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BRODER

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF SMART TEXTILES USING EMBROIDERY TECHNOLOGY

Field
Regional
Date
01/01/2021 - 01/06/2022
Industry
  • Furniture
  • Home textiles
Budget
217172,37
Funded by

IVACE

Website
Video

PROJECT INFORMATION

DESCRIPTION

New trends and technologies are shaping a new concept of urban living, which entails a profound change. In this sense, people's relationship with their home will change radically, relying more and more on virtual assistants and interconnected devices.

The connected home is starting to become a reality and, although the technology in most cases is already available, the big challenge is to match it with real consumer demand. It is undoubtedly a bet on the future that still has a long way to go, but currently there are some barriers, such as high prices, usability, doubts about safety, and automation in the manufacturing process.

The present R&D project aims to minimize mainly the latter, since embroidery technology will be used in the development of different smart textile solutions. It is a mature and effective technology for the integration of sensors, actuators, interconnection and energy transport in a multitude of fabrics, as well as for the development of new technical textile structures with high added value.

The use of home automation devices is not new, as they began to be marketed decades ago, although their use has been mostly limited to luxury or technology-savvy homes. However, due to the introduction and rise of the Internet of Things, the connected home promises to be a much more plausible reality, which will materialize in homes with a notorious sensorization, ensuring a more comfortable and efficient experience for the user, providing numerous benefits such as: increased security, mobility and user comfort, being able to cover health and care needs, as well as leisure and entertainment.

The great challenge is not to develop new smart devices that are simply stored in our homes, but to get users to perceive the new functionalities of the devices (smart textiles) as real needs. In addition, home automation must be user-friendly, easy to use, install and maintain, ubiquitous, but unobtrusive and respectful of our privacy.

The main objective of the BRODER project is to carry out research to develop intelligent textiles with high added value using embroidery technology for home automation applications.

To this end, 4 distinct but complementary lines of research are proposed for the development of intelligent textiles for home automation applications:

Research and development of wireless power transmission systems using embroidery of conductive threads.
Research and development of pressure/presence sensors to be integrated on textiles using conventional embroidery technology.
Research and development of sequins incorporating advanced environmental sensors in order to highly automate the development of smart textiles.
Research and development of textile loudspeakers capable of reproducing sound messages or even music.
The BRODER project will improve the industry's capacity for innovation, thanks to research into the application of embroidery technology to obtain intelligent textiles in an automated manner, which is expected to represent a scientific and technological breakthrough, both nationally and internationally.

New trends and technologies are shaping a new concept of urban living, which entails a profound change. In this sense, people’s relationship with their home will change radically, relying more and more on virtual assistants and interconnected devices.

The connected home is starting to become a reality and, although the technology in most cases is already available, the big challenge is to match it with real consumer demand. It is undoubtedly a bet on the future that still has a long way to go, but currently there are some barriers, such as high prices, usability, security concerns, and automation in the manufacturing process.

The present R&D project aims to minimize mainly the latter, since embroidery technology will be used in the development of different smart textile solutions. It is a mature and effective technology for the integration of sensors, actuators, interconnection and energy transport in a multitude of fabrics, as well as for the development of new technical textile structures with high added value.

The use of home automation devices is not new, as they began to be marketed decades ago, although their use has been mostly limited to luxury or technology-savvy homes. However, due to the introduction and rise of the Internet of Things, the connected home promises to be a much more plausible reality, which will materialize in homes with a notorious sensorization, ensuring a more comfortable and efficient experience for the user, providing numerous benefits such as: increased security, mobility and user comfort, being able to cover health and care needs, as well as leisure and entertainment.

The great challenge is not to develop new smart devices that are simply stored in our homes, but to get users to perceive the new functionalities of the devices (smart textiles) as real needs. In addition, home automation must be user-friendly, easy to use, install and maintain, ubiquitous, but unobtrusive and respectful of our privacy.

The main objective of the BRODER project is to carry out research to develop intelligent textiles with high added value using embroidery technology for home automation applications.

To this end, 4 distinct but complementary lines of research are proposed for the development of intelligent textiles for home automation applications:

Research and development of wireless power transmission systems using embroidery of conductive threads.
Research and development of pressure/presence sensors to be integrated on textiles using conventional embroidery technology.
Research and development of sequins incorporating advanced environmental sensors in order to highly automate the development of smart textiles.
Research and development of textile loudspeakers capable of reproducing sound messages or even music.
The BRODER project will improve the industry’s capacity for innovation, thanks to research into the application of embroidery technology to obtain intelligent textiles in an automated manner, which is expected to represent a scientific and technological breakthrough, both nationally and internationally.

Contact information

Jorge Moreno
Head of Intelligent Textiles and Digitalization Research Group

AITEX

Technological capabilities

Robotics
Advanced electronics