Speculative Fashion Advances with Sumbrella, a Soft Robotic Wearable System for Exploration

The increasing prevalence of wearable robotics necessitates designs that consider both practical function and social impact, and researchers are now actively exploring this intersection. Amy Ingold, Loong Yi Lee, and Richard Suphapol Diteesawat, alongside colleagues at various institutions, present Sumbrella, a soft robotic garment created as a means of investigating future possibilities for wearable technology. This innovative piece, combining origami-inspired structures, pneumatic actuation, and computer vision, serves as a ‘speculative fashion probe’ to understand how people perceive and interact with soft robotics in everyday life. The team’s work, informed by discussions with creative technologists, not only highlights the exciting potential for expressive and communicative garments, but also raises crucial ethical questions surrounding surveillance, personal safety, and the broader societal implications of embedding technology into our clothing, offering valuable guidance for the future development of human-robot interaction.

Dog-Owner Bonds And Canine Emotional Reactivity

Research connects the relationship between dogs and their owners with how dogs react emotionally, considering both owner interpretations and canine personality. This work explores the complex interplay of these factors in shaping a dog’s emotional responses.

Soft Robotic Garment Explores Social Interaction

Scientists engineered Sumbrella, a soft robotic garment, to investigate the intersection of wearable technology, social interaction, and ethical considerations. This research pioneered a novel approach to human-robot interaction through speculative design, focusing on exploring potential future scenarios rather than simply solving existing problems. The study involved fabricating a hat and bolero jacket system integrating sequenced origami-inspired bistable units and fabric pneumatic actuation chambers, enabling dynamic shape-shifting of the garment. The system uses computer vision to distinguish between individuals and objects, triggering specific responses based on the social context, such as revealing the wearer’s face when a single person approaches and adopting a protective configuration with multiple people nearby.

The hat also adapts to confined spaces, altering its shape to avoid collisions, demonstrating environmental awareness. While primarily autonomous, a manual override allows for selection of preset shapes. A focus group with creative technologists used Sumbrella as a “probe” to discuss the potential of soft robotic wearables, surfacing concerns regarding exploitation, surveillance, and the ethical challenges of integrating biosensing technologies into public life, demonstrating how speculative design can stimulate critical debate about the acceptability of wearable robots.

Soft Robotics and Social Perception of Wearables

Scientists developed Sumbrella, a soft robotic garment, to explore the intersection of wearable technology and social perception. The garment integrates origami-inspired bistable units, fabric pneumatic actuation chambers, and cable-driven shape morphing mechanisms into a hat and bolero jacket system, housing all power and control electronics. Experiments with a focus group of twelve creative technologists revealed detailed insights into how people interpret and envision future relationships with soft robotic wearables, demonstrating the potential for kinesic communication offered by such garments. Participants readily engaged with the speculative possibilities, exploring how the garment could express and influence social dynamics. However, the study also surfaced critical concerns, including potential for exploitation and surveillance, as well as the personal and societal risks associated with embedding biosensing technologies into public life. This work delivers key recommendations for designing soft robotic garments, emphasizing the need for ethical guidelines and careful consideration of social impact, demonstrating the importance of proactively addressing these concerns during the design process.

Soft Robotic Garments and Social Perception

This research applies soft robotic techniques to fashion, exploring future human-robot interactions and how people perceive such technology. The team developed Sumbrella, a soft robotic garment, to investigate both the potential benefits and ethical concerns surrounding soft robotic wearables. The study demonstrates that these garments can effectively communicate social meaning through biomimetic movement, evoking positive responses from participants. The investigation revealed a tension between the appealing features of soft robotic fashion and questions about potential exploitation, surveillance, and the ethics of integrating biosensing into everyday life. Researchers acknowledge limitations in material sourcing, planning to prioritise environmentally friendly materials in future iterations. This work contributes to the field of Human-Robot Interaction by highlighting the value of speculative design as a method for exploring complex social implications, and by offering recommendations for designing ethically responsible soft robotic garments.