Researchers at MIT have developed a programmable fiber that packs digital capabilities. The fiber is capable of sensing, storing, analyzing, and inferring activities. The best part is that the fabric can be sewn into a shirt.
As per MIT professor Yoel Fink, the digital fiber will explore the possibilities for fabrics to understand hidden patterns in the human body that might come in handy for physical performance monitoring and early disease detection.
Digitally programmed fabrics
Until this new invention, electronic fibers were analog that carried a constant flow of electric signal instead of digital where information can be encoded and processed within the fabric. The latest invention is the first case of fabric that can store and process data digitally. Fink says the new fiber will enable fabrics to be digitally programmed.
The fiber was created by placing hundreds of square silicon microscale digital chips to make a polymer fiber. By maintaining the flow of polymers, the team created a fiber providing a continuous electrical connection between the chips. The end product is a thin and flexible fiber that allows it to be passed through a needle to sewn into fabrics.
Fabrics that can store movies and music
These digital fibers are washable but for ten times without breaking down. It is thin and comfortable enough to disguise itself and not be felt by the wearer when woven into a shirt. The researchers can write, store, and read the information on the fiber. It can store a 767kb movie or a 0.48MB music file. Without power, the files can be stored for up to w months.
The new fiber can also prove to be useful in the medical field. During its testing, the fiber was woven into a shirt’s armpit and used to collect 270 minutes of surface body temperature data. The team found out that 96% of the wearer’s activity was recorded with accuracy. As of now, a small external drive controls the fiber, and researchers are designing a new chip that can be fitter within the fiber.
Recently, researchers from the University of Rochester and Delft University of Technology turned algae into photosynthetic materials. It was done using 3D printers, turning materials into bio-garments.
