A folded piece of futuristic looking multicoloured fabric. Embedded into the material are small lights and metallic wires. It gives the feeling of beauty and innovation.
| |

Smart Fabrics: Amazing Inventions Changing Healthcare, Space and Robots

ByHayley Frend
Toggle Switch
Select Reading Level
Adult Child

Imagine a world where robots designed to save lives can fix themselves when they break.
What if your plaster could check that you are healing and give you medicine when you need it?

Picture astronauts floating high above Earth, safe because their spacesuit seals any tears in seconds.
This could be tomorrow’s world, thanks to smart fabrics.

What makes a fabric smart?

When you think of ‘Smart’ clothing, maybe you think of a nice suit. But that’s not what scientists mean by smart fabrics.

In fact, smart fabrics have nothing to do with looking smart but being smart or clever. A smart fabric is some sort of clothing or textile that can ‘sense’ when something changes around it.

Maybe they notice when the temperature rises or when the person wearing them starts to move. Then, they do something clever in response, like change colour or send a message to a phone to say the wearer is too hot!

Or perhaps they can even tell when they are damaged and fix themselves! Incredible, right?

In this article, we’ll explore amazing fabrics that can do exactly that: heal themselves!
And it’s not just fabrics. Scientists have even created bricks made from moon dust and special bacteria that can fix cracks all on their own. Once you’re done here, check out our blog about it!

If you want to take a closer look at different kinds of Smart Materials, check out this video below. When you are ready, read on to dive into the world of smart fabrics!

Smart Fabrics, Making People Better Faster

Picture this: you’re walking through the park on a sunny day with your family.

Your mum’s smart T-shirt is sending signals to her phone, showing she’s fit and healthy and the walk is doing her good.

You pass a man on a bench, his leg is wrapped in a bandage. But it’s no ordinary bandage. It’s checking how he’s healing and releasing medicine when he needs it.

An elderly man walks by with his dog. He’s wearing a special belt that gently vibrates, reminding him to stand straighter or balance better. Since he started using it, he feels much more confident walking Fido.

A cartoon image of a woman wearing a smart T-shirt and holding her phone, a man on a bench wearing a bandage and an old man walking a dog wearing a belt. It depicts the scene described above.

This might sound like science fiction—but it’s not far off. Smart fabrics like these are already being developed and tested!

1. Gloves That Listen

One research team used tiny glass tubes containing special miniature machines that make sound waves. (If you need a quick refresher about how sound waves work-watch the video below.)
When these sound waves change shape, like when the fabric is moved or pressed, the machines notice. These tubes are so small, they can be woven into fabrics!

One exciting idea for this fabric?

  • Gloves that can pick up hand signals and translate sign language into spoken language.
    That would make it easier for people who use sign language to talk to those who don’t understand it. How incredible is that?

2. Self-powered smart fabrics

One challenge with smart fabrics is that they need a power source, like a battery. This can make them a bit bulky and uncomfortable to wear.

But Dr Yuning Li has developed a fabric which can use the sun’s energy or your own body’s heat to make its energy. The fabric can also sniff out changes in chemicals in the air.

This could be useful for things like a face mask that can tell if you are sick before you even have any symptoms!

A man with short black hair stands looking at the camera. He is wearing a black face mask. A city can be seen behind him, stretching into the distance.

Photo by Yogendra Singh on Unsplash

3. Fabrics to Help Us Find Our Balance

These smart fabrics aren’t just cool—they can change lives.

  • Imagine making sure grandma or grandpa can walk safely without worrying about falling.
  • Or helping someone who hurt their leg get moving again, faster and stronger, with a little robotic help in their clothes.

4-The Bandages of Tomorrow

And yes, just like our example, bandages are being developed, which can pick up changes in your wound. Perhaps it’s got infected and is getting very hot.

Or they can tell when nasty bacteria have gotten into the wound. The bandages can alert doctors, and some may even be able to release medicine to combat the problem straight away.

Smart Fabrics in Space

It’s not just here on Earth that smart fabrics are helping us. They have uses that are truly out of this world.

5. Self-Healing Spacesuits

When an astronaut puts on a space suit, there’s one thing they really don’t want- a rip. Space suits are filled with oxygen so astronauts can breathe. A tear means the oxygen escapes, dangerous stuff!

And if the tear happened before the astronaut put the suit on, it’s still a big problem.
After all, there aren’t many spacesuit shops in space!

That’s why scientists are working on suits that can heal themselves. Some have a special liquid plastic hidden inside.
If the suit gets torn, the plastic touches oxygen and instantly turns solid, plugging the hole.

Scientists even tested if it could plug a bullet hole in seconds. It could!

