Low-cost, wearable sensors could increase access to care for patients with Parkinson’s disease. New machine-learning approaches and a baseline of data from healthy older adults improve the accuracy of the results from such sensors, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers and clinical collaborators found in a new study.&nbsp;“This study demonstrates that the expansion of datasets with healthy older adult motion data and integration with deep learning approaches can help improve the accuracy of detecting differences in motor impairment in persons with Parkinson's disease for use in future telemedicine sessions,” said study leader <a href="https://experts.illinois.edu/en/persons/manuel-enrique-hernandez" target="_blank">Manuel Enrique Hernandez</a>, a professor of <a href="https://medicine.illinois.edu/academics/departments/biomedical-and-translational-sciences" target="_blank">biomedical and translational sciences</a> within the <a href="https://medicine.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Carle Illinois College of Medicine</a> at the U. of I.To have their symptoms monitored, patients with Parkinson’s disease must periodically undergo assessment — typically a time-consuming, in-person visit to a specialist with limited availability, Hernandez said.&nbsp;Evaluation by telemedicine would improve access to care for patients but is made challenging by the lack of quantifiable measurements. For example, the physician can watch the patient move, but cannot assess rigidity or muscle tone. While some progress has been made in using wearable sensors to assess motor skills, the cost limits their use.&nbsp;To address these challenges, the Illinois team focused on ways to improve assessment using low-cost wearable sensors.&nbsp;“Ideally, we’d have something that’s completely passive, gathering data as a person goes through their everyday environment and using that information to provide guidance on their overall motor function and progression of neurological symptoms. But then you face the big challenge of how to parse all that information and make it useful to a clinician,” Hernandez said. “That’s what led to our strategy of improving the machine learning, honing in on activities useful for assessment and looking at healthy individuals as a baseline.”&nbsp;The researchers adapted the gold standard of clinical assessment, the Movement Disorders Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale. The MDS-UPDRS outlines specific tasks that a patient would perform and qualitative observations a physician would make during an exam and organizes them into categories for scoring.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1713912642131-225490.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Subjects completed tasks normally done during in-person clinical assessment with sensors on their arms, hands and feet to gather data. Image courtesy of Manuel Enrique HernandezFor their study, the researchers had patients perform tasks and muscle movements while wearing sensors to provide the data in the categories scored by MDS-UPDRS. They used data from both patients with Parkinson’s disease and from healthy older adults to train their machine learning model.&nbsp;“Improving machine learning models requires a lot of data. We hypothesized that healthy individuals can serve as the basis for what to expect with potential age-related changes. Then we could build a comparative model to get a sense of when there might be a marked change in terms of motor function or motor impairment,” said Hernandez, who also is affiliated with the departments of <a href="https://ahs.illinois.edu/kch-home" target="_blank">kinesiology and community health</a> and <a href="https://bioengineering.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">bioengineering</a>, as well as the <a href="https://beckman.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology</a> at Illinois.&nbsp;The researchers also used deep learning techniques known as pretraining to make the model more robust, better able to identify important data points and filter out irrelevant ones. The pretraining and the addition of healthy older adult data improved the accuracy of identifying motor impairments in hand movement tasks by more than 12% over the current standard model. Additionally, including data from healthy older adults improved the accuracy of assessing every task for the upper and lower body, except for toe tapping.&nbsp;The <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/21/9004" target="_blank">results</a> were reported in the journal Sensors.Next, the researchers hope to collaborate further with neurologists and clinicians to expand their model. They aim to identify a small number of additional tasks that could quantitatively measure more information about the classical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, such as tremor, while maintaining low cost and ease of use for the sensors.&nbsp;“There’s a very large need for us to better understand and better quantify changes that are ongoing with Parkinson’s disease,” Hernandez said. “The ability to use wearable sensors while performing activities that are part of the course of clinical evaluations in a telehealth setting might open up the doors for more objective, more quantifiable information that can help direct treatment for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and hopefully improve quality of life moving forward.”<a href="https://ise.illinois.edu/directory/profile/r-sowers" target="_blank">Richard Sowers</a>, Illinois professor of <a href="https://ise.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">industrial and enterprise systems engineering</a> and <a href="https://math.illinois.edu/" target="_blank">mathematics</a>, and James R. Brasic, professor and neurologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, New York University and NYC Health + Hospitals, were coauthors of the paper. &nbsp;&nbsp;<hr>Editor’s note: &nbsp;&nbsp;To reach Manuel Enrique Hernandez, email <a href="mailto:mhernand@illinois.edu" target="_blank">mhernand@illinois.edu</a>.&nbsp;The paper, “A deep learning approach for automatic and objective grading of the motor impairment severity in Parkinson’s disease for use in tele-assessments,” is available <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/21/9004" target="_blank">online</a>. DOI: 10.3390/s23219004This research had no external funding.&nbsp;

Illinois professors Richard Sowers, left, and Manuel Hernandez used machine learning techniques to improve data analysis from wearable sensors to detect symptoms and monitor the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Low-cost, wearable sensors could increase access to care for patients with Parkinson’s disease. New machine-learning approaches and a baseline of data from healthy older adults improve the accuracy of the results from such sensors

Wearable sensors for Parkinson's can improve with machine learning, data from healthy adults

For engineers working on soft robotics or wearable devices, keeping things light is a constant challenge: heavier materials require more energy to move around, and – in the case of wearables or prostheses – cause discomfort. Elastomers are synthetic polymers that can be manufactured with a range of mechanical properties, from stiff to stretchy, making them a popular material for such applications. But manufacturing elastomers that can be shaped into complex 3D structures that go from rigid to rubbery has been unfeasible until now.“Elastomers are usually cast so that their composition cannot be changed in all three dimensions over short length scales. To overcome this problem, we developed DNGEs: 3D-printable double network granular elastomers that can vary their mechanical properties to an unprecedented degree,” says Esther Amstad, head of the <a href="https://www.epfl.ch/labs/smal/" target="_blank">Soft Materials Laboratory</a> in EPFL’s School of Engineering.Eva Baur, a PhD student in Amstad’s lab, used DNGEs to print a prototype ‘finger’, complete with rigid ‘bones’ surrounded by flexible ‘flesh’. The finger was printed to deform in a pre-defined way, demonstrating the technology’s potential to manufacture devices that are sufficiently supple to bend and stretch, while remaining firm enough to manipulate objects.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1713431737943-2048x1152.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The lab's DNGE prototype ‘finger’ with rigid ‘bones’ surrounded by flexible ‘flesh’ © Adrian AlberolaWith these advantages, the researchers believe that DNGEs could facilitate the design of soft actuators, sensors, and wearables free of heavy, bulky mechanical joints. The research has been published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202313189" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Advanced Materials</a>.<h2>Two elastomeric networks; twice as versatile</h2>The key to the DNGEs’ versatility lies in engineering two elastomeric networks. First, elastomer microparticles are produced from oil-in-water emulsion drops. These microparticles are placed in a precursor solution, where they absorb elastomer compounds and swell up. The swollen microparticles are then used to make a 3D printable ink, which is loaded into a bioprinter to create a desired structure. The precursor is polymerized within the 3D-printed structure, creating a second elastomeric network that rigidifies the entire object.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1713431770492-3840x2159+%281%29.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Example of DNGEs (3D-printable double network granular elastomers) © Titouan VeuilletWhile the composition of the first network determines the structure’s stiffness, the second determines its fracture toughness, meaning that the two networks can be fine-tuned independently to achieve a combination of stiffness, toughness, and fatigue resistance. The use of elastomers over hydrogels – the material used in state-of-the-art approaches – has the added advantage of creating structures that are water-free, making them more stable over time. To top it off, DNGEs can be printed using commercially available 3D printers.“The beauty of our approach is that anyone with a standard bioprinter can use it,” Amstad emphasizes.One exciting potential application of DNGEs is in devices for motion-guided rehabilitation, where the ability to support movement in one direction while restricting it in another could be highly useful. Further development of DNGE technology could result in prosthetics, or even motion guides to assist surgeons. Sensing remote movements, for example in robot-assisted crop harvesting or underwater exploration, is another area of application.Amstad says that the Soft Materials Lab is already working on the next steps toward developing such applications by integrating active elements – such as responsive materials and electrical connections – into DNGE structures.<hr>ReferencesE. Baur, B. Tiberghien, E. Amstad, 3D Printing of Double Network Granular Elastomers with Locally Varying Mechanical Properties. Adv. Mater. 2024, 2313189.&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202313189" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202313189</a>

Example of DNGEs (3D-printable double network granular elastomers) © Titouan Veuillet

EPFL researchers are targeting the next generation of soft actuators and robots with an elastomer-based ink for 3D printing objects with locally changing mechanical properties, eliminating the need for cumbersome mechanical joints.

