I-Corps: Advanced Integration Methods for Garment-based Wearable Technologies

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to understand product application opportunities in the evolving textile electronics industry. Textile electronics is a field which requires that new technologies adoption meets the stringent cost and comfort requirements of the textiles industry, while maintaining the rigid device performance metrics of the electronics industry. The opportunity exists through this I-Corps project to understand the tradeoffs between a transformative process technology with the ability to form cost effective, customized textile electronics products in fitness/wellness, health/medical, industrial/military, and fashion/infotainment markets. This I-Corps project will explore the market potential for a transformative electronic interconnect technology applicable to the fabrication of low-cost garment-based wearable devices. The technology focused upon in this work allows for the ability to retro-fit garments with electronics by simple heat iron-on strategy, similar to placement of a heat laminated tag or manufacturer logo. This technology is an alternative to conductive yarn and bulky wires used currently in textile electronics, materials which limit scale-up of wearables to small quantities and results in a bulky garment that is uncomfortable to the wearer. This iron-on technology allows for the ability to connect multiple devices on a garment in a low cost, customizable way and enables a strategic expansion of the textile electronics product landscape. This I-Corps project seeks to understand the opportunities for the technology through a voice-of-customer analysis of the key stakeholders in the textile electronics industry.