6. Not Too Hot, Not Too Cold – The Goldilocks Suit

Smart fabrics can also help astronauts stay just the right temperature. Not too hot, not too cold.

Space walks can be rather chilly affairs with temperatures plunging to -250°F in the shadow. At the same time, spacesuits must be able to withstand the incredible 250°F heat produced by the sun.

Special smart fabrics can absorb heat and release it when things turn too chilly!

An astronaut in a space suit stands on a rocky lunar surface

Image by Pixabay on Pexels

This is just the beginning of what smart fabrics and materials can do in space.
We will certainly rely on them if we ever hope to build homes on the moon or Mars, or travel long distances in space.

7. A Super Smart Cloak for Spaceships!

Imagine a spaceship that can feel what’s going on around it, just like skin!
In 2020, scientists sent a special piece of fabric into space to test something amazing.

This fabric is no ordinary cloth. It’s made with super-sensitive fibers that can hear when tiny bits of space dust hit it!

Even the tiniest speck of dust zooming through space can make a tiny sound when it bumps into the fabric.
That sound turns into an electric signal, which tells the spaceship exactly where and how the dust hit.

Pretty cool, right?

Photo by SpaceX on Pexels

One scientist, Juliana Cherston, hopes that one day this fabric will be so sensitive it can detect dust from explosions that happened millions of years ago in faraway stars!

This smart fabric could help scientists learn more about space dust and check if a spaceship is damaged.
It might even help astronauts feel through their big, clunky spacesuits!

And here on Earth, it could help detect blasts or other dangers.
So, this clever cloak isn’t just smart, it could be a game-changer, in space and on Earth!

Smart Fabrics for Smart Robots

8. Soft robots- tough lifesavers

Robots designed to save lives need to be tough, but being soft can help too!

This makes them better at:

  • Squeezing in tight gaps
  • Handling delicate objects
  • Not hurting people or things they bump into

For this reason, many robots used in surgeries or to hunt under collapsed buildings for people are given a ‘soft skin’.

The only problem is that, like our skin, this can easily get cut or damaged. But unlike our skin, the robot doesn’t form a scab. It can’t heal itself. Until now!

Scientists in Nebraska devised a clever three-layer robotic muscle.

  • The muscle can move
  • It has a skin that uses electricity to detect damage
  • When it senses damage, it heats up and melts a plastic layer, sealing the cut.Just like human skin can!

9. Robots You Can Wear!

Like an external skeleton, smart fabrics are being used to develop lightweight wearable robots!

These can help people who have difficulty moving or walking.

Tiny motors inside the fabric can help people move their arms or legs when they find it hard to do so themselves, like helping someone take a bigger step or lift their arm to reach something.

It’s like having a gentle robot helper built right into your clothes!

Are Smart Fabrics the Future?

You’ve seen just a few of the amazing smart fabrics being developed right now.
The future looks exciting, but there are still challenges.

  • Smart fabrics need to be comfortable and wearable
  • They need to last a long time and be washable
  • And we need to be able to make hundreds, not just one or two at a time

This will be a challenge given how complex they are!

A brunette young woman looks at the camera. She is wearing a shirt that is glowing and covered with electric circuits. It gives a very futuristic feel.

But researchers all over the world are seeing these issues not as problems but exciting challenges to overcome.

And as technology improves, we’ll see smart fabrics in more and more places.

Best of all, self-healing smart fabrics are also good for the planet.
Instead of throwing things away when they break, we might be able to fix them automatically, saving the planet’s precious resources.

Tonights Dinner Table Discussion

Here’s some ideas to spark a fascinating discussion.

  • What are the good and bad things about clothes that can collect information about your body?
  • Do you think astronauts feel safe wearing self-healing spacesuits? Why or why not?
  • Can you think of a way smart fabrics could help animals or pets?
  • How would the world be different if all clothes could heal themselves?

Big Family Question:

If you could invent a smart piece of clothing for yourself, what would it do? What about if you could invent one for your family members?

Science is awesome. So is asking questions.

Learn how to spot real discoveries from made-up ones with our easy 4-step checklist.
It’s fun, printable and free! Grab yours below.

Gloves that hear? Belts that stop you from falling? Sometimes it feels like there’s a new incredible invention every day. Sign up for the Trailblazing newsletter today to get more unbelievable science straight to your inbox.

Keep Exploring

Want to see more high tech medicine in action- check out –Microrobots Navigating the Lungs

Or fancy some more incredible space science? How about Self-healing Space Bricks made from Moon Dust!

Let’s Talk About It!

Now it’s your turn:

If you could invent a smart fabric that does anything, what would it do?

Maybe your idea could change the world and help millions of people!
We can’t wait to hear your amazing inventions in the comments below.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *