Designing a self-aware jacket: insights into smart garment's creation process

Abstract

Smart textiles and garments promise intriguing new possibilities for the wearer. Integrated interaction can create new experiences and sensors can detect relevant information about the wearer. However, this poses an additional challenge for the designer of smart garments, about how to integrate these technologies. In this work, we want to investigate how human intuition and technical knowledge feed into the design of smart garments. Using a jacket that tracks its whereabouts as a use case, we have collected a dataset from 18 test subjects with varying technical knowledge, on what sensor patterns they would create on the garment. Using a specifically created simulation framework, we have evaluated the performance of the created sensor patterns. We observed that many participants intuitively create well-working patterns, while technical knowledge does not play a significant role in the resulting performance.