New Publication on Wearable E-Textile Force-Sensing Garment
KTH's Media Interaction group and the Robot Design Lab contribute to force sensing garments and modelling caring touch published in IEEE Sensors Journal
We are pleased to share our latest publication in the IEEE Sensors Journal: “A Wearable E-Textile Force-Sensing Garment for Characterising Caring Touch”. In this work, the Media Interaction team at KTH in collaboration with the Robot Design Lab developed a low-cost, flexible, and customisable e-textile force-sensing garment capable of capturing dynamic force profiles of caring touch in natural therapeutic settings.
Working with healthcare practitioners across physiotherapy, NeuroAffective Touch, Feldenkrais, and tactile stimulation practices, the study moves beyond gesture recognition to characterise the quality of caring touch through measurable physical features. Using a prototype sensor matrix and machine learning analysis, the research identifies deliberateness (i.e. the smooth and careful initiation, increase, and release of force) as a shared characteristic of caring touch across different therapeutic gestures. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using wearable tactile sensing and AI to assess subjective touch quality, contributing to the design of future assistive robots and haptic systems that can touch in ways perceived as safe, trusting, and caring.