Lan Ge

Sensory activities are used to increase social engagement for people with dementia, who may struggle to participate in activities due to deteriorating cognitive functions. Sensory tools are used but these can be inappropriate since they are not designed for people with dementia. This paper details the design of an e-textile sensory tool for people with dementia, with stakeholders in Mainland China. The concept, a sensory wall, was derived from a previous co-design project in Hong Kong. However, the design context differs, and this work highlights barriers to implementing co-design in sensory tool design. Instead, this project took a collaborative customization approach. This paper describes the design processes and evaluations for the first and second sensory wall, with context on dementia care in Mainland China. This paper highlights considerations in the design of a sensory tool for people with dementia, and the benefits of stakeholder engagement in sensory tool design.

This paper introduces a weaving method to develop three-dimensional and stretchable polymeric optical fiber (POF) fabrics with double weave. It was discovered from the literature that the appearance and property of existing POF textiles are still quite limited. So far, stretch performance has not been realized for POF textiles. The goal of this paper is to determine the design parameters of creating three-dimensional and stretchable POF textiles. The new properties for POF textiles were realized by combing double weave and elastic yarns with suitable motifs. The surface dimension and stretch were compared for eight POF samples . From the experimental results, it was shown that the POF fabrics woven with the unstitched double weave at substantial transverse areas exhibited the most effective three-dimensional effect and stretch. The POF samples created in this study showcased the characteristics of dimensional surface, great volume, high stretch, as well as unique luminous effects.

Polymeric optical fibres (POFs) can be integrated into a textile structure for illuminative fashion and interior fabric applications. In this study, the development of a touch-sensitive POF fabric system through the integration of conductive yarns and an electronic controlling system was explored. Distinct from conventional sensor applications, the capacitive sensor used in this study was embedded into the textile structure using conductive yarns via experimentations with different weave structures. With the embedded controlling system and RGB light-emitting diodes, the POF fabrics were able to transfer sensory signals into illumination. This study combined novel weaving techniques, different materials and electronic system development to develop a multi-touch interface based on textile capacitive sensors that can sense both touch contact and non-contact/proximity. The final prototype can be washed up to 10 laundry cycles. The results demonstrated that multiple functionalities can be integrated into the structure to produce an interactive textile based product.