Professors

Prof. Bernd Brügge
Bernd Brügge,

Technische Universität München

Albrecht Schmidt,

University Stuttgart

Prof. Björn Eskofier
Björn Eskofier,

Friedrich Alexander Universität, Erlangen

Prof. Daniel Siewiorek
Daniel Siewiorek,

Carneggie Mellon University, USA

Description

Smart Clothing, Smart Textiles, or eTextiles are garments that integrate digital components such as sensors and actuators. They are currently being used in a number of fields: sports, rehabilitation, caretaking, firefighting, etc. Some example applications of eTextiles are:

Constant monitoring of patients vital signs in order to predict anomalies: MyHeart Project (ETH Zürich).
A collar for bicyclists that is equipped with accelerometers and gyroscopes. When it detects a bicyclist is about to fall, the collar quickly inflates into a helmet: (The Hovding Helmet).
Measuring athlete's burned calories using GPS, accelerometers and heart rate monitors to compute distances, speeds and user's vital signs. (For example the Nike+ products).

The goal of the course is to explore the potential of e-Textiles in different application domains. We will do this in a project-based way enhanced by guest lectures. The lectures will deal with topics such as wearable computing, e-Textiles, and their relationship to Smart Spaces and the Internet of Things (IoT). The project will be decided at the beginning of the course. Hardware platforms will be iOS and Android. The eTextiles will be based on the Arduino technology, in particular, the Lilypad. Additionally we will have the .Net Gadgeteer available that can be used as sensor/actuator platform and hardware platform for eTextiles. Experience with these platforms is helpful but not required. The course language is English.

Additional Information

The adidas_1 intelligent shoe with an embedded system. See: B.M. Eskofier, M. Oleson, C. DiBenedetto, J. Hornegger. Embedded surface classification in digital sports. Pattern Recognition Letters 30(16), 1448-1456, 2009.

Ski googles with integrated HUD running Android OS. See: http://www.reconinstruments.com/

Gadgeteer based Wearable Prototype. See: http://blog.hcilab.org/gadgeteer/

The My Coach Elite System. See: http://www.adidas.com/us/micoach/

Lilypad toolkit. Source: Leah Buechley, "Questioning Invisibility," Computer, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 84-86, April 2010, doi:10.1109/MC.2010.114

eWatch: A wristband that senses acceleration, light, sound and temperature. See: Smailagic, A., Siewiorek, D. P., Maurer, U., Rowe, A., Tank, K., eWatch: Context Sensitive System Design Case Study, Proc. IEEE Symposium on VLSI, 98-103

ETH Sensorbutton built in 2005, autonomous context recogni- tion system comprising acceler- ometers, compass, microphone and light sensor, MSP430 micro- controller, 2.45GHz transceiver, running recognition classifier on-line, powered by solar cells

In 2000, Georgia Tech created a wearable infrared camera sys- tem that could track the user’s gestures.This Gesture Pendant was designed to control home electronics and to monitor the user for tremors.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microinte- gration IZM is focusing on technologies that will pro- vide electronically enhanced garments with a perceived textile character rather
than hardware character. Therefore they miniaturize electronics and develop integration technologies that will allow textile typi- cal treatment. The pictures
show a flexible electronic module connected with conductive yarn by embroidery and later encapsulated with a transfer molding process. Currently, washing tests and other reliability tests for textile integrated electronics are being developed at the institute to win over manufactures to produce textile electronics.

The eSleeve was as part of the gadget show at the fourth ISWC in Atlanta.
It is a novel arm mounted design, using speech recogniton, GPS and a compass, to guide the user to the nearest pub with its ‘PubCrawl’ application. It featured both graphic and text interfaces on an OnHand- PC wrist computer. At the end of a series of tests, it could also guide the user home. The eSleeve was developed by Cliff Randell of the University of Bristol. It made headlines in many newspapers and television shows around the world.

You can also read the paper on Virtual Coaches and check other Virtual Coaches projects here.

If you have any questions, contact Juan Haladjian.