DesTex

The Design, Textiles and Sustainable Development (DesTex) project and initiative (VGR Dnr RUN 612-0016) aims to strengthen Region Västra Götaland (VGR) as a leading knowledge area.

VGR, jointly with University of Borås and University of Skövde, support collaborative research between University of Borås and University of Skövde within the research theme "smart textiles".

Three areas of research are targeted in the project:

1. Research within the development of materials, technology, ICT solutions and applications for using smart textiles within health promoting and ergonomic functional clothes (this as an example, whereas results can be applicable in other domains as well).
2. Research within materials and ICT solutions for soft robotics based on smart textiles.
3. Research about how smart textiles can be used to support interaction between humans and technology, e.g. human-robot/humanoid interaction.

Additional objectives of the initiative are to:

• attract highly educated people to the Västra Götaland region
• increase innovation and local production
• establish a long-lasting, stimulating and internationally leading research environment.

Research areas/groups involved

University of Borås

• Textiles and Fashion

University of Skövde

• InteractionLab (School of Informatics)
• User Centred Product Design (School of Engineering Science)
• Mechanics of Materials (School of Engineering Science)

Dissemination activities

• Roboten Pepper vässas med hjälp av smarta textilier (SVT, Jun 2018)
• Pepper – den känsliga roboten (BT, Jun 2018)
• Roboten Pepper känner vad användaren vill (FT, Jun 2018)
• Se högskolans smarta robot: Pepper (Borås DLY, Jun 2018)
• Mänskliga robotar får vänta för Volvo (SN, Nov 2017)
• Att umgås med en robot (SLA, Nov 2017)
• Mänskligt utseende viktigt när tekniken ska kommunicera (SN, Nov 2017)
• Fick besök av kända robotforskare (Metal Supply, Dec 2016)

Dissemination activities related to the preceeding project (2013–2015, VGR funded):

• Video 1 – SVT2 (YouTube)
• Video 2 (YouTube)
• Unexpected meetings generate unique research

Publications

Journal publications

B. Zhou, C. A. V. Altamirano, H. Cruz, S. R. Atefi, E. A. Billing, F. Seoane, & P. Lukowicz (2017). Textile pressure mapping sensor for emotional touch detection in human-robot interaction. Sensors, 17(11), 1–16.

R. Lowe, R. Andreasson, B. Alenljung, A. Lund, and E. A. Billing (2017) Designing for a Wearable Affective Interface for the NAO Robot: A Study of Emotion Conveyance by Touch. Submitted to Multimodal Technologies and Interaction.

Conference papers

J. Sun., E. A. Billing, F. Seoane, B. Zhou, D. Högberg, P. Hemeren (2017) Categories of touch: Classifying human touch using a soft tactile sensor. The robotic sense of touch: from sensing to understanding, workshop at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 29, Singapore.

B. Zhou, H. Z. Cruz, S. R. Atefi, E. A. Billing, F. Seoane, P. Lukowicz (2017) TouchMe: Full-textile Touch Sensitive Skin for Encouraging Human-Robot Interaction. The robotic sense of touch: from sensing to understanding, workshop at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 29, Singapore.

A. Mohsenzadeh, T. Bashir, W. Tahir, K. Bolton, M. Skrivfars, U. Stigh (2017) The actuation of a semi-crystalline poly(vinyliden fluoride) tie molecules: A computational and experimental study. 19th international conference on polymers and composites, Prague, Czech Republic, September 4-5.

V. Malm, F. Seoane, V. Nierstrasz (2017) Characterisation of electrical and stiffness properties of conductive textile coatings with metal flake-shaped fillers. Submitted for publication

V. Malm, F. Seoane, V. Nierstrasz (2017) Stability of encapsualted electrical interconnections coated on fabric exposed to mechanical strain. To be submitted for publication

R. Andreasson, B. Alenljung, E. A. Billing, R. Lowe (2017) Affective Touch in Human-Robot Interaction: Conveying Emotion to the Nao Robot. Accepted for publication in International Journal of Social Robotics.

J. Sun, S. Redyuk, E. A. Billing, D. Högberg, P. Hemeren (2017) Tactile Interaction and Social Touch: Classifying Human Touch using a Soft Tactile Sensor. In the Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Human Agent Interaction, October 17-20, | CITEC, Bielefeld.

B. Alenljung, R. Andreasson, E. A. Billing, J. Lindblom, R. Lowe (2017) User Experience of Conveying Emotions by Touch. In the proceedings of the 26th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2017, Lisbon, Portugal, p. 1240-1247.

F. Syrén, C. Li, E. A. Billing, A. Lund (2016) Characterization of textile resistive strain sensors. 16th World Textile Conference AUTEX 2016, Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 8-10.