A robotic fabric laced with sensors that can contract and move on its own is being developed by researchers, leading to suggestions that the technology could provide the basis for future spacesuits, aid high-endurance work or even minimise g-force effects in flight.

The fabric, which was developed by researchers at Perdue University, is made of cotton embedded with flexible polymer sensors.

It’s key feature, however, is a series of strands of a shape-memory allow that can switch from hard to soft in response to an electrical current. The result is a fabric that can contract and move of its own accord, potentially in a completely different direction to the natural movement of the wearer.

The combination of movement-giving and sensing technology is unusual in robotic fabric research.

“We have integrated both actuation and sensing, whereas most robotic fabrics currently in development feature only sensing or other electronic components that utilize conductive thread,” said Rebecca Kramer, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Purdue University.

We also use standard sewing techniques to introduce the thread-like actuators and sensors into the fabric, so they could conceivably be integrated into the existing textile manufacturing infrastructure.”

The researchers found that by wrapping the robotic fabric around a balloon or foam, they could provide more significant movement. Wrapped in one direction, the fabric bent the foam, providing an inching, worm-like movement, while in the other it compressed it, making the foam move like a snake.

This technology could be used to aid high-strength or endurance work, by taking some of the pressure off the wearer’s human muscles and thus making them more able to perform exhausting physical tasks.

It could also be highly valuable to pilots and astronauts in providing protection from potential g-force injury during acceleration.

As a result it could make an ideal material for future space suits, protecting astronauts during flight and then aiding their movement in abnormal gravity situations.

Most interesting, perhaps, is the technology’s potential to be used to create robotic explorers on alien worlds: the flexible electronics are far less sensitive to vibration than classic silicon-based hardware, so they would be more durable, and they could be stored as sheets or rolls of fabric during flight, making them easy to transport.

The technology could be very useful during a manned mission to Mars, as the astronauts would be able to use the fabric to make robots as and when they were needed.

“We will be able to design robots on the fly,” explained Kramer.

“Anything can be a robot because all of the robotic technology is in the fabric or skin.”

Body images courtesy of Purdue University/Rebecca Kramer.