Fabric Hears Your Heartbeat

 Quite interesting idea, As a former employee of a detergent company we looked at how smart clothing could be cleaned.

Fabric that Can 'Hear' Your Heartbeat Developed by MIT Scientists

By Study Finds, June 21, 2022

Fabric that can "hear" one's heartbeat via high-tech fibers has been developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The tech could also be used on clothes worn by pregnant women to help them pick up their baby's heartbeat.

This potentially revolutionary tech could give rise to wearable hearing aids and clothes that can speak to each other. It works by first converting sounds into mechanical vibrations before they are converted again into electrical signals, similar to how the ear works. All fabrics vibrate in response to sounds, although these responses are normally far too small to be audible.

Researchers stitched a single fiber to a shirt's inner lining, just over the chest region, and found it accurately detected the heartbeat of a healthy volunteer, along with subtle variations in the heart's "lub-dub" features. They say the possibilities for the new technology are endless.

From Study Finds

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Future of Smart Fabrics

Also a space we examined.  Especially about how these fabrics could be maintained.   Good to see some thoughts about how this is evolving.

3 Questions: The rapidly unfolding future of smart fabrics
Soon, your clothes may be able to monitor your vital signs, analyze the results, and warn you of health risks.

By David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
May 8, 2020

In an opinion piece published in the journal Matter, members of the Fibers@MIT research group recently laid out a detailed vision for how the rapidly growing field of  advanced fibers and fabrics could transform many aspects of our lives. For example, “smart clothing” might continuously monitor temperature, heart rate, and other vital signs, then analyze the data and give warnings of potential health conditions. Headed by Professor Yoel Fink, the group is developing fibers and fabrics with advanced computational properties. MIT News asked PhD student Gabriel Loke, who was the article’s lead author, along with Fink and six others, to elaborate on the team’s outlook.  ... " 

Graphene Feeling Sensor

Another example of connecting a new kind of sensor to gather new data, which can then be connected to machine learning methods.    The value of a sensor is then if it can produce data that is useful for training.

Graphene-Based Sensor Learns to Feel Like a Human 
Chemistry World  By Hannah Kerr

Researchers at Hanyang University in South Korea have integrated an electric sensor with a machine learning program, creating a device that can differentiate between surface textures, with potential applications in virtual reality, robotics, and medical prosthetics. The sensor is fabricated from a graphene-flake film deposited onto a polyethylene naphthalate substrate. The device registers changes in electrical conductance and resistance via the film when strain causes deformation, boosting the physical contact between individual flakes in the film. The machine-learning program applies the sensor's conductance and resistance data to define specific features connected with different surface texture types. The researchers have applied the graphene film to an artificial fingerprint structure so it reacts to tiny vibrations caused by the ridges on the fingerprint rubbing against a textured surface; the sensor analyzes these signals to identify the "feel" of differently textured fabrics. In a blind test of 50 people, the sensor outperformed humans in classifying 12 new fabrics. ... "

How to Store Information in Your Clothes

Quite remarkable idea, ready to test this out before buying more storage devices.

How to Store Information in Your Clothes Invisibly, Without Electronics
By University of Washington 

A new type of smart fabric developed at the University of Washington could pave the way for jackets that store invisible passcodes and open the door to your apartment or office.

The UW computer scientists have created fabrics and fashion accessories that can store data — from security codes to identification tags — without needing any on-board electronics or sensors.

As described in "Data Storage and Interaction Using Magnetized Fabric," presented at UIST 2017, the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, the researchers leveraged previously unexplored magnetic properties of off-the-shelf conductive thread. The data can be read using an instrument embedded in existing smartphones to enable navigation apps.

"This is a completely electronic-free design, which means you can iron the smart fabric or put it in the washer and dryer," says senior author Shyam Gollakota, associate professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. "You can think of the fabric as a hard disk — you're actually doing this data storage on the clothes you're wearing."     ..... "