An ink for 3D-printing flexible devices without mechanical joints

TekFall Supreme, an online multiplayer wrestling game by <a href="https://batstoi.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BATS-TOI</a>, with startup roots from New York University, is poised to take the gaming world by storm. Its developers have created an experience that captures the heart and soul of folkstyle and Olympic wrestling, with unparalleled realism pushing the boundaries of the genre. This journey towards achieving such authenticity hinged heavily on the use of Xsens motion capture technology.&nbsp;Born from Passion, Driven by InnovationMario Mercado, a former college wrestler at Syracuse University and coach at NYU, was deeply passionate about wrestling. However, he was also concerned about the prevalence of concussions in the sport, having experienced them himself and witnessing them in wrestlers he coached. This dual experience motivated him to find solutions. He first developed protective headgear to safeguard wrestlers from head injuries. Driven by his desire to further contribute to the sport, he then set his sights on creating a captivating video game, TekFall Supreme, as a way to engage the wrestling community.Turning to Xsens Mocap for Precision, Ease, and EfficiencyJavier Molina, the lead animator and former NYU professor, explained that they initially used an optical system for capturing the wrestlers' movements. However, the close contact and physicality of wrestling often obscured the markers, rendering the data unusable.The team's search for a solution led them to <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/motion-capture?utm_feeditemid=&utm_device=c&utm_term=xsens%20motion%20capture&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=&hsa_cam=15270117545&hsa_grp=129340473986&hsa_mt=e&hsa_src=g&hsa_ad=561737494793&hsa_acc=1306794700&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_kw=xsens%20motion%20capture&hsa_tgt=aud-765723894364:kwd-374313686157&hsa_ver=3&utm_feeditemid=&utm_device=c&utm_term=xsens%20motion%20capture&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=3DCA+%7C+Europe+%7C+Search&hsa_cam=15270117545&hsa_grp=129340473986&hsa_mt=e&hsa_src=g&hsa_ad=561737494793&hsa_acc=1306794700&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_kw=xsens%20motion%20capture&hsa_tgt=aud-765723894364:kwd-374313686157&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqpSwBhClARIsADlZ_TlXWvJA2bMjMDVfcA6WNlO0hFkpK6NAxM4Rdv1jReARn2cxO6U7_rsaAvkuEALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xsens inertial mocap technology</a>. Xsens' advanced system offered several key advantages that proved invaluable for capturing the dynamic nature of wrestling.<ul><li>Ideal for close-contact action:&nbsp;Unlike optical systems that struggle with occluded markers, Xsens mocap excels in capturing accurate motion data for wrestling's dynamic close-contact maneuvers. Its inertial sensors, unlike cameras, track movement without relying on a line of sight, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted capture process.</li><li>Versatility:&nbsp;Xsens mocap allows for recording data in any environment, free from limitations caused by lighting or magnetic interference. This flexibility was crucial for capturing the wrestling action, which can occur in various settings, not just a controlled studio.</li><li>Exceptional Accuracy and Detail:&nbsp;Xsens delivers exceptionally high-quality data, even during complex maneuvers and intricate grappling sequences. This level of detail allowed the animation team to accurately translate the nuances of wrestling movements, resulting in incredibly lifelike in-game characters.</li><li>Streamlined Workflow:&nbsp;The minimal cleanup required in post-production with Xsens data was a significant advantage. The accuracy and completeness of the captured data saved the animators and game developers valuable time and resources, allowing them to focus on refining the animations and breathing life into the virtual wrestlers.</li></ul>The motion capture and animation pipeline involved the use of two <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/motion-capture/xsens-mvn-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xsens Link mocap suits</a>, StretchSense gloves for finger tracking, HTC VIVE base stations, and three video cameras, all integrated into <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/motion-capture/xsens-mvn-animate" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xsens Animate Pro</a>. Each recorded take undergoes HD reprocessing and is automatically matched with the video reference, minimizing the need for software adjustments due to the positional aid provided by the IR stations.TekFall Supreme: A Deep DiveTekFall Supreme promises an unprecedented wrestling experience, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to deliver unparalleled realism. Here's a glimpse into what awaits players:<ul><li>MetaMotion AI:&nbsp;This proprietary system simulates realistic wrestling movements, ensuring matches feel organic and unpredictable.</li><li>Blockchain Integration: Players can collect digital assets (DAPS) that unlock real-world collectibles and unique in-game experiences.</li><li>Photogrammetry:&nbsp;The developers used photogrammetry to create incredibly lifelike visuals for wrestlers and environments.</li></ul>Key Features of the Game<ul><li>Become a champion:&nbsp;Compete online, honing your skills to become the national wrestling champion.</li><li>Team up: Form teams with friends and challenge other groups for dominance.</li><li>Character customization: Express yourself by creating your own avatar called a Digital Double that allows you to customize your appearance and move set.</li><li>Digital collectibles: Collect DAPS to unlock exclusive in-game items and real-world rewards.</li></ul>With regard to gameplay mechanics, TekFall Supreme introduces an entirely new combat system featuring 8-way movement, ensuring constant body engagement and replicating the dynamics of an actual wrestling match. This system, coupled with straightforward wrestling logic, offers players an in-depth gameplay experience that is simple to play yet difficult to master, striking a balance between button mashing and strategic decision-making.The authenticity of TekFall Supreme is further enhanced by collaboration with top wrestlers in the country, ensuring unparalleled realism and depth in the game's motions.TekFall Supreme is slated for release in Winter 2024 and has already garnered significant interest, further fueled by a strategic partnership with Sony PlayStation. With its commitment to realism and the power of Xsens technology, TekFall Supreme promises a truly immersive wrestling experience, allowing players to step on the mat and live the champion's dream. To find out more about the game, visit the <a href="https://batstoi.com/xp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website</a>.&nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LElNf3eRaT0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>TekFall Supreme Gameplay

with Xsens MVN Link

Step into the ring: TekFall Supreme delivers life-like wrestling

In this episode, we talk about how a fashion company spun-off from MIT has developed the world’s first truly one-size-fits-all garment.

Podcast: Novel Fabrics + Robots -- Sustainable One-size-fits-all Fashion Revolution

Authors:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/daandekubber/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" data-hook="WebLink">Daan de Kubber</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jurgenwesterhoff/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" data-hook="WebLink">Jurgen Westerhoff</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-robesin-4a41096/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" data-hook="WebLink">Ben Robesin</a>&nbsp; SPGPrints b.v., Raamstraat 1-3, 5831 AT, Boxmeer, the NetherlandsPrinted electronics have gained significant attention for their potential to revolutionize various industries through cost-effective and scalable manufacturing processes. However, a critical challenge within this domain lies in the transition from lab-scale and pilot equipment to industrial-scale production. We want to shed light on the implications of this transition, emphasizing its impact on cost reduction, repeatability, and time to market.The initial stages of printed electronics development predominantly occur on lab and pilot equipment, where researchers and innovators prototype new applications. As these applications progress towards commercialization, the shift to industrial-scale equipment becomes inevitable. Rotary screen printing emerges as a prominent technique, providing high-throughput capabilities essential for large-scale production.<hr>We are Speaking at the Free-To-Attend On-Line Innovations Festival on 25 April 2024.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.techblick.com/innovation-festival-april-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Register to hear our talk, and meet us during the virtual networking</a>. <img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1712517684074-SPGPrints+%28Festival-APRIL-2024%29.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><hr>We have looked critically at this transition. Investments in Industrial-scale equipment, though substantial, ultimately leads to significant cost reductions in large-scale production. This is essential if manufacturers want to achieve sustainable, cost-effective printed electronics.Moreover, the transition to industrial-scale equipment like Rotary Screen Printing enhances repeatability and quality control. Lab-scale equipment often lacks the precision, required consistency and capacity for mass production. In contrast, industrial-scale tools offer robust control mechanisms, ensuring consistent output across large volumes. This shift results in higher product quality consistency, reducing defects and improving overall yield rates.A great example of a printed electronics application that is moving into high-volume industrialized scale are the printed e-paper displays by our partner Ynvisible. Their products are used on smart labels, IoT devices, retail signage and many more markets. Ynvisible even shares their know-how in scaling up printed electronics with other companies in the flexible solar and printable battery space.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1712517725631-Img-1.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Printed ultra-low-power display for use in retailIf we take the e-paper example and run it through our break-even <a href="https://www.spgprints.com/printed-electronics-calculator?hsCtaTracking=35adfcbb-b27b-4123-9872-3bf81acad083%7Cda23b58a-7bd3-4c3a-99b7-2362dea12b57" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" data-hook="WebLink">calculator</a> you see that for a yearly production of 3.5 million screens the Rotary Screen Printing solution starts to become more profitable within 3 years of production. This shows that you need relatively high volumes to justify the investment in a full SPGPrints Rotary screen printing line, but it will pay off and will ensure steady profitable business in the long run. Of course SPGPrints also offers screen printing units that can be integrated into an existing or custom built line, changing the business case significantly. Next to owning the equipment SPGPrints (and our network of print service providers) offers Production-as-a-Service including application development consultancy.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1712517753534-Img-2.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This is a calculation showing the cost per printed unit comparison between typical flat-bed screen printing and a full SPGPrints rotary screen printing line.It is imperative to acknowledge that transitioning equipment mid-development cycle extends the time to market. This delay arises from the need to recalibrate processes, optimize formulations, and adapt to the unique characteristics of industrial-scale equipment. This delay represents a critical trade-off, where time saved in large-scale production is weighed against the extended development phase.In conclusion, the transition from lab-scale and pilot equipment to industrial-scale production, like Rotary Screen Printing, plays a pivotal role in advancing printed electronics. While the cost reductions and enhanced repeatability are substantial benefits, it is important to recognize the inherent time-to-market trade-off associated with this transition. In this paper we will show some examples of how choosing for industrial-scale equipment at an early stage in development, saves time and money in the long run. Additionally, we will provide a calculation method to evaluate the most suitable production equipment for a specific application.Read more about our offerings online: <a href="https://www.spgprints.com/applications-printed-electronics" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" data-hook="WebLink">SPGPrints | Applications | Printed Electronics</a><hr><a href="https://www.techblick.com/exhibitors-2024-boston" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" data-hook="WebLink">We are exhibiting in Boston at the Future of Electronics RESHAPED</a>&nbsp;on 12-13 June 2024.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshapedusa" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" data-hook="WebLink">Register now and visit our booth</a>.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1712517816523-SPG+Prints-Booth+Slide.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">

Printed ultra low-power display for use in retail

Transitioning from Lab-scale in Printed Electronics: Going from lab and pilot equipment to rotary screen printing.  Learn about example applications in printed low-power displays for use in retail as well as cost-per unit calculation comparing flat-bed vs. rotary screen printing for mass production

Bridging the Divide: Transitioning from Lab-scale to Industrial-scale Equipment in Printed Electronics Development

