preprints.org > engineering > electrical and electronic engineering > doi: 10.20944/preprints201709.0011.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 4 September 2017 / Approved: 5 September 2017 / Online: 5 September 2017 (03:44:27 CEST)

Detection of human movement requires lightweight, flexible systems to detect mechanical parameters (like strain and pressure) not interfering with user activity, and that he/she can wear comfortably. In this work we address such multifaceted challenge with the development of smart garments for lower limb motion detection, like a textile kneepad and anklet in which soft sensors and readout electronics are embedded for detecting movement of the specific joint. Stretchable capacitive sensors with a three-electrode configuration are built combining conductive textiles and elastomeric layers, and distributed at knee and ankle. They show an excellent behavior in the ~30% strain range, hence the correlation between their responses and the optically tracked Euler angles is allowed for basic lower limb movements. Bending during knee flexion/extension is detected, and it is discriminated from any external contact by implementing in real time a low computational algorithm. The smart anklet is designed to address joint motion detection in and off the sagittal plane. In this work, ankle dorsi/plantar flexion, adduction/abduction, and rotation are retrieved. Both smart garments show a high accuracy in movement detection, with a RMSE less than 4° in the worst case.

wearable system; strain sensor; bending; soft tactile sensor; textile; capacitive sensor; exoskeleton; human motion monitoring

Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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