A stretchable breathable washable all-textile smart wearable keyboard

Abstract

The development of comfortable and lightweight wearable devices is an emerging technological goal in human-computer interaction. Conductive textiles attract a great deal of interest as versatile materials for wearable devices. It can naturally integrate into our daily clothing, making wearable devices more comfortable and convenient. However, developing all-textile wearable devices remains an important challenge. And the wiring of wearable devices in practical applications is also a thorny issue. In this study, a novel wearable smart keyboard is proposed. Benefit from the ingenious structural design of double-faced effect functional textiles and 3D spacer textiles, the smart keyboard achieves all-textile structure and the wires can also be hidden inside the 3D spacer textile. The smart keyboard is stretchable, breathable, washable and can be integrated with daily clothing by sewing. In addition to the functions of traditional keyboards, smart keyboards also have the ability to detect tapping force which lays the foundation for future intelligent applications, such as tracking the tapping force of typewriting to enhance security.The application examples of integrating the smart keyboard into lab-coat for typewriting are demonstrated. This study shows that the novel smart keyboard has great potential in the fields of wearable devices and human-computer interface.