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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of biomotion visibility aids for nighttime bicyclists compared to other configurations via 3D eye-tracking technology in a blind between-subjects experiment.

A total of 40 participants were randomly assigned one of four visibility aid conditions in the form of videos: biomotion (retroreflective knee and ankle bands), non-biomotion (retroreflective vest configuration), pseudo-biomotion (vertical retroreflective stripes on the back of the legs), and control (all-black clothing). Gaze fixations on a screen were measured with a 3D eye-tracking system; coordinate data for each condition were analyzed via one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post-hoc analyses with supplementary heatmaps. Post-experimental questionnaires addressed participants’ qualitative assessments.

Significant differences in eye gaze location were found between the four reflective clothing design conditions in X-coordinate values (p<0.01) and Y-coordinate values (p<0.05).

This research has the potential to further inform clothing designers and manufacturers on how to incorporate biomotion to increase bicyclist visibility and safety.

This research has the potential to benefit both drivers and nighttime bicyclists through a better understanding of how biomotion can increase visibility and safety.

There is lack of literature addressing the issue of the commonly administered experimental task of recognizing bicyclists and its potential bias on participants’ attention and natural driving state. Eye-tracking has the potential to implicitly determine attention and visibility, devoid of biases to attention. A new retroreflective visibility aid design, pseudo-biomotion, was also introduced in this experiment.

The purpose of this paper is to understand people’s preferred design and functional features for mosquito-bite protective clothing.

Total 348 participants were asked through an online survey about their perceptions and behaviors related to mosquito bite prevention, preferred design and functional features for clothing, preferred design and functional features for smart clothing, preferred types of transferred data, and their demographic backgrounds. A series of t-tests and analyses of variance were computed using IBM’s SPSS 24.0.

There were significant differences in functional and design preferences among participants (p<0.05~0.001). The results suggest developing mosquito protective clothing as long pants for married people and outerwear for younger groups (10-40s), long-sleeved tops for all, and using thick fabrics for younger people than those over the 50s. Designers can develop smart clothing that can repel mosquitos through scents and cover the body, or as smart watches or wristbands to protect against mosquito bites. The connected software can present data about the mosquito numbers around the user, distances between the user and mosquitos, and product status. Marketers can target parents who showed more willingness to use the mosquito-bite protective clothing than individuals without children.

The outcomes of the study will help designers when developing mosquito-bite protective clothing and ultimately decrease the rate of diseases transmitted by mosquitos.

The purpose of this paper is to understand different preferences and important design factors for wearable soft robots (WSR) and understand how these differences affect people’s perception, attitude and behavioral intentions toward using the WSR.

An online survey was conducted to purposely sampled participants who are adults aged over 18 of both genders with movement disabilities living in the USA. The collected data were analyzed through Welch’s t-test, Welch’s analysis of variance and linear- and multi-regressions for quantitative data and major theme extractions for qualitative data.

The results identified preferred functions and designs and important design factors for WSR and how these influence to users’ perception, attitude and behaviors on WSR.

The number of people with movement disabilities is anticipated to increase worldwide and it is essential to understand users for developing wearable movement aids for people with movement disabilities. However, there is no research on what functions and designs are preferred by WSR users and what aspects designers need to consider when developing these WSR. Thus, this research will contribute to the body of knowledge in WSR design; help WSR developers, designers and researchers better incorporate users’ preferences in the design process; and ultimately enhance the quality of life of people who have movement disabilities.

This study aims to conduct text mining and semantic network analysis of muscle-supportive and posture-corrective wearable robots for the elderly to understand key terms related to the topic and to identify considerations for developing these types of clothing.

The authors searched and identified the key terms wearable robot, muscle-supportive, posture correction and elderly using the text-mining software Textom to extract terms as well as the network analysis software UCINET 6 to process and visualize the relationships among the terms. The authors compared and analyzed the term frequency (TF), the TF-inverse document frequency and the degree centrality of the terms, and the authors visualized and summarized the terms using NetDraw.

The key terms and their relationships in 3–4 groups were identified: wearable robot, muscle-supportive, posture correction and elderly. The authors identified the aspects of designing muscle-supportive and posture-corrective wearable robots for the elderly.

This study contributes to the field of muscle-supportive clothing and wearable robotics by deriving insights into what people are discussing and interested in, and by offering recommendations when developing these types of clothing for the elderly.

The objective of this study was to develop wearable suit platforms with various anchoring structure designs with the intention of improving wearability and enhancing user satisfaction.

This study selected fabrics and materials for the suit platform through material performance tests. Two anchoring structure designs, 11-type and X-type are compared with regular clothing under control conditions. To evaluate the comfort level of the wearable suit platform, a satisfaction survey and electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements are conducted to triangulate the findings.

The 11-type exhibited higher values in comfort indicators such as α, θ, α/High-β and lower values in concentration or stress indicators such as β, ϒ, sensorimotor rhythm (SMR)+Mid-β/θ, and a spectral edge frequency of 95% compared to the X-type while walking. The 11-type offers greater comfort and satisfaction compared to the X-type when lifting based on the EEG measurements and the participants survey.

