Smart textiles respond to human emotions
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BEYOND THE LAB
Smart textiles respond to human emotions By Tal Fox
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owadays, as wearable technology becomes an ever-growing phenomenon, you can monitor your daily activity with a flick of the wrist. Felecia Davis, associate professor at the Stuckeman Center for Design and Computation at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), wants to take this a step further as she explores how our day-to-day interactions with textiles can be used to alter our relationship with our surroundings. “I’m trained as an architect and I like to look at how we might use textiles that have electronic sensors embedded into them that [can be programmed] to have different responses to their environment so they can communicate different responses,” says Davis. Communication, which takes form through all five senses, plays a significant role in our daily lives and how we
respond to our environment. However, for some individuals, a struggle with communication, whether that includes being able to convey their emotions or even being able to distinguish them, can prove to be problematic. In 2012, Davis collaborated with a research team at Microsoft Research to create a prototype wall panel of fabric, referred to as a Textile Mirror, which helps break down barriers for people who need to learn how to identify and express their emotions. The idea was inspired by J.G. Ballard’s short story, “The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista,” which tells the tale of a house that could read its inhabitants’ emotions and reflect them through its appearance. Davis scaled back this idea by creating a panel that uses sensors for the same purpose.
(Left) The Textile Mirror is a prototype wall panel that changes shape in response to people’s emotions. © 2020 Microsoft Research. (Right) A sample using resistive yarns that can be used as a sensor. © Felecia Davis.
She was also influenced by her advisor, Leah Buechley at the High-Low Tech Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory. The unique features in the laboratory include a pink wall with flowers connected by vines and painted with conductive paint as well as another wall holding wearable sensors. “That was one of my most exciting moments during my PhD just to see her lab and hearing how one could learn about computer science in a way that was totally aesthetically pleasurable and engaged all the different senses,” Davis says. The design studio where Davis works today, SOFTLAB, combines fabrics with electronics and sensors, sending signals to the textile to respond. The Textile Mirror prototype is a mediator that communicates emotion back to the individual. Imagine coming home after witnessing a rather upsetting event, and as you walk through the front door, the wall crumples up into a tight pattern reflecting your distress, anger, or anxiety. “We made a textile that crumpled up and we called it its ‘angry state,’ and when it smoothed out we called it its ‘calm state,’” Davis says. “Some people don’t really know when they’re upset, depressed, or angry. Maybe we can put sensor
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