Hand-Made Embroidered Electromyography

Some of you will know that I have had a long standing relationship with CoRE, Centre for Robotics Research at Kings College London.  Last year I was involved in an EPSRC GCRF project to investigate the potential of hand sewn e-textile muscle sensors as a reusable and lower cost alternative to mass produced sensors.

I am very pleased to announce that thanks to Samuel Pitou and Matthew Howard’s hard work, a paper on this project has just been published in the MDPI Journal Sensors.  You can read about it here https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/12/3347

I ran a series of workshops with the women’s group Shelanu in Birmingham and at the Science Gallery in London to help  test this hypothesis.  Participants were asked to sew and test a given number of sensors and these were then laboratory tested later.

So this is the technical jargon bit…..When you move a muscle in your body electrical impulses, electromyopthy, can be measured on the surface of the skin (sEMG).  This research project was to compare the results for hand embroidered sEMGs alongside machine stitched and mass produced single use stick on sensors.  The rationale was that because they are on a fabric substrate there is potential for laundering and therefore re-use which may be a cheaper and more sustainable.   Because a hand sewn sensor does not need expensive equipment and relies on straight forward sewing techniques there is also the potential for them to be made by Community Interest Companies (CIC) within the populations of the low income countries where they might be used.

Want to know what the point is?  This short film shows embroidered sEMGs picking up electrical impulses on the skin to drive a robotic limb

Hand Sewn Electrode Hack

Mediators training to embroider sesnors at the Science Gallery London

You might remember that I have been working with the guys at the Centre for Robotics Research, Kings College London.  We have been working collaboratively developing embroidered sesnors that can pick up electrical muscle impulses off the skin

You can read about the start of the project here https://karinathompsontextiles.blogspot.com/2015/01/

Sam Pitou at KCL is particularly interested in developing embroidered sensors for low cost robotic prostheses in developing countries and we have been creating hand stitched sensors to investigate their suitability.

We are asking people to drop into the exhibition Spare Parts at the Science Gallery London  Great Maze Pond, London, SE1 9GU before 31^st March 2019 and join us in creating sensors for a live research project.  

On Saturday 23^rd March we are also running a Hand-Sewn Electrode Hack

In this workshop and research project, participants are shown how to use stainless steel conductive thread and embroidery techniques to craft electrodes which can detect muscular activity (electromyography) and enable prosthesis wearers to control the moving parts of their artificial limb.

The Hand-Sewing Textile EMG research project investigates cheap and effective alternatives to industrially produced electrodes which can be prohibitively expensive.

On the day take on the challenge to sew 10 electrodes in 3 hours, and feed directly into live research. Bring busy fingers, a patient frame of mind, and good chat!

https://london.sciencegallery.com/seasons/spare-parts/exhibition/hand-sewn-electrode-hack

'All the things you are not yet'..... In conversation

Mathew Howard from the Centre for Robotics Research at Kings College London and I were in conversation as part of the ‘In conversation’ wing of the Paths to Utopia Exhibition.  This is the link if you would like to see the conversation

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/Cultural/Cultural-Institute/Utopia2016/In-conversation-live-streams.aspx

Meet the boys

October 2013: a young woman leans over a medical technician and takes a photograph of a computer monitor with her mobile phone. On the screen are images of the two bundles of cells that the technician is about to implant in her womb. The woman was my partner’s sister, Lynsey Mogg, and the cells go on to grow into her two sons, Rufus and Rafe.

I think this image is one of the most remarkable photos I have ever seen in my life.  

 It’s the starting point for the Paths to Utopia project that will be at Somerset House this summer.  The plan is that  the image will be printed onto fabric and then embroider speakers into it to make a ‘singing quilt’.  The quilt will then play a sound file of the boys when you are in front of the piece.

Oh yes, and this is how they looked when they had a very exciting afternoon out at the park near our house.

This project is made possible with the support of The Cultural Institute at King’s College London, premiering as part of Utopia 2016.