Machine-knittable, Magnetically-Plug-n-Play E-Textile Prototyping
About
Electronic textiles (e-textiles) integrated with wearable sensors are essential for daily motion monitoring and long-term physiological sensing. For example, capturing optimal kinematic or bio-signals requires aligning sensors with specific anatomical parts, which vary significantly across individuals and application scenarios. This necessity for personalization makes e-textile prototyping inherently iterative, however current fabrication methods, such as manual conductive stitching, rely on permanent bonds that restrict rapid adjustment. This paper introduces Plug-n-play e-knit, a machine-knittable e-textile prototyping platform that enables repeatable, quick adjustment of sensor positions across garments. First, to cover the large area of the textile for prototyping, we use industrial digital knitting of conductive yarn to integrate power and communication buses directly into the large-scale textile. Then, to ensure plug-n-play attachment to the textile, we employ soft-magnetic connectors that enable sensors to be repeatedly plugged into the wiring without damaging the fabric. Furthermore, our LED-positioning system enables the automatic identification and localization of each sensor node. We demonstrate the platform's capabilities through forearm movement calibration and position-aware temperature mapping.