Soft Wearable Knee Brace with Embedded Sensors for Knee Motion Monitoring

• Published in: 2021 43rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC) Vol. 2021; pp. 7348 - 7351
• Main Authors: Gupta, Ujjaval, Lau, Jun Liang, Ahmed, Alvee, Chia, Pei Zhi, Song Soh, Gim, Low, Hong Yee
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.11.2021
• Subjects: Biomedical monitoring; Knee; Motion; Robot sensing systems; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Sensors; Textiles; Tracking; Walking; Wearable Electronic Devices
• ISSN: 2694-0604
• DOI: 10.1109/EMBC46164.2021.9630023

E-textiles have shown great potential for development of soft sensors in applications such as rehabilitation and soft robotics. However, existing approaches require the textile sensors to be attached externally onto a substrate or the garment surface. This paper seeks to address the issue by embedding the sensor directly into the wearable using a computer numerical control (CNC) knitting machine. First, we proposed a design of the wearable knee brace. Next, we demonstrated the capability to knit a sensor with the stretchable surrounding fabric. Subsequently, we characterized the sensor and developed a model for the sensor's electromechanical property. Lastly, the fully knitted knee brace with embedded sensor is tested, by performing three different activities: a simple Flexion-extension exercise, walking, and jogging activity with a single test subject. Results show that the knitted knee brace sensor can track the subject's knee motion well, with a Spearman's coefficient (r s ) value of 0.87 when compared to the reference standard.