Encouraged by her family, Lavender Tessmer explored various creative pursuits from a young age, particularly textiles, including knitting and crocheting. When she came to MIT, she figured that working with textiles would remain just a hobby; she never expected them to become integral to her career path.However, when she interviewed for a research assistant position in <a href="https://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Self Assembly Lab</a>, it just so happened that the lab had recently received funding from the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, one of the <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/20/fact-sheet-president-obama-announces-winner-new-smart-manufacturing" target="_blank">manufacturing institutes launched during the Obama administration</a>, for a textile-based project.Tessmer, now a fifth-year doctoral student in design and computation within the School of Architecture of Planning, took on the project, working with <a href="https://architecture.mit.edu/people/skylar-tibbits" target="_blank">Skylar Tibbits</a>, associate professor of design research, and <a href="https://cee.mit.edu/people_individual/caitlin-mueller/" target="_blank">Caitlin Muller</a>, associate professor in building technology. “At MIT, my interest in textiles really exploded and became the center of everything,” Tessmer says.While textiles may appear commonplace, the Covid-19 pandemic underscored the need for textile products in safeguarding our general health and safety, particularly through the filtration necessary for masks. Recognizing the importance of manufacturing capabilities for textiles, Tessmer’s research has focused on programming textiles with specific functional properties while also considering the feasibility of large-scale manufacturing of such products.<h2>A nonlinear path to MIT</h2>Tessmer studied music as an undergraduate student at Duquesne University, pursuing a passion that bloomed as a high schooler. One assignment opened her eyes to a different career path: She was told to compare a piece of music to some other artistic medium. Through this assignment, she discovered the world of architecture by underscoring the systematic nature of both disciplines, emphasizing the need for repetition and structure to unleash creativity. “I immediately realized that’s what I want to do,” she says.Tessmer switched gears and decided to devote the year after college to architecture, instead of auditioning for music ensembles. She says, “I always liked making things, and then, with architecture, I realized that you can make things as part of your profession.” She relied on the basic drafting skills that her father had taught her, and channeled these into building her architecture portfolio.Ultimately, she decided to pursue a master’s degree in architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. She graduated with her master’s at the end of the 2007 economic recession, a time when jobs in architecture were scarce. She eagerly accepted a part-time role teaching at WashU. Over the next five years, this role evolved into a full-time lecturer role, where she taught students while also independently establishing her own design practice and leading various installation design projects. Fittingly, all of the installations were inspired by textiles. “They were these high-performance carbon-fiber braided structures that we hand-made into large-scale braided nets with specific geometries,” Tessmer explains.<h2>“Squeezing everything” out of graduate school</h2>Teaching at WashU was a great experience, but the practice-oriented nature of the architecture department motivated Tessmer to seek complementary perspectives on design. “I wanted a totally new venue that was supportive of research and pushing the boundaries of design. I wanted to see what other approaches were out there,” she says. As her interests continued to grow in that direction, she learned that MIT has some renowned researchers in the field. She decided to apply for a master’s degree in architecture studies, and ultimately a doctorate in design and computation, within the School of Architecture and Planning.MIT’s program stood out to Tessmer because of the interdisciplinary approach of the architecture department. She says, “If you are an architect or designer, it is not strange to end up in a class full of people who are not architects, and that’s totally normal and even expected.” The integrated nature of her program is a shift from her previous academic experiences, where each discipline had been distinct and separate. She also values the lack of hierarchy between different disciplines within the architecture department here. “There is respect across disciplines for the contribution from each participant,” she says.As an older student, Tessmer has a slightly different approach to graduate school, compared to her peers. She says, “MIT is amazing because there is so much variety and so many things that you can get involved in. But my style is to be hyperfocused on my interests. For me, there have been huge benefits to focusing on this specific thing and squeezing everything I can out of it, even in the face of all of these other opportunities.”Tessmer has devoted herself to several projects throughout grad school, but all share a common thread: an emphasis on fiber development and textile programming. As a master’s student in the Self Assembly Lab, she utilized the inherent properties of materials and optimized their configurations for specific functions by integrating computation into the material itself. “At MIT, I learned a much broader definition of computation,” she says. “For example, in the Self Assembly Lab, we believe that material is a storage format of information and that you can program material to behave in certain ways.” &nbsp;The first project Tessmer worked on was designing a fiber that could respond to temperature fluctuations. Another project focused on embedding many different properties within a single fabric, potentially for astronauts. “The human body is so varied in the number of properties that you need to match,” she says. In conjunction with collaborators across multiple MIT departments, she designed a spacesuit sleeve with embedded padding, stretchable areas, a compression gradient, and various sensors. Her third project has focused on embedding shapechange behavior into fabric structures to enhance human comfort or fit, as an alternative to manual tailoring. Finally, in a return to her architectural roots, she is also working on designing a reinforced concrete beam using textiles, a more sustainable solution to building with concrete, which has a significant carbon footprint.Another crucial aspect of Tessmer’s research is her focus on the feasibility of large-scale manufacturing for a product. She regularly relies on industrial-scale machinery and consults with manufacturing partners. She says, “The way research is being conducted in the lab is a close parallel to how it would be made in real life. The potential for a direct bridge between one and the other is a high priority for me and a constraint that I have tried to layer on to all of my projects.”<h2>Dabbling in entrepreneurship</h2>Tessmer says with a laugh, “My entire hobby [textiles] has now been absorbed into my research. So I am in the market for a new hobby.” For now, that hobby has taken the form of entrepreneurship. She has been exploring the commercialization potential of her technologies, having filed multiple patents and completed the <a href="https://engine.xyz/blueprint" target="_blank">Blueprint</a> program with The Engine Accelerator. She hopes that one day her method for embedding properties in textiles, while also reducing manufacturing process steps, will be used for commercial fabrics.As an example, she points to shoe manufacturing. “Your shoes are normally an assembly of lots of different materials and lots of different layers. Instead, my proposal to The Engine focused on embedding all of these properties in an automated way, eliminating the need for an extensive assembly process.” Tessmer envisions entrepreneurship as one of her potential future paths.For the time being, however, she plans to remain in academia. “From the outside, being a professor seems like an unattainable position. However, I keep being surprised at my ability to get to the next level of the academic hierarchy.” She aims to integrate all her past experiences into a future research career, designing textiles within an architectural context, while also weaving in the constraints of manufacturing scalability.

PhD student Lavender Tessmer has devoted herself to several projects throughout grad school, but all share a common thread: an emphasis on fiber development and textile programming. “At MIT, my interest in textiles really exploded and became the center of everything,” she says. Photo: Gretchen Ertl

PhD student Lavender Tessmer applies computation to create textiles that behave in novel ways.

Programming functional fabrics

Robotic exoskeletons designed to help humans with walking or physically demanding work have been the stuff of sci-fi lore for decades. Remember <a href="https://youtu.be/jtVygtT8VIc" target="_blank">Ellen Ripley in that Power Loader in Alien</a>? Or the crazy mobile platform <a href="https://youtu.be/Z2OLmFw9wR8?si=hIsWKAiRYAWGWbpP&t=85" target="_blank">George McFly wore in 2015 in Back to the Future, Part II</a> because he threw his back out?Researchers are working on real-life robotic assistance that could protect workers from painful injuries and help stroke patients regain their mobility. So far, they have required extensive calibration and context-specific tuning, which keeps them largely limited to research labs.Mechanical engineers at Georgia Tech may be on the verge of changing that, allowing exoskeleton technology to be deployed in homes, workplaces, and more.A team of researchers in <a href="https://me.gatech.edu/faculty/young" target="_blank">Aaron Young’s</a> lab have developed a universal approach to controlling robotic exoskeletons that requires no training, no calibration, and no adjustments to complicated algorithms. Instead, users can don the “exo” and go.Their system uses a kind of artificial intelligence called deep learning to autonomously adjust how the exoskeleton provides assistance, and they’ve shown it works seamlessly to support walking, standing, and climbing stairs or ramps. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi8852" target="_blank">They described their “unified control framework” March 20 in Science Robotics.</a>“The goal was not just to provide control across different activities, but to create a single unified system. You don't have to press buttons to switch between modes or have some classifier algorithm that tries to predict that you're climbing stairs or walking,” said Young, associate professor in the <a href="https://me.gatech.edu/" target="_blank">George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering</a>.<h3>Machine Learning as Translator</h3><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1711697656575-_MG_8945.webp" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A closeup view of experimental exoskeleton used in experiments that resulted in a universal controller for robotic assistance devices.Most previous work in this area has focused on one activity at a time, like walking on level ground or up a set of stairs. The algorithms involved typically try to classify the environment to provide the right assistance to users.The Georgia Tech team threw that out the window. Instead of focusing on the environment, they focused on the human — what’s happening with muscles and joints — which meant the specific activity didn’t matter.“We stopped trying to bucket human movement into what we call discretized modes — like level ground walking or climbing stairs&nbsp;— because real movement is a lot messier,” said Dean Molinaro, lead author on the study and a recently graduated Ph.D. student in Young’s lab. “Instead, we based our controller on the user’s underlying physiology. What the body is doing at any point in time will tell us everything we need to know about the environment. Then we used machine learning essentially as the translator between what the sensors are measuring on the exoskeleton and what torques the muscles are generating.”With the controller delivering assistance through a hip exoskeleton developed by the team, they found they could reduce users’ metabolic and biomechanical effort: they expended less energy, and their joints didn’t have to work as hard compared to not wearing the device at all.In other words, wearing the exoskeleton was a benefit to users, even with the extra weight added by the device itself.<blockquote>What’s so cool about this [controller] is that it adjusts to each person’s internal dynamics without any tuning or heuristic adjustments, which is a huge difference from a lot of work in the field. There’s no subject-specific tuning or changing parameters to make it work.AARON YOUNG Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering</blockquote><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi8852" target="_blank">The control system in this study</a> is designed for partial-assist devices. These exoskeletons support movement rather than completely replacing the effort.The team, which also included Molinaro and <a href="https://www.meche.engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/kang-inseung.html" target="_blank">Inseung Kang</a>, another former Ph.D. student now at Carnegie Mellon University, used an existing algorithm and trained it on mountains of force and motion-capture data they collected in Young’s lab. Subjects of different genders and body types wore the powered hip exoskeleton and walked at varying speeds on force plates, climbed height-adjustable stairs, walked up and down ramps, and transitioned between those movements.And like the motion-capture studios used to make movies, every movement was recorded and cataloged to understand what joints were doing for each activity.The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi8852" target="_blank">Science Robotics study</a> is “application agnostic,” as Young put it. Yet their controller offers the first bridge to real-world viability for robotic exoskeleton devices.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1711697699313-_MG_8771.webp" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Researchers Aaron Young, left, and Dean Molinaro.Imagine how robotic assistance could benefit soldiers, airline baggage handlers, or any workers doing physically demanding jobs where musculoskeletal injury risk is high.Assistive robotics also could help stroke patients regain mobility. Related experiments in Young’s lab are working to understand how their hip exoskeleton and unified controller could be extended to help people recovering from stroke navigate their communities.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VEvV1jnqacs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><h3 id="isPasted">Helping Amputees Do More</h3>Other projects in Young’s <a href="https://www.epic.gatech.edu/" target="_blank">Exoskeleton and Prosthetic Intelligent Controls (EPIC) Lab</a> are marrying the power of robotics and AI to help adults with above-the-knee amputations navigate more effectively and children recover from neurological injuries.For adults, the lab is imagining new powered prostheses to help them navigate the world. An active study is exploring how AI can learn a patient’s gait and adapt over time to improve walking.Stacey Rice has been working with the team for a year, testing iterations of a leg prosthesis and the accompanying AI controller. She lost her leg to bone cancer 44 years ago, so she’s already seen technology improve the devices available to amputees.&nbsp;The Atlanta native is a multisport athlete and 1988 volleyball Paralympian. She said she can feel a real difference in the amount of effort she expends using the robotic assistance. <blockquote>I realized while I was on the treadmill that I wasn’t using as much energy as if I was using my own prosthesis. For me to have that energy bank is huge. There’s so much energy the body uses when you’re an amputee and you’re walking. To reserve that energy for your day-to-day activities will allow amputees to be more active during the day and do more.STACEY RICE Amputee and Research Study Participant</blockquote><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1711697760246-_MG_8899.webp" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Dean Molinaro walks up a height-adjustable ramp, left, and similarly adjustable stairs, right, while wearing an experimental exoskeleton. The team used these and other unique tools Young's lab, such as force plates and motion-capture cameras, to collect data in their effort to develop a unified control framework for robotic assistance devices.<h3 id="isPasted">Gamifying Pediatric Rehab<a title="Permalink to this item" href="https://coe.gatech.edu/news/2024/03/universal-controller-could-push-robotic-prostheses-exoskeletons-real-world-use#gamifying-pediatric-rehab" target="_blank"></a></h3>In other experiments, Young’s lab is working with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Shriners Hospital to incorporate robotics into a new approach to pediatric rehabilitation that helps patients improve their gait.&nbsp;Kids with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injuries, and other conditions often undergo physical therapy to help correct walking abnormalities. Incorporating robotics into the process is an area Young is excited about because developing brains are especially good at relearning skills and can recover function over time.“The robotic therapy does what a physical therapist might do manually, but in an automated way. It encourages them to adopt better gait biomechanics,” Young said.In each appointment, the researchers combine a robotic exoskeleton with biofeedback systems through a game-like interface.“When the patients come in, it’s like a video game that they're playing, which both engages them and gives them feedback about their performance,” Young said. “We want them to internalize the learning. The exoskeleton will help them physically achieve their goals, but we need them to retain that and engage in the rehab process.”<h3>Regaining Balance<a title="Permalink to this item" href="https://coe.gatech.edu/news/2024/03/universal-controller-could-push-robotic-prostheses-exoskeletons-real-world-use#regaining-balance" target="_blank"></a></h3>Elsewhere in the lab, Young and his team use a unique virtual-reality treadmill system to study gait and balance, particularly for older adults or people with mobility issues from strokes or amputations.The team uses the platform to introduce significant disruptions while participants are walking, challenging them to keep or regain their balance. The resulting data —&nbsp;largely from young, athletic individuals —&nbsp;is inspiring how wearable robots should operate to help people with balance impairments stay upright.In other words, it’s a busy place. And all in service of making a future of wearable robotics a reality.“For a lot of us, mobility is something we’re able to take for granted. One of the hopes is that this work can translate to people with mobility impairments and improve their quality of life,” Molinaro said. “And also, there are times when mobility is a limitation. So we’re interested in how we push the edge of mobility, both in restoring it for those with impairments but also augmenting it for those of able body to make them even more capable.”

