About this Research Topic
Soft robotics holds a great potential for the development of wearable technologies and medical applications due to their compliance, conformability, safety, and adaptability. They have been widely implemented in human health monitoring, assistive exoskeletons, biomedical devices, and haptic interfaces. While researchers have proposed numerous innovations in soft robotic actuation and sensing techniques, it remains a challenge to integrate soft robotic technologies into our daily textiles as most conventional approaches mainly focus on “attaching” active components on the passive textiles. Recent developments in smart textiles shed light on a more seamless way to construct soft robotic garments that can actively induce actuation or provide sensing signals.
As a fundamental building block of garments, textiles offer comfort, soft hand-feel, breathability, and are lightweight. Textiles are widely used in soft robotics as substrates to hold active sensing and actuation components. In addition, they can be used as reinforcements for soft-bodied structures, as well as strain-limiting components to modify the stretchability of the composites. Emerging technologies accounting for the fabrication techniques of textiles, such as weaving, knitting, braiding, and crocheting, allow actuators and sensors to be seamlessly integrated into garments, providing a large design space that may endow them with programmable properties. The use of textiles for soft robotics greatly enhances the wearability and engineering functionality of the device.
This Research Topic aims to highlight recent advances in utilizing textiles for the design of fluid-driven soft actuators and sensors, in various applications including assistive devices, haptic garments, and human-computer interactions.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Fluid-driven soft actuators and sensors using textiles as one of the construction materials
- Design, modeling, and control of textile-based fluid-driven soft robotics
- Novel fabrication techniques for smart textiles, include but not limited to textiles knitted or woven with functional fibers
- Design and fabrication of smart fibers for fluid-driven soft robotics
- Novel integration of fluid-driven soft robotic components such as McKibben muscles in textiles
- Design guidelines for using smart textiles to construct fluid-driven soft robots
- User evaluations of textile-based fluid-driven soft wearables
As a fundamental building block of garments, textiles offer comfort, soft hand-feel, breathability, and are lightweight. Textiles are widely used in soft robotics as substrates to hold active sensing and actuation components. In addition, they can be used as reinforcements for soft-bodied structures, as well as strain-limiting components to modify the stretchability of the composites. Emerging technologies accounting for the fabrication techniques of textiles, such as weaving, knitting, braiding, and crocheting, allow actuators and sensors to be seamlessly integrated into garments, providing a large design space that may endow them with programmable properties. The use of textiles for soft robotics greatly enhances the wearability and engineering functionality of the device.
This Research Topic aims to highlight recent advances in utilizing textiles for the design of fluid-driven soft actuators and sensors, in various applications including assistive devices, haptic garments, and human-computer interactions.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Fluid-driven soft actuators and sensors using textiles as one of the construction materials
- Design, modeling, and control of textile-based fluid-driven soft robotics
- Novel fabrication techniques for smart textiles, include but not limited to textiles knitted or woven with functional fibers
- Design and fabrication of smart fibers for fluid-driven soft robotics
- Novel integration of fluid-driven soft robotic components such as McKibben muscles in textiles
- Design guidelines for using smart textiles to construct fluid-driven soft robots
- User evaluations of textile-based fluid-driven soft wearables
Keywords: Smart textiles, Wearable robotics, Soft wearable electronics
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