Clothing with muscle memory
A new type of fiber developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology determines how much it stretches or contracts, and then gives immediate tactile feedback in the form of pressure, lateral stretching or vibration. Clothing made of fabric with such fibers will help patients recovering from illness or surgery, as well as singers or athletes to control their breathing.
Multilayer fibers essentially act like muscles: they determine the direction of the force acting on them and respond by creating pressure with compressed air or water in a channel running in the center of the fiber. The fibers also contain flexible sensors that can detect and measure the extent of their stretching.
The fibers are thin and flexible enough that they can be sewn, woven and knitted on standard typewriters. They are also compatible with human skin, as the outer layer is similar in texture to polyester. The fibers, called OmniFibers, are created from inexpensive material. In addition, fast feedback, as well as the variety of forces they can transmit, provide optimal characteristics for training or remote communication using touch-based means.
The disadvantages of most existing artificial muscle fibers are that they either depend on temperature, which can cause overheating when in contact with human skin, or have low energy efficiency. These systems often exhibit slow response and recovery times, which limits their use in applications requiring fast feedback.
A soft fiber composite resembling a yarn thread consists of five layers: the deepest is a liquid channel, then a silicone–based elastomeric tube containing a working fluid, a soft stretchable sensor that detects deformation as a change in electrical resistance, a braided polymer stretchable outer mesh that controls the external dimensions of the fiber, and a non–stretchable thread, which provides a mechanical limitation of the total extensibility.
To test the material, the group created body clothes that the singers wore to monitor and reproduce the movements of the respiratory muscles, in order to later provide kinesthetic feedback through the same clothes and select the optimal body position and breathing for the desired vocal performance.
Clothing from OmniFibers will help train athletes to best control their breathing in certain situations, based on the observation of experienced athletes when they perform various activities. It is hoped that such clothing can also be used to restore healthy breathing in patients after major surgery or respiratory diseases, including Covid-19, or as an alternative treatment for sleep apnea.
The authors plan to continue their work and make the entire system, including electronic control and compressed air supply, even more compact and inconspicuous, as well as develop a production system that allows longer threads to be produced.
Article by O.K.Afsar et al. OmniFiber: Integrated Fluidic Fiber Actuators for Weaving Movement based Interactions into the ‘Fabric of Everyday Life' presented at UIST '21: The 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on MIT materials: New fibers can make breath-regulating garments