Researcher Aaron Young makes adjustments to an experimental exoskeleton worn by then-Ph.D. student Dean Molinaro. The team used the exoskeleton to develop a unified control framework for robotic assistance devices that would allow users to put on an "exo" and go — no extensive training, tuning, or calibration required. (Photo: Candler Hobbs)

Aaron Young’s team has developed a wear-and-go approach that requires no calibration or training.

Universal Controller Could Push Robotic Prostheses, Exoskeletons Into Real-World Use

Small wearable or implantable electronics could help monitor our health, diagnose diseases, and provide opportunities for improved, autonomous treatments. But to do this without aggravating or damaging the cells around them, these electronics will need to not only bend and stretch with our tissues as they move, but also be soft enough that they will not scratch and damage tissues.Researchers at Stanford have been working on skin-like, stretchable electronic devices for over a decade. In a paper published March 13 in Nature, they present a new design and fabrication process for skin-like integrated circuits that are five times smaller and operate at one thousand times higher speeds than earlier versions. The researchers demonstrated that their soft integrated circuits are now able to drive a micro-LED screen and detect a braille array that is more sensitive than human fingertips.“We’ve made a significant leap forward. For the first time, stretchable integrated circuits are now small enough and fast enough for many applications,” said <a href="https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30855492/profiles.stanford.edu?p=eyJzIjoiOVAtVVZYVEltMTAyQXVpZ2ppSmFNd3RkQjNvIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDg1NTQ5MixcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3Byb2ZpbGVzLnN0YW5mb3JkLmVkdVxcXC96aGVuYW4tYmFvXCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiMGM2YWMxYWU5MTg4NGZjYWFjMzI1ZDc2M2MyZDhhODdcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCJkMGY0ZGMxYjBmMDE3OTkzNjhmOGE4NzJlMmViNzQ3ZTFjZmNmMjBkXCJdfSJ9" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Zhenan Bao</a>, a K. K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering at Stanford and senior author on the paper. “We hope that this can make wearable sensors and implantable neural and gut probes more sensitive, operate more sensors, and potentially consume less power.”<h2>Flexible, stretchable, and functional</h2>The core of the circuits are stretchable transistors made from semiconducting carbon nanotubes and soft elastic electronic materials developed in Bao’s lab. Unlike silicon, which is hard and brittle, the carbon nanotubes sandwiched between elastic materials have a fishnet-like structure that allows them to continue to function while they stretch and deform. The transistors and circuits are patterned onto a stretchable substrate, along with stretchable semiconductor, conductor, and dielectric material.“This is many years of material and engineering development,” Bao said. “We not only needed to develop new materials, but we also needed to develop the circuit design and the fabrication process to make the circuits. There are many layers stacked together and if one layer doesn’t work, we have to restart everything from scratch.”In one demonstration of their new stretchable electronics design, the researchers were able to fit more than 2,500 sensors and transistors into a square centimeter, creating an active-matrix tactile array over ten times more sensitive than human fingertips. The researchers showed that the sensor array can detect the locations and orientation of tiny shapes or recognize whole words in Braille.“With Braille, you usually sense one letter at a time,” said <a href="https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30855492/baogroup.stanford.edu?p=eyJzIjoiQWFWMU9jM2VqYXZMR2g5TFVfMnRPcTE4cGxnIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDg1NTQ5MixcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2Jhb2dyb3VwLnN0YW5mb3JkLmVkdVxcXC9wZW9wbGVcXFwvZG9uZ2xhaS16aG9uZ1wiLFwiaWRcIjpcIjBjNmFjMWFlOTE4ODRmY2FhYzMyNWQ3NjNjMmQ4YTg3XCIsXCJ1cmxfaWRzXCI6W1wiNTgyODY0ZTdiMWU3NWU4ZGRiOWM5OWIyOTI5YWU1YTFiODU3MDZiYVwiXX0ifQ" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Donglai Zhong</a>, a postdoctoral researcher in Bao’s lab and co-first author on the paper. “With such a high resolution, you could sense a whole word, or potentially a whole sentence, with just one touch.”The researchers also used their stretchable circuits to drive a micro-LED display with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which is the typical refresh rate of a computer or TV screen. Previous versions of the stretchable circuits weren’t fast enough at small sizes to generate enough current to accomplish this.“We’re really excited about these performance improvements because they enable us to do a lot of new things,” said <a href="https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30855492/baogroup.stanford.edu?p=eyJzIjoia1V0NTdYUFNUVGxncTZEZFg0RWh1MGRnRDg0IiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDg1NTQ5MixcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2Jhb2dyb3VwLnN0YW5mb3JkLmVkdVxcXC9wZW9wbGVcXFwvY2FuLXd1XCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiMGM2YWMxYWU5MTg4NGZjYWFjMzI1ZDc2M2MyZDhhODdcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCI4MTliZDk3YzY5NzMxMjg0ZjcwMDgwNTY4MDdhZjFjOGNlYmE0ZTExXCJdfSJ9" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Can Wu</a>, a postdoctoral researcher in Bao’s lab and co-first author on the paper. “Preliminary results demonstrate that our transistor can be used to drive commercial displays commonly used in computer monitors, for example. And for biomedical applications, a high-density, soft, and conformable sensing array could allow us to sense human body signals, such as from our brains and muscles, at a large scale and fine resolution. This could lead to next-generation brain-machine interfaces that are both high-performance and biocompatible.”<h2>Soft circuits for the future</h2>The researchers intentionally developed materials and processes that could work with existing fabrication tools, so that the circuits could make the jump to commercial manufacturing more easily. Their process relies on fabrication techniques similar to what is currently used for making display screens, although the materials involved are entirely different. Manufacturers wouldn’t be able to make these circuits without some additional fine-tuning, but the tools are already in place, Bao said.Of course, there are more hurdles before these stretchable and soft integrated circuits can be ready for commercialization. Body and tissue movement can still cause some variation in the electrical characteristics of the circuits – Bao and her colleagues are working on new designs that could reduce these effects – and the devices will need some sort of soft moisture protection before they can be put to use.“There are still challenges for the future of this technology, but these recent developments open up some very exciting biomedical applications for wearable and implantable electronics,” Bao said. “And it also has applications in soft robotics, giving robots a sensing functionality that approaches that of humans and makes them safer for people to work with.”Bao is a member of&nbsp;<a href="https://biox.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Stanford Bio-X</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://med.stanford.edu/cvi.html" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Stanford Cardiovascular Institute</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://humanperformance.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://neuroscience.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute</a>, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://med.stanford.edu/mchri.html" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Maternal &amp; Child Health Research Institute</a>; an affiliate of the&nbsp;<a href="https://energy.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Precourt Institute for Energy</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://woods.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment</a>; and a faculty fellow of&nbsp;<a href="https://chemh.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Sarafan ChEM-H</a>. Bao is an investigator of CZ-Biohub-San Francisco and an innovation investigator of Arc Institute.Other Stanford co-authors of this research include research scientist Jeffrey B.-H. Tok; postdoctoral researchers Yuanwen Jiang (Co-first-author), Min-gu Kim, Chien-Chung Shih, Jian-Cheng La, Chuanzhen Zhao, Shiyuan Wei, Xiaozhou Ji, Yi-Xuan Wang, Chengyi Xu, Naoji Matsuhisa, Yusheng Lei, Deya Liu, Song Zhang, and Yuto Ochiai; and doctoral students Yujia Yuan, Yuya Nishio, Weichen Wang, Theodore Z. Gao, Yu Zheng, Zhiao Yu, Huaxin Gong, and Shuhan Liu.

Intrinsically stretchable transistors and integrated circuits under large deformation after being released from the supporting substrate. | Image courtesy of Donglai Zhong, Jiancheng Lai, and Yuya Nishio of the Bao Group

Stanford researchers have developed soft integrated circuits that are powerful enough to drive a micro-LED screen and small enough to read thousands of sensors in a single square centimeter.

