Smart fabrics make clever (medical) clothing

25 Nov '08

5 min read

Context's ambitious programme tackled pioneering and very complex issues in smart-fabric research, which resulted in a useful, unobtrusive and reliable RSI vest that can warn wearers to take a recuperative break.

Baby onboard
More importantly, perhaps, the work was finished on time and under budget, so Context has scope to explore other potential applications enabled by the system. The team is eager to extend this work. “We also have some ideas for improving bio-feedback for the prevention of RSI problems, and we will pursue them as well,” notes Feddes.

But other applications may prove even more compelling in the short term. For example, the team is looking at a pregnancy belt to monitor a baby's heart rate. “In the short term, this would be more of a lifestyle application, rather than a medical one, but that work could lead to a belt that helps monitor difficult pregnancies,” Feddes believes.

In the meantime, parents could enjoy the peace of mind monitoring their child's heartbeat, perhaps with a heart-shaped light keeping the rhythm. But reliability will be paramount, suggests Feddes, as false warnings could be nerve wrecking for parents.

Muscle stress during sports training is another potential application, and one consortium partner will pursue a swing-monitor for hockey players.

“Hockey coaches find it difficult to give feedback to their players, so they would be very interested in clothing that details the path of their stroke. The shirt would track the order in which muscles engaged during the swing. It is an application that could apply to golf, too,” Feddes explains.

One of the most interesting and intensively investigated applications is a physical game controller. Controlling a computer game by wearing a garment that continuously probes your muscle activity is attractive, not only because of the fun-factor but also because it promotes exercise by children.

The garment again requires the expertise of all partners to develop the sensors, and integrate them into the textiles, and to measure and interpret muscle activity.

“It is an interesting area with many potential applications and the project partners were very engaged so we got a lot of work done. We would like to pursue other areas together in a future project, if possible, and we will be discussing potential research areas over the coming months.”

The Context project is receiving funding from the Sixth Framework Programme for Information Society Technologies.

Context Project

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