Muscles made of the fabric will allow creating an exoskeleton. In the long term, such a fabric can be embedded in clothing for additional reinforcement when lifting heavy objects, etc.
«When we talk about an exoskeleton, we see an almost robotic figure with clumsy mechanical parts. But long underwear with textile muscles woven from our fabric may be enough to provide additional strength, for example when lifting heavy objects», — says Edwin Jäger, professor at Linköping University.
In 2017, his research team, together with researchers from Boros University, showed how a conventional thread coated with conductive plastic (PEDOT and polypyrrole) can stretch and shrink under the influence of an electric current. This news received considerable resonance. But a single thread does not have high strength. So the researchers made a fabric. The strength is much higher, but the dynamics of the fabric’s movement is much more complicated than it might seem.
In a recently completed Horizon 2020 project, research teams from LiU and Boros University, together with the University of Twente in the Netherlands, the University of Paris CY Cergy in France, and Elitac Wearables and Wearable Technologies, have developed a sleeve with fabric muscles that can provide tactile feedback.
«In the project, we focused on tactile sensations because textile muscles are currently too weak and slow to function like real muscles,» says Karin Baquet, a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Textile Technology at Borås University.
The researchers were able to show how the sleeve can be used to communicate at a distance. Each user wears a sleeve connected to their own computer. When one person stroked their own sleeve, the other could feel the touch in theirs.
Built-in sensors detect the pressure of stroking. These signals are transmitted to the receiver sleeve, where the fabric is compressed by textile muscles. This creates pressure on the skin, which is perceived as a touch. But this technology is not only useful for couples seeking intimacy from a distance.
«For visually impaired people, it is the ability to receive information about the environment through their clothing to make it easier to navigate, for example, in urban environments,», — says Jager.
He believes that it can also be used in the gaming industry as a complement to VR, which enhances the gaming experience. For example, you can feel the pressure on your body when you are shot in a game.
«This is where the big money is now. Maybe this is the direction you should go in order to commercialize the product first. After that, you can invest in other more interesting programs that will benefit society»,” says Yager.
The next step in the research is to increase the weight that each textile muscle can lift. The long-term goal is to produce garments that have integrated textile muscles. This will provide a soft exoskeleton that will not be visible from the outside.
«In elderly care, this would be a great choice for both the staff and the elderly themselves. But it can also be relevant for construction workers and others who have a lot of hard physical work».
The Horizon 2020 project called Weafing has already been completed, but the research and collaboration between LiU and Borås University continues thanks to a SEK 6 million grant from the Erling Persson Foundation, which has supported the research since 2017. Nils-Christian Persson, a senior lecturer at Borås University, believes that they have only seen the surface of the technology’s potential:
«We have muscle fibers in our bodies, and who better to be an expert in fibers than the world of textiles? In many ways, we can be inspired by nature and realize it in textiles. After scientific successes, we look forward to developing an innovation that can benefit people».
According to Edwin Jaeger, development is progressing rapidly. The first active soft exoskeleton may appear in the near future.
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