Interactive textile interface using capacitive sensing threads and embedded ML for gesture control and behavioral sensing.

I was first introduced to Computing Fabrics through the MIT course 3.173 Computing Fabrics, taught by Prof. Yoel Fink. The class is project-based and pairs MIT and RISD students for interdisciplinary collaboration.

For the final project, Sofar, we developed a computing fabric–embedded sofa that allows users to control their TV through simple gestures on the armrest while also monitoring body temperature and sitting duration to provide health and behavioral insights. I worked with a RISD textiles major to build the interactive fabric prototype. The capacitive and thermal sensing threads were provided as part of the course toolkit.

Neural Network

The model was trained on EDGE IMPULSE and loaded the weights to the feather board.

Circuit

Because the Feather board lacks sufficient ADC channels for capacitive sensing and has limited processing capability for this project, the system uses three microcontroller boards: two primarily for sensing and one dedicated to the classification model for gesture recognition and command transmission.

Demo Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK6oEHlcilE

Other Capacitive Sensing Projects