Researchers at MIT and the University of Uppsala and the Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) have created an intelligent tissue called OmniFiber (or OmniFiber), which senses the user’s movements and has various forms of responses, such as pressure, lateral flare or vibration.
Omnifiber tissue has a hollow channel in the center, which can be filled with compressed air or some liquid, and allows the tissue to behave like an artificial muscle, with movements that can be programmed.
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Thus, this smart tissue could be used for athletes or artists who need to better control their breathing, as well as patients recovering from surgery, to get their breathing rhythm right, among many other uses, say the MIT researchers.
Swedish researchers and the WITH they say the smart fabric OmniFiber is controlled by the wearable Flow I/O platform, which adjusts the pressure and flow of compressed air inside the fiber according to the user’s movements. Get a better understanding of how this process works in the video below.
Tests with an opera singer
One of those responsible for this “robotic” fabric is Ozgun Kilic Afsar of MIT, who told the MIT News that her mother is an opera singer, a soprano, which was one of the inspirations for the project. Afsar worked on this project with another opera singer, Kelsey Cotton, who wore an outfit made of this clever fabric as she sang, with her breathing movements being captured by sensors.
With this information, the clothes made with the intelligent fabric can reproduce the movements when used by another person, who thus will have a much more effective training. The same goes for recovering patients, who will have the assistance and example to breathe properly. In addition, the fabric can even put the person’s spine in the right position.
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Omnifiber is very thin and flexible
The fibers of the smart fabric created by WITH they are very thin, 1.8 mm, and also flexible enough to be used in clothing, and the material can even be sewn on industrial machines.
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