Smaller, more powerful stretchable electronics for wearables and implantables

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/7a6ed573-f46a-40bb-b396-d38d1207aa2e?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>Until recently, bespoke tailoring — clothing made to a customer’s individual specifications — was the only way to have garments that provided the perfect fit for your physique. For most people, the cost of custom tailoring is prohibitive. But the invention of active fibers and innovative knitting processes is changing the textile industry.“We all wear clothes and shoes,” says Sasha MicKinlay MArch ’23, a recent graduate of the MIT Department of Architecture. “It’s a human need. But there’s also the human need to express oneself. I like the idea of customizing clothes in a sustainable way. This dress promises to be more sustainable than traditional fashion to both the consumer and the producer.”McKinlay is a textile designer and researcher at the Self-Assembly Lab who designed the <a href="https://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/4d-knit-dress" target="_blank">4D Knit Dress</a> with Ministry of Supply, a fashion company specializing in high-tech apparel. The dress combines several technologies to create personalized fit and style. Heat-activated yarns, computerized knitting, and robotic activation around each garment generates the sculpted fit. A team at Ministry of Supply led the decisions on the stable yarns, color, original size, and overall design.“Everyone’s body is different,” says Skylar Tibbits, associate professor in the Department of Architecture and founder of the Self-Assembly Lab. “Even if you wear the same size as another person, you're not actually the same.”<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/893959788" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>4D Knit Dress: Transforming Style. Video: Self-Assembly Lab<h2 id="isPasted">Active textiles</h2>Students in the Self-Assembly Lab have been working with dynamic textiles for several years. The yarns they create can change shape, change property, change insulation, or become breathable. Previous applications to tailor garments include <a href="https://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/active-textile-tailoring" target="_blank">making sweaters</a> and <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/form-fitting-face-mask-lavender-tessmer-0718" target="_blank">face masks</a>. Tibbits says the 4D Knit Dress is a culmination of everything the students have learned from working with active textiles.McKinlay helped produce the active yarns, created the concept design, developed the knitting technique, and programmed the lab’s industrial knitting machine. Once the garment design is programmed into the machine, it can quickly produce multiple dresses. Where the active yarns are placed in the design allows for the dress to take on a variety of styles such as pintucks, pleats, an empire waist, or a cinched waist.“The styling is important,” McKinlay says. “Most people focus on the size, but I think styling is what sets clothes apart. We’re all evolving as people, and I think our style evolves as well. After fit, people focus on personal expression.”<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEwMTM1NjY2MDgwLU1pbmlzdHJ5X0ZJTkFMX2RyZXNzZXMuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Designers explored this series of possible styles for the robotic heat activation of the 4D Knit Dress. Image courtesy of the Self-Assembly Lab.Danny Griffin MArch ’22, a current graduate student in architectural design, doesn’t have a background in garment making or the fashion industry. Tibbits asked Griffin to join the team due to his experience with robotics projects in construction. Griffin translated the heat activation process into a programmable robotic procedure that would precisely control its application.“When we apply heat, the fibers shorten, causing the textile to bunch up in a specific zone, effectively tightening the shape as if we’re tailoring the garment,” says Griffin. “There was a lot of trial and error to figure out how to orient the robot and the heat gun. The heat needs to be applied in precise locations to activate the fibers on each garment. Another challenge was setting the temperature and the timing for the heat to be applied.”It took a while to determine how the robot could&nbsp;reach all areas of the dress.“We couldn’t use a commercial heat gun — which is like a handheld hair dryer — because they’re too large,” says Griffin. “We needed a more compact design. Once we figured it out, it was a lot of fun to write the script for the robot to follow.”A dress can begin with one design — pintucks across the chest, for example — and be worn for months before having heat re-applied to alter its look. Subsequent applications of heat can tailor the dress further.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEwMTM1NjgyOTQyLVJvYm90aWNfYXJtX2F0X3dvcmsuanBlZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Robotic heat activation can be seen during a demonstration at Ministry of Supply in Boston. Photo: Olivia Mintz<h2>Beyond fit and fashion</h2>Efficiently producing garments is a “big challenge” in the fashion industry, according to Gihan Amarasiriwardena ’11, the co-founder and president of Ministry of Supply.“A lot of times you'll be guessing what a season's style is,” he says. “Sometimes the style doesn't do well, or some sizes don’t sell out. They may get discounted very heavily or eventually they end up going to a landfill.”“Fast fashion” is a term that describes clothes that are inexpensive, trendy, and easily disposed of by the consumer. They are designed and produced quickly to keep pace with current trends. The 4D Knit Dress, says Tibbits, is the opposite of fast fashion. Unlike the traditional “cut-and-sew” process in the fashion industry, the 4D Knit Dress is made entirely in one piece, which virtually eliminates waste.“From a global standpoint, you don’t have tons of excess inventory because the dress is customized to your size,” says Tibbits.McKinlay says she hopes use of this new technology will reduce the amount of waste in inventory that retailers usually have at the end of each season.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEwMTM1NzEwMDIxLU1pbmlzdHJ5X0ZJTkFMX0RyYWZ0MDUgY29weS5qcGVnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A complete 4D Knit Dress comes out of a Stoll industrial knitting machine after being produced in one piece, without any cutting or sewing. Photo courtesy of the Self-Assembly Lab.“The dress could be tailored in order to adapt to these changes in styles and tastes,” she says. “It may also be able to absorb some of the size variations that retailers need to stock. Instead of extra-small, small, medium, large, and extra-large sizes, retailers may be able to have one dress for the smaller sizes and one for the larger sizes. Of course, these are the same sustainability points that would benefit the consumer.”The Self-Assembly Lab has collaborated with Ministry of Supply on projects with active textiles for several years. Late last year, the team debuted the <a href="https://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/4d-knit-dress" target="_blank">4D Knit Dress</a> at the company’s flagship store in Boston, complete with a robotic arm working its way around a dress as customers watched. For Amarasiriwardena, it was an opportunity to gauge interest and receive feedback from customers interested in trying the dress on.“If the demand is there, this is something we can create quickly” unlike the usual design and manufacturing process, which can take years, says Amarasiriwardena.Griffin and McKinlay were on hand for the demonstration and pleased with the results. For Griffin, with the “technical barriers” overcome, he sees many different avenues for the project.“This experience leaves me wanting to try more,” he says.McKinlay too would love to work on more styles.“I&nbsp;hope this research project helps people rethink or reevaluate their relationship with clothes,” says McKinlay. “Right now when people purchase a piece of clothing it has only one ‘look.’ But, how exciting would it be to purchase one garment and reinvent it to change and evolve as you change or as the seasons or styles change? I'm hoping that's the takeaway that people will have.”

Caption:In late 2023 the MIT Self Assembly Lab and the high-tech fashion company Ministry of Supply debuted their 4D Knit Dress at the latter's store Boston, complete with a robotic arm working its way around a dress as customers watched. Credits:Image courtesy of MIT Self Assembly Lab

Developed by the Self-Assembly Lab, the 4D Knit Dress uses several technologies to create a custom design and a custom fit, while addressing sustainability concerns.

Is this the future of fashion?

