Creating Smart Textiles for Immersive Experiences

Do you want to work with cutting-edge digital technologies in the new Design and Digital Arts department at Nottingham Trent University? In this project, we will combine advanced textile materials and technology with virtual reality experiences (VR). Thanks to recent advances in technology, it is now possible to integrate both input and output into textiles. This new material can then be made into clothes, furniture covers, blankets and so on. The input can include pressure sensors, capacitance sensors, bend sensors, and much more to determine the actions of a user. Output can includes light (LED lights and electroluminescent fibers), haptics for physical feedback, and even sensations of heat and cold.

By using to these emerging technologies, we will be able to seamlessly integrate textile input and output capabilities into VR experiences. There have already been examples of this, such as a woven haptic input/output glove, but this project project will develop a more general approach, where multiple modular pieces of textiles are integrated in the virtual environment.

An example of an application would be health and wellbeing, where a more natural interface to an immersive virtual therapy application can make the experience more natural than standard VR interfaces. Another possible example is fashion prototyping, where real and virtual wearable garments can be combined to create a novel experience. Finally, gaming and other shared experiences can be made more exciting through new interfaces, where you get to feel and sense the virtual world as if it was real.

Supervisory Team: 

Professor Lars Erik Holmquist

Associate Professor Theodore Hughes-Riley