According to a recent Medgadget article, researchers at the SUTD have developed a flexible knee wearable that integrates circuitry into its knitted structure. The wearable tracks joint movement in real time, helping clinicians detect early signs of movement disorders or monitoring the progress of patients undergoing physical therapy to improve their movement. The device is designed to be comfortable, functioning as a single knitted garment with sensors and other components forming flexible circuits within the fabric.
Previous iterations of movement-tracking wearables have been bulky and uncomfortable. To address this, the team used conductive fabrics to integrate electrical systems into a knitted fabric wearable specifically for tracking knee joint movements. They combined highly elastic dielectric yarn with electrically conductive yarn in different stitching patterns, resulting in an integrated fabric wearable that is both comfortable to wear for extended periods and capable of providing accurate readings. A video with more information can be seen here.