Wearable electronic devices designed to be worn while in use are becoming more popular and powerful as they can monitor various aspects of human health, activity, and environment. However, these devices also face challenges such as limited battery life, data privacy, and network bandwidth. To overcome these challenges, edge computing and AI/ML are emerging as key technologies that can enable wearable devices to process data locally, reduce latency, and enhance user experience.&nbsp;As wearable technologies evolve to meet market needs, new devices are upgrading features such as basic BLE connectivity by adding the ability to run AI algorithms on neural processors on-device rather than in the cloud. This reduces the amount of data that needs to be transmitted over the network, saving energy and bandwidth. With the AI/ML models running in silicon, wearable devices can, therefore, learn from data and perform tasks such as recognition, classification, prediction, and optimization without incurring additional latency, data costs, and power consumption. However, these improvements require greater processing power and capabilities from embedded microcontrollers (MCUs) and application processors. At the same time, consumers expect longer battery life from their wearables. Thus, new chips must balance connectivity and higher processing power with low power consumption while maintaining a small enough package size.&nbsp;This case study explores the challenges for the next generations of wearable MCUs with a specific look at <a href="https://alifsemi.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alif Semiconductor's®</a> Balletto™ family of BLE-enabled MCUs for wearable applications.<h2 dir="ltr">The current landscape</h2>The wearables market, which includes common accessories such as smart bands, smart rings, smartwatches, and medical devices, such as glucose monitoring devices is projected to grow to USD 118.16 billion by 2028 at a 13.8% CAGR. Demand for multimedia devices, smartphones, fitness trackers, and health wearables drives growth. Increasing health awareness fuels interest in fitness tracking devices for activities like cycling and running, contributing to market expansion.[2,3]Wearables have evolved significantly in recent years, presenting enhanced capabilities in various domains, such as AI processing and wirelessly transmitting data. New market demands have driven the expansion of wearable features. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic made blood oxygen sensing a must-have feature for many smartwatches. As a result, Apple and Samsung included blood oxygen monitoring in their smartwatches in 2020.Wearables incorporate edge AI-based solutions to process huge amounts of data in real-time. AI-enabled microcontrollers are a must to carry out these large AI/ML workloads efficiently and quickly. The integration of artificial intelligence enables new features, such as:<ul><li dir="ltr">Tracking and analyzing changes in users’ health data.</li><li dir="ltr">Sending users alerts for noise levels or air quality.</li><li dir="ltr">Personalize your device based on your tracked activity.&nbsp;</li></ul>Equally important as collecting and processing user data is the ability to wirelessly share data between devices. As such, Bluetooth connectivity has risen as a top requirement for wearables including functionalities, such as:&nbsp;<ul><li dir="ltr">Sending an alert to emergency services if a fall is detected.</li><li dir="ltr">Sharing important health updates with an approved health care professional.</li><li dir="ltr">Sharing workout metrics with a friend to stay motivated.</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Bluetooth LE changes the status quo in wearables</h2>Among the many low-power wireless technologies on the market, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology is uniquely suited for wearable devices that require long battery life measured in days or even weeks before needing to be recharged. BLE allows wearables to easily connect and communicate with other devices, such as smartphones, tablets, exercise equipment, or even other wearables.&nbsp;This enhances the device's functionality by enabling it to share exercise data, receive timely notifications, and more. Increasingly, wearable devices are adding audio support for which BLE is uniquely positioned. With the addition of support for the Low Complexity Communication Codec (LC3), BLE is now capable of use cases such as broadcast audio and shared or group listening experiences with LE Audio’s Auracast feature. For example, a wearable device can use the on-device neural processor such as Arm’s Ethos-U55 to run a convolutional neural network (CNN) model for gesture recognition or activity classification based on the motion data captured by inertial measurement units (IMUs). The device can then use BLE to communicate with other devices or a smartphone app to provide feedback or instructions to the user.&nbsp;In the Smart Home, wearables can be integrated into a smart home system, with AI algorithms learning the user's habits and preferences to automate various home appliances. BLE 5.4's enhanced performance and range can facilitate efficient communication with many IoT devices in the home. For example, a wearable could learn that a user likes to listen to calming music when they get home from work and automatically instruct the smart speaker to play the user's favorite playlist when they walk through the door.&nbsp;Additionally, features allow wearables to be located precisely, while location-based services (LBS) such as personalized fitness coaching (created by learning from a user’s previous workout data) can be enabled. It can suggest workout routines tailored to the user's fitness goals and current health status. The wearable device can recognize the user’s activity and posture using an ML model that runs on the Ethos-U55 core and sends the data to a cloud service via Enhanced Attribute Protocol (EAP). This could enable personalized, reliable, and secure fitness tracking for the user.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEzMTY0MTY0MDQ1LVdob29wLUJvZHlUcmFpbmluZy1Ub3AuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Next-gen wearables will enable highly-personal fitness tracking. Credit: WHOOP.&nbsp;AI/ML algorithms can be trained to detect patterns in biometric data gathered by wearables, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation levels. BLE's enhanced broadcast communication mechanism (EAD, PAwR) can allow these devices to send real-time health risk alerts to other devices, such as a smartphone, even in congested or high-interference environments. For example, a wearable could alert a user or a healthcare provider if it detects signs of an impending health crisis like a heart attack or stroke.&nbsp;When you combine AI-enabled MCUs with BLE, wearables become more personalized, efficient, secure, and useful in our everyday lives. Alif Semiconductor <a href="https://alifsemi.com/press-release/first-ble-matter-wireless-microcontroller-with-neural-co-processor-for-ai-ml/" target="_blank">has just announced</a> their Balletto family of BLE and Matter microcontrollers&nbsp;with neural processing for AI/ML workloads, which seeks to exceed the standard for low-power BLE operations.<h2 dir="ltr">Hardware accelerated machine learning</h2>To meet the market-need for state-of-the-art wearables, Alif Semiconductor offers AI/ML-enabled microcontrollers with dedicated NPU accelerators that allow heavy AI/ML workloads to run without compromising battery life. <a href="https://alifsemi.com/products/balletto/" target="_blank" id="isPasted">The Alif Balletto family</a> of microcontrollers introduces the world's most power-efficient microcontroller with on-device secure AI/ML processing, top-notch security, and ample peripherals for applications requiring integrated Bluetooth Low Energy and 802.15.4-based connectivity.&nbsp;The Balletto family boasts the powerful Arm® Cortex®-M55 core, equipped with double-precision FPU and Helium Vector Extensions, operating at a remarkable speed of up to 160MHz. Arm Ethos-U55 is a dedicated NPU accelerator that offloads AI/ML operations from the Cortex-M55 processor, allowing the M55 cores to operate in very low-power modes. This is especially important for wearables like hearing aids, which need to have a long battery life. Equally as important for wearables is having a small form-factor design, which Balletto can provide in a sub 16mm ² package. &nbsp;&nbsp;Balletto’s Ethos™-U55 Neural Processing Unit (NPU) can improve the performance and efficiency of speech recognition machine learning models by up to two orders of magnitude, excluding the 5-10x improvement already provided by the Cortex-M55 core over previous generation Cortex-M CPUs. This is ideal for wearables that rely on voice commands, improving processing speed and lowering latency.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEyODQyNDU1ODU5LWFsaWYgbWFpbiAyLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Balletto and Ensemble families. Image credit: Alif Semiconductor.<h3 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Battery-friendly microcontrollers powered by Alif’s aiPM™ technology&nbsp;</h3>The Balletto family also tackles a common problem seen by previously existing AI/ML-powered microcontrollers: short battery life. Connected wearables or mission-critical devices like hearing aids depend on long battery life for users. Their ability to function is hindered when there is a need for heavy local processing and AI/ML. Balletto MCUs are the most power-efficient in their class, thanks to Alif's innovative aiPM technology. This technology manages all aspects of the device, including individual processing cores for real-time control, neural processing, DSP and audio, deep security, and radio protocols capable of BLE 5.4 with LE Audio, Thread, and Matter. Balletto devices also include a wide range of interfaces and large memories, all monolithically integrated inside extremely small packages. This makes them ideal for demanding battery-powered applications such as wearables and hearables.Alif Semiconductor’s aiPM technology manages the power usage of the device through 8 power domains. It activates only the necessary chip sections and deactivates them when not in use, resulting in a highly efficient always-on region when there is a high requirement for local processing and AI/ML. The integrated dual-PA and on-chip antenna gives customers control of the reliability-range equation by providing tuning options of 4 dBm or up to 10 dBm Bluetooth transmit power. &nbsp;Balletto’s Bluetooth radio has a receive current of 1.5mA and a transmit current of 2.0mA, making it power conscious.Additionally, off-die peripherals produce higher energy consumption for wearables, while Balletto’s on-die solution fosters maximum efficiency. Utilization of the internal bus fabric effectively lowers access time, dynamic power, and standby power, ultimately providing more granular and precise power control at a lower cost.&nbsp;<h3 dir="ltr">Balletto family multi-layered security</h3>In addition to handling processing requirements, microcontrollers for wearables must ensure data security. Alif Balletto microcontrollers provide exceptional security features with multiple layers of protection, including:<ul><li dir="ltr">Root of Trust</li><li dir="ltr">Unique device ID for each individual chip</li><li dir="ltr">Dedicated security processor</li><li dir="ltr">Dedicated protected memory</li><li dir="ltr">Configurable firewalls that regulate access of each CPU to sections of memories and individual peripherals and extend the capabilities of the standard Arm Trust Zone security partitioning</li></ul>Alif Semiconductor is the only company in this market segment that injects at manufacturing, a unique public key infrastructure (PKI) key pair to support immutable&nbsp;hardware root of trust (RoT) from secure boot to strong authentication and remote software attestation capabilities.As a result, the personal data acquired by sensors and processed by the Alif Balletto microcontrollers are secured against third-party attacks.Users can securely manage all aspects of the device lifecycle, including key management, certificate management, remote updates, and more. Legacy MCUs may stop at TrustZone, but Alif takes you beyond TrustZone to ensure that multi-core devices are protected by not allowing two CPUs to access the same Secure domain and share secrets.&nbsp;<h3 dir="ltr">Graphics and imaging</h3>The Balletto family includes a number of hardware features to help offload traditionally CPU-intensive workloads from the MCU/MPU cores to improve performance and keep current consumption in check. One such feature is an integrated 2D graphics accelerator that can help speed up drawing operations by 4-10x compared to an unaccelerated system. This, combined with a set of imaging and display interfaces, which include parallel as well as MIPI-CSI2 and MIPI-DSI interfaces for 24-bit RGB displays and 8 to 16-bit cameras, provide everything needed for responsive and buttery-smooth graphics on pixel-dense screens.<h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2>As the wearable technology market continues to expand, the convergence of edge AI and BLE technology has enabled wearables to become smarter, more efficient, and more secure. Alif Semiconductor's Balletto family of MCUs represents a significant leap forward in meeting the ever-growing demands of the wearables market. These innovative solutions empower wearables to not only collect and process data but also to provide real-time, personalized, and secure experiences, all while maintaining long-lasting battery life and optimizing form factor. The future of wearables is here, and it's exciting.<h3 dir="ltr">References</h3><ol><li dir="ltr">GlobeNewswire. <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2023/03/15/2627702/0/en/2023-2028-Smart-Wearables-Market-Size-Share-and-Trends-Analysis-Report-By-Y-O-Y.html" target="_blank">2023- 2028 Smart Wearables Market Size, Share and Trends Analysis Report By Y-O-Y</a>.</li><li dir="ltr">businesswire. <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220104005806/en/Global-Wearable-Technology-Market-Trends-Analysis-Report-2021-2028-Adoption-of-Fitness-Trackers-and-Health-based-Wearables-is-Anticipated-to-Propel-Growth---ResearchAndMarkets.com" target="_blank">Global Wearable Technology Market Trends &amp; Analysis Report 2021-2028: Adoption of Fitness Trackers and Health-based Wearables is Anticipated to Propel Growth - ResearchAndMarkets.com.</a></li></ol><h3>Further Research</h3>Ramesh Nair, 2023. “<a href="https://www.safetymint.com/blog/smart-wearables/" target="_blank">Smart Wearables: Advancing Safety in the Workplace</a>”StartUs Insights, 2023. “<a href="https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/wearables-trends/" target="_blank">Top 10 Wearables Trends in 2023</a>”GlobalData, 2022. “<a href="https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/comment/wearable-technology-iot/" target="_blank">Wearable technology market continues to rise</a>”Lisa Eadicicco, 2022. “<a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/smartwatches-have-measured-blood-oxygen-for-years-but-is-it-useful/" target="_blank">Smartwatches Have Measured Blood Oxygen for Years. But Is This Useful?</a>”Fi Forest, 2022. “<a href="https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/sponsored/wearables-managing-complexities-data-privacy-consent/" target="_blank">Wearables: managing complexities in data privacy and consent in healthcare tech</a>”Industry News, 2022. “<a href="https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/11/16/alif-semiconductor-telit/" target="_blank">Alif Semiconductor partners with Telit to develop and deploy IoT edge devices</a>”Alif Semiconductor, 2023. “<a href="https://alifsemi.com/ensemble/" target="_blank">Supplying next generation scalable microcontrollers</a>”Arrow, 2022. “<a href="https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/alif-semiconductor" target="_blank">Alif Semiconductor</a>”Eduardo Montanez, 2022. “<a href="https://www.nxp.com/company/blog/nxp-i-mx-rt-mcu-technology-powers-our-smartwatch-future:BL-NXP-IMX-RT-MCU-TECHNOLOGY" target="_blank">NXP i.MX RT MCU Technology Powers Our Smartwatch Future</a>”

Learn how bluetooth connected AI/ML microcontrollers are setting the bar for next generation wearables.

Leading Wearables into a New Era with Cutting-Edge Connected Bluetooth LE based MCUs

