Development of Soft Robotic Clothing for Adaptive Thermal Management

The objective of this project is to develop a novel soft robotic clothing system for personal thermal management, which is adaptive to changes in thermal environment. The soft robotic clothing will tune and optimize the heat and moisture transport properties, based on a programmable inflation-deflation process of the embedded soft robotic skeletons. The proposed clothing will automatically increase the still air gap to enhance the thermal insulation in a very cold condition, and deflate the air to reduce the thermal resistance when warmer. In addition to thermal adaption, the clothing will maintain consistently high breathability for comfort and performance. This intelligent clothing made by durable fabric materials is soft, light, and conformable to human body. It can be used not only by citizens under different thermal climates for enhanced thermal comfort and reduced HVAC energy consumption, but also by various professionals such as medical personnel, outdoor workers, fire fighters, and winter athletes, who always wear thick functional uniforms in varied temperatures and personal activities.