Embedding textile capacitive sensing into smart wearables as a versatile solution for human motion capturing.

This work presents a novel and versatile approach to employ textile capacitive sensing as an effective solution for capturing human body movement through fashionable and everyday-life garments. Conductive textile patches are utilized for sensing the movement, working without the need for strain or direct body contact, wherefore the patches can sense only from their deformation within the garment. This principle allows the sensing area to be decoupled from the wearer's body for improved wearing comfort and more pleasant integration. We demonstrate our technology based on multiple prototypes which have been developed by an interdisciplinary team of electrical engineers, computer scientists, digital artists, and smart fashion designers through several iterations to seamlessly incorporate the technology of capacitive sensing with corresponding design considerations into textile materials. The resulting accumulation of textile capacitive sensing wearables showcases the versatile application possibilities of our technology from single-joint angle measurements towards multi-joint body part tracking.

BeMobil: Developing a user-friendly and motivating telerehabilitation system for motor relearning after stroke.

Motor relearning after stroke is a lengthy process which should be continued after patients get discharged from the clinic. This project aims at developing a system for telerehabilitation which enables stroke patients to exercise at home autonomously or under supervision of a therapist. The system includes haptic therapy devices which are more promising and beneficial for stroke rehabilitation than non-haptic approaches. In this paper, we present the results of two initial studies investigating specific design solutions for the patient's user interface. In the first study, we developed four interactive prototypes illustrating different navigation concepts. A usability test was conducted to identify the best suitable concept. In the second study we followed a participatory design approach to create a set of design solutions for a motivating instant visual feedback for exercising with the haptic devices. The current project status and next steps are described.