After a stroke, survivors often experience uncontrollable spasms that can twist their arms and hands into perpetual fists. The only treatments are expensive, frequently painful injections of botulinum toxin or oral medications so strong they may put patients to sleep. Both offer only temporary relief.Engineers at Stanford University and the Georgia Institute of Technology now say they have developed a glove-like wearable medical device that achieves as-good-or-better results as the injections or drugs by applying simple, high-frequency mechanical vibrations to the hands and fingers.“Vibration therapies are not unknown, so we knew we would see some effect, but clinically it was just amazing to see that these beneficial effects persist,” explained <a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/allison-okamura" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Allison Okamura</a>, Richard W. Weiland Professor are the Stanford School of Engineering and senior author of a series of studies introducing the glove.“There are significant improvements in symptoms using the simulation method. And we think it can potentially address several effects of stroke — numbness, spasticity, and, for some, limited range of motion,” said <a href="https://neuroscience.stanford.edu/people/caitlyn-seim" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Caitlyn Seim</a>, a post-doctoral researcher in Okamura’s lab and initiator of the project. “We're most excited about treating spasticity because it affects so many people's quality of life and has such limited treatment options.”<h2>Form factor</h2>To the researchers’ knowledge this is the first effort to explore vibrotactile stimulation (VTS) technique at a wearable scale. State-of-the-art methods employ whole-body vibration using machines that are large, expensive, and require visits to the clinic for treatment.Patients in trials wore the VTS device three hours a day for eight weeks. Results were compared to the effectiveness of injections and oral medications. When measured, more than half of participants who receive regular botulinum injections had equal or better results with daily use of the VTS glove.“I think we can safely say that VTS is at least as good as injections and oral medicines,” Okamura said. “And it was exciting to see there is some maintenance of the improvements over time, though more study of that is needed.”The prototype device was first developed by Seim and colleagues at Georgia Tech as a tool to help people learn motor tasks such as typing or playing musical instruments via haptic guidance. The device was later studied as an interactive music exercise tool for people with partial spinal cord injuries, which led the team to the realization that haptic stimulation may be therapeutic on its own. Their unique wearable form factor makes a new paradigm in intensive stimulation therapy possible, since users can wear the gloves throughout the day.“We started to wonder if stimulation might also be a therapeutic tool for brain and spinal injury. It was very exciting,” Seim said.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1707898661498-vibrating-glove-helps-1.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The VTS Glove on a patient’s hand. The team engineered and fabricated over 20 devices for this study in-house in Stanford labs. | Image courtesy of Andrew Brodhead<h2 id="isPasted">Notable results</h2>The latest version of the VTS device wraps around the wrist, palm, and fingers and includes motors that provide continual high-frequency stimulation to individual fingers as well as muscles in the hand and wrist. The vibrations are subtle and unobtrusive — similar to the intensity of a cell phone vibrating. Patients are free to go about their normal activities while wearing the device.Neurologically, the mechanisms underlying the symptom improvements are still being studied, but the team theorizes that the device is taking advantage of the brain’s remarkable plasticity — its ability to find new pathways in response to damage or dysfunction. They believe that the VTS vibrations can modulate out-of-control muscles and send neural signals from the muscles back to the brain where the signals re-train undamaged areas of the brain. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; .“The brain is essentially relearning the ability to perceive touch and proprioception,” Seim said of the brain’s ability to feel and understand where and how the arm, hands, and fingers are positioned in three-dimensional space.In candid video testimonials, patients speak in glowing terms of their preference for VTS over injections and medication. Those same patients also say that the VTS glove is “pleasant” or at least “comfortable” to wear. VTS is non-invasive, inexpensive, and avoids the side effects of injections and muscle relaxants. Most promising of all, Seim notes that many patients in the trials reported they voluntarily reduced their use of oral medications and some even planned to forego quarterly botulinum injections in favor of the VTS glove &nbsp; &nbsp; .“This is the magic glove, it’s better than [botulinum],” said one patient after just two weeks using VTS. “My fingers and wrist are more relaxed. Before it was very difficult to straighten my fingers and now it’s a lot easier.”“I stopped my morning dose of [muscle relaxer] and now I want to stop taking my night dose because the glove is working and I don’t need it,” noted another patient after a similar two-week period.The hope may be shared as both researchers say they believe VTS might also prove effective in other brain injury-related motor conditions and diseases — areas the team is already pursuing as they explore stroke effectiveness.“There are currently 100 million people worldwide living with stroke,” Seim said. “As many as one third experience these paralyzing arm spasms. We targeted the largest-possible population first, but certainly other conditions are on our radar.”As of now, the VTS device is available only to patients in the clinical trial, and Okamura and Seim are gearing up for the next phases that will include additional clinical studies to understand the device’s long-term effectiveness and optimal design.To that end, the team recently received a considerable grant from the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator program to further develop the vibrotactile glove as a commercial product.“We think we have enough clinical study under our belt to know that VTS is a very safe, effective treatment,” Okamura said. “We'd love to start getting it out there as a publicly available therapy.”Okamura is also a member of&nbsp;<a href="http://biox.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Stanford Bio-X</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://humanperformance.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance</a>, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://neuroinstitute.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute</a>, and a faculty affiliate of the&nbsp;<a href="https://hai.stanford.edu/" data-extlink="" target="_blank">Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)</a>.

Postdoctoral researcher Caitlyn Seim takes measurements with a participant in the clinical trial. | Image courtesy of Andrew Brodhead

For those with stroke, involuntary contractions of the hands and arms often follow. A simple, wearable vibrating glove may offer a more effective treatment.

Vibrating glove helps stroke patients recover from muscle spasms

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/1e9bb08c-384a-4d12-983e-8af2e63c741b?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>MIT engineers have developed a small ultrasound sticker that can monitor the stiffness of organs deep inside the body. The sticker, about the size of a postage stamp, can be worn on the skin and is designed to pick up on signs of disease, such as liver and kidney failure and the progression of solid tumors.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA3NzI0MzU5MjkzLU1JVC1TZWVpbmdTdGlmZm5lc3MtMDEtcHJlc3NfMC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A small ultrasound sticker, worn on the skin, can monitor the stiffness of organs deep inside the body. The MIT-developed sensor could detect signs of disease such as liver and kidney failure, and the progression of solid tumors. Image: Courtesy of the researchersIn an <a href="https://science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk8426" target="_blank">open-access study appearing today</a> in Science Advances, the team reports that the sensor can send sound waves through the skin and into the body, where the waves reflect off internal organs and back out to the sticker. The pattern of the reflected waves can be read as a signature of organ rigidity, which the sticker can measure and track.“When some organs undergo disease, they can stiffen over time,” says the senior author of the paper, Xuanhe Zhao, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “With this wearable sticker, we can continuously monitor changes in rigidity over long periods of time, which is crucially important for early diagnosis of internal organ failure.”The team has demonstrated that the sticker can continuously monitor the stiffness of organs over 48 hours and detect subtle changes that could signal the progression of disease. In preliminary experiments, the researchers found that the sticky sensor can detect early signs of acute liver failure in rats.The engineers are working to adapt the design for use in humans. They envision that the sticker could be used in intensive care units (ICUs), where the low-profile sensors could continuously monitor patients who are recovering from organ transplants.“We imagine that, just after a liver or kidney transplant, we could adhere this sticker to a patient and observe how the rigidity of the organ changes over days,” lead author Hsiao-Chuan Liu says. “If there is any early diagnosis of acute liver failure, doctors can immediately take action instead of waiting until the condition becomes severe.” Liu was a visiting scientist at MIT at the time of the study and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Southern California.The study’s MIT co-authors include Xiaoyu Chen and Chonghe Wang, along with collaborators at USC.Sensing wobblesLike our muscles, the tissues and organs in our body stiffen as we age. With certain diseases, stiffening organs can become more pronounced, signaling a potentially precipitous health decline. Clinicians currently have ways to measure the stiffness of organs such as the kidneys and liver using ultrasound elastography — a technique similar to ultrasound imaging, in which a technician manipulates a handheld probe or wand over the skin. The probe sends sound waves through the body, which cause internal organs to vibrate slightly and send waves out in return. The probe senses an organ’s induced vibrations, and the pattern of the vibrations can be translated into how wobbly or stiff the organ must be.Ultrasound elastography is typically used in the ICU to monitor patients who have recently undergone an organ transplant. Technicians periodically check in on a patient shortly after surgery to quickly probe the new organ and look for signs of stiffening and potential acute failure or rejection.“After organ transplantation, the first 72 hours is most crucial in the ICU,” says another senior author, Qifa Zhou, a professor at USC. “With traditional ultrasound, you need to hold a probe to the body. But you can’t do this continuously over the long term. Doctors might miss a crucial moment and realize too late that the organ is failing.”The team realized that they might be able to provide a more continuous, wearable alternative. Their solution expands on an <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/ultrasound-stickers-0728" target="_blank">ultrasound sticker</a> they previously developed to image deep tissues and organs.“Our imaging sticker picked up on longitudinal waves, whereas this time we wanted to pick up shear waves, which will tell you the rigidity of the organ,” Zhao explains.Existing ultrasound elastrography probes measure shear waves, or an organ’s vibration in response to sonic impulses. The faster a shear wave travels in the organ, the stiffer the organ is interpreted to be. (Think of the bounce-back of a water balloon compared to a soccer ball.)The team looked to miniaturize ultrasound elastography to fit on a stamp-sized sticker. They also aimed to retain the same sensitivity of commercial hand-held probes, which typically incorporate about 128 piezoelectric transducers, each of which transforms an incoming electric field into outgoing sound waves.“We used advanced fabrication techniques to cut small transducers from high-quality piezoelectric materials that allowed us to design miniaturized ultrasound stickers,” Zhou says.The researchers precisely fabricated 128 miniature transducers that they incorporated onto a 25-millimeter-square chip. They lined the chip’s underside with an adhesive made from hydrogel — a sticky and stretchy material that is a mixture of water and polymer, which allows sound waves to travel into and out of the device almost without loss.In preliminary experiments, the team tested the stiffness-sensing sticker in rats. They found that the stickers were able to take continuous measurements of liver stiffness over 48 hours. From the sticker’s collected data, the researchers observed clear and early signs of acute liver failure, which they later confirmed with tissue samples.“Once liver goes into failure, the organ will increase in rigidity by multiple times,” Liu notes.“You can go from a healthy liver as wobbly as a soft-boiled egg, to a diseased liver that is more like a hard-boiled egg,” Zhao adds. “And this sticker can pick up on those differences deep inside the body and provide an alert when organ failure occurs.”The team is working with clinicians to adapt the sticker for use in patients recovering from organ transplants in the ICU. In that scenario, they don’t anticipate much change to the sticker’s current design, as it can be stuck to a patient’s skin, and any sound waves that it sends and receives can be delivered and collected by electronics that connect to the sticker, similar to electrodes and EKG machines in a doctor’s office.“The real beauty of this system is that since it is now wearable, it would allow low-weight, conformable, and sustained monitoring over time,” says Shrike Zhang,&nbsp;an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate bioengineer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who was not involved with the study. “This would likely not only allow patients to suffer less while achieving prolonged, almost real-time monitoring of their disease progression, but also free trained hospital personnel to other important tasks.”The researchers are also hoping to work the sticker into a more portable, self-enclosed version, where all its accompanying electronics and processing is miniaturized to fit into a slightly larger patch. Then, they envision that the sticker could be worn by patients at home, to continuously monitor conditions over longer periods, such as the progression of solid tumors, which are known to harden with severity.“We believe this is a life-saving technology platform,” Zhao says. “In the future, we think that people can adhere a few stickers to their body to measure many vital signals, and image and track the health of major organs in the body.”

“We used advanced fabrication techniques to cut small transducers from high-quality piezoelectric materials that allowed us to design miniaturized ultrasound stickers,” Xuanhe Zhao, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, says. Image: Courtesy of the researchers

The sticky, wearable sensor could help identify early signs of acute liver failure.