It is recommended to implement the 11-type when designing wearable suit platforms. These findings offer essential data on wearability, which can guide the development of soft wearable robots.

The purpose of this paper is to understand what dimensions consumers prefer to track using wearable technology to achieve a healthier lifestyle and how these tracking dimensions are related.

An online survey was conducted with potential consumers in the USA, and a series of Pearson’s correlation and regression analysis and multiple regressions was conducted.

The most preferred self-tracking dimensions, tracking dimensions on others, most private tracking dimensions, most variable dimensions, and the dimensions that need to be improved were identified. The results of this study showed positive relationships overall among similar types of tracking dimensions, such as among dimensions of physical health condition (disease and disorder symptoms and general vital signs), mental health condition (stress level and mood/feeling), healthy lifestyle (fitness, and pose and posture), and productivity and task management (work productivity, location, and time management).

Designers are encouraged to make wearable technology products that are durable, easy to care for, attractive in design, comfortable to wear and use, able to track preferred dimensions, appropriate for various consumers, unobtrusive, portable, and small. This research will guide wearable technology and fashion industry professionals in the development process of wearable technology to benefit consumers by helping them be more self-aware, empowering them to develop a healthier lifestyle, and ultimately increasing their quality of life and well-being.

An increasing aging population and an increasing number of people suffering from musculoskeletal disorders have increased the demand for wearable robots. Comfortable, wearable robots that can be worn like clothing are currently being investigated. However, the embedded components may be displaced owing to the flexibility of the fabrics, which can lower the sensing accuracy and limit natural body movements. This study aims to develop clothing-type wearable platforms to minimize the displacement of embedded components such as sensors and actuators while maintaining comfort.

Four designs were developed using materials with different seam lines, that can serve as anchoring details, and flatlock stitches considering body movements and musculoskeletal structures. The wear evaluation experiment was filmed using a speed camera and analyzed using the TimeViewer software and SPSS 26.0. Based on these results, four clothing-type wearable platform designs were developed.

The variation in the location of a point in the armhole among the designs was marginal. Participants were satisfied with the functionality, practicality, wearability, efficiency and ease of use of the developed designs. A final clothing-type wearable platform was developed by applying a design with the least change in location, a suitable design for each area and wear comfort.

The results of this study contribute to the development of wearable robots by establishing clothing design data to minimize changes in sensor and actuator movements.

This research was to understand people's perceptions and trends in wearable robots and the research questions were as follows: (1) investigating key terms related to wearable robots that were frequently used by and exposed to people and (2) analyzing relationships among those key terms.

Textom, a big data collection and analysis software system, was used to collect data using the keyword – wearable robot.

The frequency-inverse document frequency, term frequency and central analyses were investigated, and the major key terms related to wearable robots and their connectivity were identified. After performing network analysis and convergence of iterated correlations analyses using UCINET and NetDraw programs, the major key term categories were identified.

It is important to understand how people think and perceive about wearable robots before developing wearable robots. The results of the research are expected to be helpful to better understand how people perceive and what key terms are mainly discussed by people in both countries and ultimately help when developing wearable robots with better market targeting approach methods.

The purpose of this research was to develop clothing-typed soft wearable robot embedded with textile-based actuators on ankles for elderly adults needing gait assistance.

Design guidelines were developed and they included function (type, targeting area, routing line and anchor points), design (size/fit, fabric/material, fastener, detail, color) and actuator (shape memory alloy type, size, deformation type, integration material, integration technique and evaluation method). Fabric-based actuator, integration methods to fabrics, routing lines and anchoring points were developed based on the guidelines and evaluated. Then, three long socks types and a pants type were designed and prototyped. Routing line position displacement measurement test was conducted with the prototypes. A survey was conducted to investigate satisfaction, likeness and use intention on the design/prototype to modify the designs.

Important design factors were identified, and design guidelines for clothing-typed soft wearable robots (SWRs) were developed. People satisfied the developed SWR designs and prototypes with mean scores over 4.60.

The results are expected to be helpful for designers and developers of SWRs in the development process, and they will ultimately be beneficial to members of the elderly population who have gait difficulties.

The aim of this study was to develop a smart wearable mask designed for the prevention of respiratory infectious diseases by understanding consumer's preferences in designs and functions of the smart wearable masks.

To develop a smart mask design, a survey was conducted on Chinese consumers in their 20–40s and analyzed their mask wearing behaviors, preferences and caring aspects of masks. The collected data were analyzed to identify the demographic characteristics of the subjects surveyed by using the SPSS program, and technical statistical analysis was conducted. To identify differences in demographic characteristics, an independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance and Scheffe's ad hoc test were conducted.

Based on the research results, design guidelines for wearable masks were defined, and four wearable mask designs were developed and presented in 2D and 3D images based on the design guidelines. There were significant differences among people with different backgrounds.

It is significant that this research presents smart wearable mask design guidelines and designs through supplementation and improvement of existing mask. It is expected that this research provides basic empirical data for mask designs through the planning of smart wearable mask designs and surveys assessing consumer perceptions, attitudes and satisfaction.