Forget Silicon. This Computer Is Made of Fabric

Dan Preston logs in to our video call in a respectable, nondescript button-up shirt. “I’m really happy to see people moving radically beyond the cutting edge in wearables,” says mechanical engineer Michael Wehner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the work. “If a soft robot—this big airbag—hits you, everyone laughs and has a good time.” Courtesy Dan Preston In other words, soft robots should more easily and safely integrate into regular human activity. “It is very easy for humans to adapt to it and not feel like they are wearing something weird,” says mechanical engineer Wenlong Zhang of Arizona State University, who was not involved with the work. It may seem like a large quantity of fabric, but suppliers usually prefer to sell at least a kilometer at a time, says materials scientist Vanessa Sanchez of Stanford, a member of Preston’s team.