SensorKnit: Architecting Textile Sensors with Machine Knitting

Abstract

This article presents three classes of textile sensors exploiting resistive, piezoresistive, and capacitive properties of various textile structures enabled by machine knitting with conductive yarn. Digital machine knitting is a highly programmable manufacturing process that has been utilized to produce apparel, accessories, and footwear. By carefully designing the knit structure with conductive and dielectric yarns, we found that the resistance of knitted fabric can be programmatically controlled. We also present applications that demonstrate how knitted sensor can be used at home and in wearables. While e-textiles have been well explored in the field of interaction design, this work explores the correlation between the local knitted structure and global electrical property of a textile.