Fashion tech and robotics

Abstract

Many of the relatively recent experiments and realisations in the field of “fashion tech”-a combination of fashion design with engineering, science and interaction/user experience design-try to shape some sort of artificially intelligent systems around the human body, which in many cases move, breath and react to the environment around them. Although far from the social aim of health biorobotics, such researches have many elements in common with the latest advancements in the area of robotics related to the body, where the focus is often to enhance the wearability of the body-related devices, quite often through the employment of “smart textiles.” The aim of this chapter is therefore to describe and analyse these parallel and partially intersecting developments, by presenting a review of the main projects recently realised by artists and designers who have collaborated with scientists and engineers towards the creation of “robotic dresses.”.