ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of existing flexible and stretchable sensors, actuators, and transducers systems with a focus on their applications for the next generation of human-machine interface. The rise of ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Thing has brought us into an era where our physical and digital worlds start to blend, seamlessly coupling without boundaries. Textiles are soft and conformable materials, as opposed to conventional electronics built on rigid structures or flexible substrates that can only be deformed along one axis. The mechanical properties and the appeal of our skin presents several exciting tactile and visual interaction possibilities. SkinMarks explores the applications of conformal electronics for novel on-skin input and output devices. The ultra-flexible light-emitting diodes are fabricated using polymeric light-emitting materials, sandwiched in-between two thin electrodes. Most of the gesture recognition platforms used in consumer electronics or research prototypes rely on vision-sensing.
