Smart Garment: A long-term feasible, whole-body textile pressure sensing system

Tactile sensation is important for human beings that equips the whole body surface. To understand what kind of force distribution our bodies might sense, we created a set of pressure sensing garment consisting of a sweater and trousers, that provides 1952 sensing points and covers 80 percent of the body surface evenly. As our skin works days and nights, an ideal pressure acquisition system for such purpose shall also feature both high temporal coverage and population coverage, casting simultaneous demands on wearability, durability, and affordability. Special cares were thus given to all design procedures, from material selection, sensor structure, and electronic driving architecture to garment design. The capability of this smart garment in obtaining rich information about both the wearer and the environment is then demonstrated, including and not limited to the recognition of postures, self-contacts, object contacts, and interactions.