BIOWEAVE: Weaving Thread-based sweat-sensing on-skin interface

 

We present BioWeave, a woven textile-based sweat-sensing on-skin interface using synthesized accessible fabrication approaches to fabricate colorimetric and electrochemical sweat-sensing threads that can be woven into two- and three- dimensional structures conforming to diverse body locals.

There has been a growing interest in developing and fabricating wearable sweat sensors in recent years, as sweat contains various analytes that can provide non-invasive indications of various conditions in the body. Although recent HCI research has been looking into wearable sensors for understanding health conditions, textile-based wearable sweat sensors remain underexplored. We present BioWeave, a woven thread-based sweat-sensing on-skin interface. Through weaving single-layer and multi-layer structures, we combine sweat-sensing threads with versatile fiber materials. We identified a design space consisting of colorimetric and electrochemical sensing approaches, targeting biomarkers including pH, glucose, and electrolytes. We explored 2D and 3D weaving structures for underexplored body locations to seamlessly integrate sweat-sensing thread into soft wearable interfaces. We developed five example applications to demonstrate the design capability offered. The BioWeave sensing interface can provide seamless integration into everyday textile-based wearables and offers the unobtrusive analysis of health conditions.

Publication:

BioWeave: Weaving Thread-Based Sweat-Sensing On-Skin Interfaces

Jingwen Zhu, Nadine El Nesr, Christina Simon, Nola Rettenmaier, Kaitlyn Beiler, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao

Proceedings of The ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) 2023, October 29–November 01, 2023, San Francisco, CA, USA

PDF | DOI | Project Page


Project Credits:

Hybrid Body Lab at Cornell University, directed by Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao

Research Team: Jingwen Zhu (Lead Researcher), Nadine El Nesr, Christina Simon, Nola Rettenmaier, Kaitlyn Beiler, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao (Lab Director)


Press Inquiries: Press Image Kit: Download Here (License: CC by-NC-SA 4.0) Press Contact: Prof. Dr. Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, cindykao@cornell.edu

 

Press Coverage:

This project is funded by National Science Foundation IIS-2047249, Cornell University College of Human Ecology Salles Schafer Fund, and Cornell University College of Human Ecology Engaged Research Seed Grant.

We defined a 5-dimensional BioWeave design space for fabricating thread-based sweat sensors and integrating them into a variety of weaving patterns and structures targeting different biomarkers and body locations.

We present the BioWeave fabrication approach of dyeing colorimetric sweat-sensing threads and coating electrochemical sensing threads.

Electrochemical sensing threads contain multiple layers of coatings. We summarized seven coating materials needed for coating electrochemical sensing threads for pH and glucose sensing.

We demonstrate applications including (A1) Under eye cell patterned pH and glucose sensor, (A2) Under arm glucose sensor, (A3) Forehead and ear glucose sensor with floating warp, (A4) Between chest 3D pH sensor, (A5) Between toes pH sensor.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank everyone from the Hybrid Body Lab for their suggestions and input, Xia Zeng for technical support, Julia Wright for weaving advice, and Lily Winagle for fabrication help. We also thank Shuwen Jiang, Yan Tao, Yingjie Bei and Linghao Li for photography support. We want to thank all the user study participants for their engagement.