Applications of Soft Materials In Future Clothing
Nan Yu
Introduction
In recent years, human society has made a lot of breakthroughs in the field of soft robots. For example, industrial robotic arms created by SRT have been able to lift things like raw egg yolks. Such technological innovations will largely improve the daily lives of people with physical disabilities. The introduction of soft and flexible materials into fashion clothes can improve the lives of a large number of marginal groups, such as OLs or OGs, coal miners, and take-out couriers.
In 2011, Harvard scientists have broken new ground in robotics with the development of a ‘soft’, silicone-like robots. Modeled on creatures like squid and octopus, the robots create systems that can camouflage themselves or help them stand out in the environment. China also started such research in 2016. All the fields involved in China were applied in industrial production such as medical treatment and food sorting. In 2020, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital began rehabilitation treatment of soft Robot series products.
Programme of study
At present, in my first project, I intend to discover the application of Soft System in fashion design. Those garments will combine fashionable outlook and wearable interactive medical products, targeting the elderly and the disabled as the main consumer groups. This project aiming to bring an independent mobility in a lower cost for patients with muscle injuries and enhance empathy design for disabled elderly. For the project, I divided the population into three groups of people. The first group is those who have difficulty to stand, the second group is those who couldn’t walk, and the remaining group is those have back injuries. I conducted a detailed study to explore the muscle morphology and body tissue changes of various groups, as well as the matching degree between the plate of clothing and the disease group, and applied pressure devices to intelligently sense air pressure according to different groups. Finally, I designed a Soft Robot garment that provides comfort and graded pressure corresponding to the severity of muscle injury.
Soft Robot-inflatable device works as a part of the flexible exoskeleton. It benefits the elderly and vulnerable group in three aspects. First, it can strengthen the interaction between the body and clothing, which can relieve and assist in the treatment of limb muscle injury. Secondly, I design a network customized production system, so that people with physical injuries around the world can customize their own versions as needed. Finally, It will enhance the mental state of the patients, who sees it as a covering that brings protection, enhancement, and a good feeling. Besides those benefits, I established a sustainable recycling system for waste silicone clothing products to avoid material pollution.
1Evaluation
At present, smart clothes have the advantages of helping people with muscle injury recovery or improving their independent living and mobility. However, most smart clothing lacks the design of adaptability to human muscles, and does not fit with muscle shapes. Therefore, I am working on enhancing the stability and suitability of the inflatable structure of the silicone device according to the muscle structure of the human body, including experiments on the amount of gas inflation and combination of intelligent pneumatic device with fashion designs.
Silicone material has strong malleable and it is easy to obtain with low cost, however, the sustainable recycling systems of silicone are extremely rare in the clothing industry, which could lead to huge wastes. Therefore, a silica gel material recycling system is designed to reduce the material cost and which is also can be easily marketized. Based on this, I will explore and complete the application of flexible bespoke systems for the future personal fashion industry.
Research sources
SOFT ROBOTICS.Homepage.softroboticsinc.Retrieved August 3, 2019,from https://www.softroboticsinc.com
Harvard University.(2012, August 16).Harvard researchers demonstrate soft robot camouflage system [Video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC1WFU4G-WU&t=2s
SOFT ROBOTICS.news.softrobottech.Retrieved August 3, 2019, from
http://www.softrobottech.com
Bibliography
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Huang Wenkai, Xiao Junlong & Xu Zhipeng.(2020). A variable structure pneumatic soft robot. Scientific Reports(1).
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Al Mahmud Abdullah,Wickramarathne Tharushi Indeewari & Kuys Blair.(2020). Effects of smart garments on the well-being of athletes: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open(11).
Shi Qiushan, Pan Li, Yao Tong & Wang Jun.(2020). Research status and development trend of smart wearable devices for waist and back health. Progress of Textile Technology (12),1-5. Doi:10.19507/j.cnki.1673-0356.2020.12.001.
