MIT News: Textile production has yet again become useful by putting its limitless potential to add innovative developments. Now it is possible to change fabrics into wearable computers. There’s a latest MIT buzz going around about a team of MIT researchers, BioLogic. It has created a brilliant form of performance fabric by including bio-materials in its design (MIT Self ventilating suit).
BioLogic is growing living actuators and creating responsive bio-skin in the era where, they declare, “bio is the new interface.” We are imagining a world where actuators and sensors can be grown rather than being manufactured.
MIT buzz: This science research team has come with a new workout suit which is self ventilating. The reactive nature of an ancient bacteria, Bacillus subtilis natto, towards atmospheric moisture to include the self ventilating property of the workout suit.
THE WORKING PRINCIPLE OF MIT SELF VENTILATING SUIT
According to MIT News, MIT Self ventilating suit has ventilating flaps which can open and close in response to the sweat and heat generated in the athlete’s body.
MIT Self ventilating suit: Why use live cells in responsive fabrics?
The moisture sensitive cells in MIT self ventilating suit involve no additional elements for functioning. Also these cells have proven to be safe to touch and even consume. It is high time that we introduce the new genetic engineering tools to make our constructs.
Wen Wang, the paper’s head author and a research scientist at MIT labs confirmed these natto cells of their value. These cells are so strong that they can cause bending to the fabric material. In addition to the reactive property of the cells, they were further engineered to express fluorescence to humid conditions. This ‘no sweat’ garment has proved its ideal nature in many ways.
People may think heat and sweat are the same, but in fact, some areas like the lower spine produce lots of sweat but not much heat. “We redesigned the garment using a fusion of heat and sweat maps to, for example, make flaps bigger where the body generates more heat.”, said the MIT team.
VENTILATING RUNNING SHOES
In addition to MIT Self ventilating suit, the MIT buzz creating team also includes the moisture-responsive fabric into a rough sample of a running shoe. The researchers sewed several flaps of the natto cell fiber into the inner walls of the shoes. By introducing these type of shoes to athletes or even the common crowd, diseases caused due to sweating like warts can be prevented. The shoes also work in the similar fashion of the workout suit.
The responsive layer acts as a second skin to the wearer. The concept of a second skin would suggest a new genre for responsive packaging. This new field of ‘living’ materials and devices will find important applications at the interface between engineering and biological systems.
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