Intelligent Soft Wearables

UbiComp/ISWC 2026 Workshop - October 12, 2pm - Shanghai - SICC room 5D (official page)

Showcasing a range of intelligent soft wearables across scales: (a) Integrated Circuits inside fibers, (b) magnetoactive textile modules enabling sensing and haptics, (c) tileable tactile sensor patches with flexible grid electrodes for wearables or robotics, (d) stretchable circuit network for electronic textile systems with distributed sensor nodes, (e) conductive yarns into seams for posture sensing, and (f) meander coils in clothing for wireless sensing.

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Integrating Imperceptible Interfaces

Human bodies are almost always in contact with soft materials like clothing, for warmth, protection, self-expression, etc. Recent advancements in intelligent soft wearables have augmented these on-body soft objects with computational functions and intelligence with little compromise on the softness and comfort of wearables, allowing prolonged wear. These innovations, which combine advanced soft sensor and actuator design, fabrication, and computational power, offer unprecedented opportunities to improve our health, productivity, and overall well-being with monitoring actuation, and assistive capabilities. However, the inherent physical properties of soft materials present unique challenges in achieving practical interactions. The complexity of intelligent soft wearables, multiplexing intricate designs, soft materials, flexible electronics, advanced signal processing algorithms, and machine learning models, necessitates collaborative efforts from experts across diverse domains. This workshop aims to bring together interested researchers and practitioners across relevant domains to discuss the challenges and opportunities of intelligent soft wearables.

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Keynotes

1) Prof. Tomoyuki Yokota, University of Tokyo

Title: Imperceptible Electronics for Soft Skin Intelligence

Abstract: Recently, flexible electronics has attracted much attention for biomedical applications due to their flexibility and conformability. To improve these characteristics, reducing the thickness of the device is very effective. We have developed imperceptible electronics with few micron substrates. Due to the very thin substrate and neutral position, our device shows high flexibility and conformability. The device isn’t broken after crumpling. And also we fabricated highly efficient, ultra-flexible, air-stable, three-color, polymer light-emitting diodes. The total thickness of the devices, including the substrate and encapsulation layer, is only three micrometers, which is one order of magnitude thinner than the epidermal layer of the human skin.

Biography: Tomoyuki Yokota was born in Tochigi, Japan, in 1985. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 2013. Since 2019, he has been an associate professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Tokyo. His current research interests include organic photonic devices, flexible electronics, printed electronics, large-area sensors, and wearable electronics.

2) Prof. Xi Tian, Tsinghua University

Title: Battery-free wireless sensor networks for unencumbered health monitoring and human-machine interactions

Abstract: Wireless networks of sensors, displays and smart devices that can be placed on a person’s body could have applications in health monitoring, medical interventions and human–machine interfaces. However, such wireless body networks are typically constrained by bulky batteries and inefficient wireless communication. In this talk, I will introduce a metamaterial-enabled platform for battery-free wireless body sensor networks, in which wearable metamaterial textiles support efficient wireless power transfer and localized, high-throughput communication across the human body. I will then present its applications in continuous physiological monitoring, including systolic blood pressure sensing, and unencumbered human–machine interactions for robotics, virtual reality and human digital twins. Together, these advances highlight the potential of metamaterial-enabled wireless technologies for realizing seamless, battery-free wearable systems for health monitoring and human–machine interactions.

Biography: Xi Tian is an Assistant Professor in the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (SIGS) at Tsinghua University. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2016, and the Ph.D. degree in microwave and radio frequency from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2021, and conducted his postdoctoral studies at the Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), NUS. Dr. Tian was a recipient of the National Key Talent Program (Youth Project) and the Shenzhen Overseas High-Level Talent Program, and has received honors including Forbes China “30 Under 30,” the National Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad, and the Featured Students of NUS Graduate School. His research focuses on the development of advanced wireless technologies to address important scientific and biomedical challenges in human health. His research work has yielded 10+ patents and 20+ first/corresponding author papers at top-tier journals and conferences, including Nature Electronics (4), Nature Communications, Science Advances, IEEE TAP, etc.

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Position Papers Proposals (archive)

• Submission deadline: June 27

• Calling for demos (the best!), posters, or reflections: 1-2 pages

• “Non-archival”, but will be in the ACM website

• Submissions here (click on SIGCHI => Ubicomp/ISWC Workshop 2026 => Intelligent Soft Wearables)

• Ressources:

  • Full description of the call for proposal
  • Last year examples
  • Template

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If you have any questions, please contact SoftWearables(AT)mit.edu.