{"id":293793,"date":"2026-02-12T07:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T07:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293793\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T07:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T07:39:08","slug":"loose-fit-sensors-match-tight-wearables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293793\/","title":{"rendered":"Loose-fit sensors match tight wearables"},"content":{"rendered":"

The discovery could mark\u00a0a potential breakthrough\u202ffor a range of technologies, including\u202fimproving accuracy\u00a0on\u00a0personal health devices, such as\u202fFitbits\u00a0and smart watches,\u202fto\u202fenhancing\u00a0motion capture for CGI\u202fmovie\u202fcharacters.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

It could also support\u202fhealth and medical research\u202fby making it easier to gather data on\u202fconditions\u202faffecting mobility such as Parkinson\u2019s.\u202fThe research is detailed in Nature Communications<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The research\u00a0found\u00a0that\u00a0loose fabric\u00a0can predict\u00a0and capture\u00a0the\u00a0body\u2019s movements with 40 per cent more accuracy\u202fand needing 80 per cent less data,\u202fthan if a sensor were stuck to skin.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, co-author Dr\u00a0Matthew\u00a0Howard, a reader in engineering at KCL<\/a>,\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cWhen we think about technology that tracks movement\u00a0–\u00a0like a Fitbit on your wrist or the\u202fsuits actors wear to play CGI characters\u00a0–\u00a0we\u202fhad thought that\u202fthe sensors\u00a0need to be\u00a0tight against the body\u202fto produce the most accurate results.\u202fThe common belief is that if a sensor is loose, the data will be \u2018noisy\u2019 or messy.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever,\u202four research has proven over multiple experiments\u202fthat\u202floose, flowing clothing\u202factually makes\u202fmotion tracking significantly more\u202faccurate.\u202fMeaning, we could move away from \u2018wearable tech\u2019 that feels like medical equipment and toward \u2018smart clothing\u2019\u00a0– like a simple button or pin on a dress\u00a0–\u00a0that tracks your health while you feel completely natural\u202fgoing about your day.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0research found that\u00a0loose fabric\u00a0acts\u00a0like\u00a0a \u2018mechanical amplifier, making movement easier to detect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start to move your arm, a loose sleeve doesn’t just sit there; it folds, billows, and shifts in complex ways\u202f- reacting more sensitively to the movements than\u202fa tighter fitting sensor,\u201d said Dr Howard.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to KCL, this\u202fcould bring smart clothing one step closer, with the potential to add sensors to buttons on shirts\u202fas\u202fa discrete alternative to existing devices.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The researchers also believe the findings have potential to transform the\u202ffield of robotics research\u202fas well as\u202fautomated\u202ftechnologies\u202fthat\u202fuse gesture-based control\u202fto\u202fturn on\u202fthe lights\u202for a tap.<\/p>\n

MORE FROM WEARABLE TECH<\/a><\/p>\n

Scientists tested\u202fsensors on a\u202fwide\u202frange of\u202fdifferent\u202ffabrics\u202fwith human and robot subjects undertaking a variety of\u202fdifferent movements.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

They compared results from the loose-fabric method with conventional motion sensors fixed to straps and tight-fitting garments, and found the fabric-based approach consistently identified movements faster, with greater accuracy, and using less data to generate predictions.<\/p>\n

Looser fabric\u00a0was also able to distinguish\u00a0between\u202fvery similar\u202for subtle, barely detectable\u202fmovements.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Co-author\u00a0Dr Irene\u00a0Di\u00a0Giulio,\u202fsenior lecturer in\u202fanatomy and biomechanics\u00a0at KCL,\u202fsaid:\u00a0\u201cSometimes, a patient’s movements are too small for a tight wristband to catch\u202fand therefore we\u202fcan\u2019t\u202falways get the most\u202faccurate\u202fdata on how conditions like Parkinson\u2019s are affecting people\u2019s\u202feveryday\u202flives.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis breakthrough means we could\u202ftrack people in\u202fthe comfort of\u202ftheir own homes or a care home,\u202fin their\u202feveryday\u202fclothing.\u00a0It\u00a0could\u202fbecome\u00a0easier\u202ffor doctors to\u202fmonitor\u202ftheir patients, as well as\u202fmedical researchers to gather vital\u202fdata\u202fneeded\u202fto inform\u202four understanding of these\u202fconditions,\u202fand\u202fdevelop new therapies including\u202fwearable\u202ftechnologies that cater for these kinds of\u202fdisabilities.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Howard,\u202fan expert in robotics research, believes this\u202fwork\u202fcould transform data collection on\u202fhuman\u202fmobility\u202fto develop better, smarter robots.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA\u202flot of robotics research is about\u202flearning\u202ffrom\u202fhuman behaviour\u202ffor robots to mimic, but\u202fto do this\u202fyou need huge amounts of data\u202fcollected from every day human movements, and not\u202fmany people are willing to strap up in a\u202fLycra\u202fsuit and go about their daily business,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0explained.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research offers the possibility of\u202fattaching\u202fdiscreet\u202fsensors to\u202feveryday\u202fclothing, so we can start to collect the\u202finternet-scale of human behaviour\u202fdata, needed to revolutionise the field of robotics.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The discovery could mark\u00a0a potential breakthrough\u202ffor a range of technologies, including\u202fimproving accuracy\u00a0on\u00a0personal health devices, such as\u202fFitbits\u00a0and smart watches,\u202fto\u202fenhancing\u00a0motion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,140226,140230,140227,140228,80,140229],"class_list":["post-293793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-loose-clothing-sensors","tag-motion-prediction","tag-motion-tracking","tag-smart-clothing","tag-technology","tag-wearable-sensors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}