This ultrasound sticker senses changing stiffness of deep internal organs

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/c7a0deb3-ad50-40fa-8df2-1273193fb185?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-gtm-yt-inspected-9="true" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pAWrypkeDXM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-9="true" id="72780686" title="Soft robotic device improves walking for individual with Parkinson’s disease">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>Freezing is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than 9 million people worldwide. When individuals with Parkinson’s disease freeze, they suddenly lose the ability to move their feet, often mid-stride, resulting in a series of staccato stutter steps that get shorter until the person stops altogether. These episodes are one of the biggest contributors to falls among people living with Parkinson’s disease.&nbsp;Today, freezing is treated with a range of pharmacological, surgical or behavioral therapies, none of which are particularly effective.&nbsp;What if there was a way to stop freezing altogether?Researchers from the <a href="https://seas.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences&nbsp;</a>(SEAS) and the <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sargent/" target="_blank">Boston University Sargent College of Health &amp; Rehabilitation Sciences</a> have used a soft, wearable robot to help a person living with Parkinson’s walk without freezing. The robotic garment, worn around the hips and thighs, gives a gentle push to the hips as the leg swings, helping the patient achieve a longer stride.&nbsp;The device completely eliminated the participant’s freezing while walking indoors, allowing them to walk faster and further than they could without the garment’s help.&nbsp;“We found that just a small amount of mechanical assistance from our soft robotic apparel delivered instantaneous effects and consistently improved walking across a range of conditions for the individual in our study,” said <a href="https://seas.harvard.edu/person/conor-walsh" target="_blank">Conor Walsh</a>, the Paul A. Maeder Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SEAS and co-corresponding author of the study.&nbsp;The research demonstrates the potential of soft robotics to treat this frustrating and potentially dangerous symptom of Parkinson’s disease and could allow people living with the disease to regain not only their mobility but their independence.&nbsp;The research is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02731-8" target="_blank">Nature Medicine.&nbsp;</a>For over a decade, Walsh’s<a href="https://biodesign.seas.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">&nbsp;Biodesign Lab&nbsp;</a>at SEAS has been developing assistive and rehabilitative robotic technologies to improve mobility for individuals’ post-stroke and those living with ALS or other diseases that impact mobility. Some of that technology, specifically an exosuit for post-stroke gait retraining, received support from the <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering</a>, and was licensed and commercialized by <a href="https://rewalk.com/restore-exo-suit/" target="_blank">ReWalk Robotics</a>.In 2022, SEAS and Sargent College received a grant from the <a href="https://innovation.masstech.org/news/baker-polito-administration-awards-harvard-and-boston-university-3-million-assistive-robotics" target="_blank">Massachusetts Technology Collaborative</a><a href="https://masstech.org/" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a>to support the development and translation of next-generation robotics and wearable technologies. The research is centered at the <a href="https://www.movelab.seas.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Move Lab</a>, whose mission is to support advances in human performance enhancement with the collaborative space, funding, R&amp;D infrastructure, and experience necessary to turn promising research into mature technologies that can be translated through collaboration with industry partners.This research emerged from that partnership.“Leveraging soft wearable robots to prevent freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson’s required a collaboration between engineers, rehabilitation scientists, physical therapists, biomechanists and apparel designers,” said Walsh, whose team collaborated closely with that of Terry Ellis, &nbsp;Professor and Physical Therapy Department Chair and Director of the <a href="https://www.bu.edu/neurorehab/" target="_blank">Center for Neurorehabilitation at Boston University.&nbsp;</a><blockquote>Leveraging soft wearable robots to prevent freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson’s required a collaboration between engineers, rehabilitation scientists, physical therapists, biomechanists and apparel designers.CONOR WALSHPAUL A. MAEDER PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES</blockquote>The team spent six months working with a 73-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease, who — despite using both surgical and pharmacologic treatments — endured substantial and incapacitating freezing episodes more than 10 times a day, causing him to fall frequently. These episodes prevented him from walking around his community and forced him to rely on a scooter to get around outside.&nbsp;In previous research, Walsh and his team leveraged human-in-the-loop optimization to demonstrate that a soft, wearable device could be used to augment hip flexion and assist in swinging the leg forward to provide an efficient approach to reduce energy expenditure during walking in healthy individuals. &nbsp;Here, the researchers used the same approach but to address freezing. The wearable device uses cable-driven actuators and sensors worn around the waist and thighs. Using motion data collected by the sensors, algorithms estimate the phase of the gait and generate assistive forces in tandem with muscle movement.The effect was instantaneous. Without any special training, the patient was able to walk without any freezing indoors and with only occasional episodes outdoors. He was also able to walk and talk without freezing, a rarity without the device.&nbsp;“Our team was really excited to see the impact of the technology on the participant’s walking,” said Jinsoo Kim, former PhD student at SEAS and co-lead author on the study.&nbsp;During the study visits, the participant told researchers: “The suit helps me take longer steps and when it is not active, I notice I drag my feet much more. It has really helped me, and I feel it is a positive step forward. It could help me to walk longer and maintain the quality of my life.”&nbsp;“Our study participants who volunteer their time are real partners,” said Walsh. “Because mobility is difficult, it was a real challenge for this individual to even come into the lab, but we benefited so much from his perspective and feedback.”&nbsp;The device could also be used to better understand the mechanisms of gait freezing, which is poorly understood.&nbsp;“Because we don’t really understand freezing, we don’t really know why this approach works so well,” said Ellis. “But this work suggests the potential benefits of a ’bottom-up’ rather than ’top-down’ solution to treating gait freezing. We see that restoring almost-normal biomechanics alters the peripheral dynamics of gait and may influence the central processing of gait control.”The research was co-authored by Jinsoo Kim, Franchino Porciuncula, Hee Doo Yang, Nicholas Wendel, Teresa Baker and Andrew Chin. Asa Eckert-Erdheim and Dorothy Orzel also contributed to the design of the technology, as well as Ada Huang, and Sarah Sullivan managed the clinical research. It was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant CMMI-1925085; the National Institutes of Health under grant NIH U01 TR002775; and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Collaborative Research and Development Matching Grant.

Robotic exosuit eliminated gait freezing, a common and highly debilitating symptom

Soft robotic, wearable device improves walking for individual with Parkinson's disease

Multi-scale approach improves the fatigue threshold of particle-reinforced rubber

Rubber that doesn't grow cracks when stretched many times

Bike helmets that absorb the energy of an impact, running shoes that give you an extra boost with every step, or implants that behave just like natural bone. Metamaterials make such applications possible. Their inner structure is the result of a careful design process, following which 3D printers produce structures with optimised properties. Researchers led by Dennis Kochmann, Professor of Mechanics and Materials in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich, have developed novel AI tools that bypass the time-consuming and intuition-based design process of metamaterials. Instead, they predict metamaterials with extraordinary properties in a rapid and automated fashion. A novelty, their framework applies to large (so-called non-linear) loads, e.g. when a helmet absorbs major forces during an impact.Kochmann’s team has been among the pioneers in designing small-scale cellular structures (similar to beam networks in timber-frame houses) to create metamaterials with specific or extreme properties. “For example, we design metamaterials that behave like fluids: hard to compress but easy to deform. Or metamaterials that shrink in all directions when compressed in a particular one,” explains Kochmann.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzAyNTEzMjEwOTY4LWltYWdlLmltYWdlZm9ybWF0LjEyODYuMTAzOTA5ODg1NC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">While the forward challenge of predicting properties is relatively well understood, finding microstructures for target properties is much harder (inverse design). (Illustration: ETH Zurich / Dennis Kochmann)<h2 id="isPasted">Efficient, optimal material design&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</h2>The design possibilities seem endless. However, the full potential of metamaterials is far from realised, since the design process is based on experience, involving trial and error. Furthermore, small changes in the structure can give rise to huge changes in properties.In their recent breakthrough, the researchers succeeded in using AI to systematically explore the abundant design and mechanical properties of two types of metamaterials. Their computational tools can predict optimal structures for desired deformation responses at the push of a button. Key is the use of large datasets of the deformation behaviour of real structures to train an AI model that not only reproduces data but also generates and optimises new structures. By leveraging a method known as “variational autoencoders”, the AI learns the essential features of a structure from the large set of design parameters and how they result in specific properties. It then uses this knowledge to generate a metamaterial blueprint whenever the researchers specify its desired properties and requirements.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzAyNTEzMjcwOTQ4LWltYWdlLmltYWdlZm9ybWF0LmxpZ2h0Ym94Ljg1MDM1NDE5OS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The structure of a metamaterial is encoded in an abstract space. Optimisation efficiently improves the design towards the desired properties. A decoder turns the optimised design into a real-world truss structure. (Illustration: ETH Zurich / Li Zheng)<h2 id="isPasted">Assembling building blocks&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>Li Zheng, a doctoral student in Kochmann’s group, trained an AI model using a dataset of one million structures and their simulated response. “Imagine a huge box of Lego bricks – you can arrange them in countless ways and over time learn design principles. The AI does this extremely efficiently and learns essential design features and how to assemble the building blocks of metamaterials to give them a particular softness or hardness”, says Zheng. Unlike prior approaches using a small catalogue of building blocks as the basis for design, the new method gives the AI freedom to add, remove, or move building blocks around almost arbitrarily. Together with Sid Kumar, an assistant professor at TU Delft and a former member of Kochmann’s team, they showed in a recently published paper that the AI model can even go beyond what it has been trained to do and predict structures that are far better than anything ever generated before.<h2>Learning from the movies</h2>Jan-Hendrik Bastek, also doctoral student in Kochmann’s group, used a different approach to achieve something similar. He used a method originally introduced for AI-based video generation, which has become commonplace: if you type in ‘an elephant flying over Zurich’, the AI generates a realistic video of an elephant circling the Fraumünster Church. Bastek trained his AI system using 50,000 video sequences of deforming 3D-printable structures. “I can insert the trajectory of how I want the structures to deform, and the AI produces a video of the optimal structure and the complete deformation response,” explains Bastek. Most previous approaches have focused on only predicting a single image of the optimal structure. However, giving the AI videos of the entire deformation process is crucial to retain accuracy in such complex scenarios. Based on the video sequences, the AI can create blueprints for new materials, taking into account highly complex scenarios.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1702513523867-ezgif-2-8c2d523d04.gif" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Video diffusion iteratively converts pure noise into meaningful data, such as pixels representing a metamaterial being deformed in a specific way, here illustrating the stress distribution inside the material. (Video: ETH Zurich / Jan-Hendrik Bastek)<h2 id="isPasted">Big benefits for bike helmets and shoe soles</h2>The researchers have made available their AI tools to the metamaterials community. This will hopefully lead to the design of many new and unusual materials. The tools are opening new avenues for the development of protective equipment such as bicycle helmets and for further applications of metamaterials from medical engineering to soft robotics. Even shoe soles can be designed to absorb shocks better when running or to provide a forward boost when stepping down. Will AI completely replace the manual engineering design of materials? “No,” laughs Kochmann. “Used well, AI can be a highly efficient and diligent assistant, but it must be given the right instructions and the right training – and that requires scientific principles and engineering knowhow.”<hr><h2 id="isPasted">Reference</h2>Bastek JH, Kochmann DM: Inverse design of nonlinear mechanical metamaterials via video denoising diffusion models. Nature Machine Intelligence 2023, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-023-00762-x" target="_blank">external page10.1038/s42256-023-00762-x</a>Zheng L, Karapiperis K, Kumar S, Kochmann DM: Unifying the design space and optimizing linear and nonlinear truss metamaterials by generative modeling. Nature Communications 2023, 14: 7563, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42068-x" target="_blank">external page10.1038/s41467-023-42068-x</a>

Conceptualisation of a running shoe made out of a metamaterial. AI generated with DALL-​E   (Visualisation: ETH Zurich)

Researchers have trained an artificial intelligence to design the structure of so-​called metamaterials with desired mechanical properties for a wide range of applications.

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