Applications of Smart Sensing Textiles for Assessment and Assistance of Motion

Dear Colleagues,

Wearable technology is an emerging trend that can be worn on any part of the body to address challenges in our lifestyles, particularly for the monitoring, assessment, and assistance of motion. The breakthrough potential of wearable technology for continuous monitoring and assistance spans various fields, such as healthcare, well-being, professional and amateur sports, occupational health and ergonomics, space, and defense. Among the available wearable technologies, smart textiles, smart clothes, and smart garments have gained attention for two primary reasons: (1) textiles are essential in everyday life due to their lightness, durability, ease of use, and flexibility; (2) textiles-based technology exhibits minimal-to-no obtrusive effects, preserving the user’s natural agility and achieving higher user acceptance rates.

The most advanced applications can be found in the area of motion assessment through smart sensing garments integrated with dry electrodes, conductive yarns, stretchable or resistive sensors, and 3D-printed sensing structures. Here, the key challenge is to achieve high-quality and repetitive sensing in flexible textiles.

Prominent examples also include smart materials with actuation characteristics such as materials with shape memory alloy effects, applied as personal protective or augmentative equipment. Challenges in this area include generating sufficient force for human assistance and augmentation, and developing multi-functional clothing systems that combine both sensing and actuation elements.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish high-quality research articles and reviews that address the challenges mentioned above. We encourage submissions that describe experimental and theoretical methods to address recent achievements in the development of novel smart textile systems, as well as their potential applications.

Dr. Joana Figueiredo
Dr. Cristina P. Santos
Guest Editors

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• wearable sensors
• smart textiles
• flexible sensors
• smart actuators
• human monitoring
• motion assistance
• sports analytics
• healthcare
• ergonomics