begin experimenting with using the system to transfer skills from experts to novice singers, and then explore different types of movement exercises, including choreography and dancers’ movements.
It is worth mentioning that clothing made from this fiber is highly responsive and can withstand a variety of forces The strength forms a fast feedback system that could, in the future, also be used for training or using haptic-based remote communications.
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