I-O Braid - Scalable Touch-Sensitive Lighted Cords Using Spiraling, Repeating Sensing Textiles and Fiber Optics

Explore a groundbreaking 22-minute conference talk from the ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium that introduces I/O Braid, an innovative interactive textile cord with embedded sensing and visual feedback capabilities. Delve into the scalable spiraling, repeating braiding topology that enables proximity, touch, and twist sensing using minimal sensing lines. Discover how fiber optic strands are integrated to provide co-located visual feedback. Learn about the enabling braiding techniques, design considerations, and gesture detection approaches that form the foundation of this technology. Examine a set of interaction techniques demonstrated through various form factors and capabilities. Gain insights into how I/O Braid can invisibly augment everyday objects like touch-sensitive headphones and interactive drawstrings on garments, while enhancing discoverability and feedback through embedded light sources. Explore topics such as Mark Weiser's vision, basic movement, input/output mechanisms, fiber optics, interactions, light diffusion, directionality, hands-free access, braiding architectures, materials, capacitive sensing, and development kits.