Communications of the ACM
Researchers Turn Clothes Into Electronic Displays
A recent advance in wearable devices could lead to wearable displays in clothing that provide feedback to users.
Credit: Holst Center
Researchers from the Holst Center in Holland, imec in Belgium, and the CMST lab at Ghent University say they have achieved an advance in wearable devices that could lead to wearable displays in clothing that provide users with feedback.
The team has demonstrated the world's first stretchable and comfortable thin-film transistor-driven light-emitting diode display laminated into textiles.
Wearable devices such as healthcare monitors and activity trackers already are commonplace, and the team's work could help make wearable devices less obtrusive and more comfortable. The researchers say the technology should encourage more people to use wearable devices regularly, which would increase the quality of their data.
"By combining imec's patented stretch technology with our expertise in active-matrix backplanes and integrating electronics into fabrics, we've taken a giant step towards that possibility," says the Holst Center's Edsger Smits.
The team reports the display is very thin and mechanically stretchable. Moreover, the researchers say they used fabrication steps that are known to the manufacturing industry.
From The Engineer (United Kingdom)
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