Wearable Sensing Clothes Embedding a Hetero-core Optic Fiber for Recognizing Arm Segment Posture and Motion

The objective of this study was to develop a wearable sensing clothes which can detect entire body posture and motion using a hetero-core optic fiber sensor. The hetero-core fiber sensor has been developed as a bend-sensitive sensor, and it has been found that the optical loss of the hetero-core fiber sensing element monotonically increased with bending action of hetero-core portion. This sensor was applied to detect arm segment posture and motion. We fabricated a wearable-sensing wristband and clothes which could recognize waving hand and beckoning, flexion of arm and motion of shoulder. As a result, we have successfully demonstrated that the wearable sensing clothes could monitor arm posture and motion at a sampling rate of 60 samples/s.