Reasearchers have developed a wearable keyboard made of electronics knitted together like fabric that could lead to a new kind of human-to-machine interface. People are used to interacting with the computer using the keyboard but now, creating wearable keyboards for wearable electronics is a challenging task that such keyboards have to be large to fit enough keys to be useful, and must be flexible and stretchable to follow and coordinate with our body movements.
Researchers have tried to make electronics more wearable by making them like clothing and by knitting wires to the fabrics. These electronic textiles can get stretched up to the limit where the fibers are straightened. Such technology “provides a simple way to interact with machines,” said Esma Ismailova,a polymer science engineer.
The prototype keyboard can be worn on a sleeve with 11 keys, representing the numbers 0 to 9 as well as an asterisk. The researchers noted that this fabric could be stretched by up to 30 percent and that after 1,000 cycles of stretching and relaxation, the fabric stayed about 90 percent as electrically conducting as it did at the start.
