KnitUI: Fabricating Interactive and Sensing Textiles with Machine Knitting
Abstract
With the recent interest in wearable electronics and smart garments, digital fabrication of sensing and
interactive textiles is in increasing demand. Recently, advances in digital machine knitting offer opportunities
for the programmable, rapid fabrication of soft, breathable textiles. In this paper, we present KnitUI, a novel,
accessible machine-knitted user interface based on resistive pressure sensing. Employing conductive yarns and
various machine knitting techniques, we computationally design and automatically fabricate the double-layered
resistive sensing structures as well as the coupled conductive connection traces with minimal manual
post-processing. We present an interactive design interface for users to customize KnitUI's colors, sizes,
positions, and shapes. After investigating design parameters for the optimized sensing and interactive
performance, we demonstrate KnitUI as a portable, deformable, washable, and customizable interactive and sensing
platform. It obtains diverse applications, including wearable user interfaces, tactile sensing wearables, and
artificial robot skin.
Paper
KnitUI: Fabricating Interactive and Sensing Textiles with Machine Knitting
Y.Luo*, K. Wu*, T. Palacios, W. Matusik
ACM CHI 2021
[Paper]
Video
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