Textile-Based Strain Sensor for Human Motion Detection

Human motion analysis consists of real-time monitoring and recording of human body's kinematics. It is very essential to track ambulatory and daily-life human motion, which is crucial for many applications and disciplines. Electronic textiles (e-textiles) afford a valid alternative to traditional solid-state sensors due to their merits of low cost, lightweight, flexibility, and feasibility to fit various human bodies. In this mini-review, textile-based sensor platforms and human motion analysis are well discussed in Section 1. Second, theoretical principles of textile-based strain sensors are introduced including resistive, capacitive, and piezoelectrical sensors. Section 3 focuses on various types of textile materials that are functionalized as sensing systems by intrinsic or extrinsic modifications. Section 4 summaries various types of e-textile-based strain sensors for human motion analysis. The final two sections mainly present perspectives and challenges, and conclusions, respectively.