Soft and smart fibers are envisioned as an important building block for the next generation of soft electronic systems and smart textiles. The thermal drawing of soft multi-material fibers has been identified as an approach of choice to generate advanced fibers capable of complex functionalities. This manufacturing approach is scalable yet required to overcome important milestones to bring this proven technology in the laboratory, into industrial products. In the SenFlex project, we developed three technological aspects that we had diagnosed as important blocks to alleviated to bring the technology to an industrial interest: (1) improve the fiber performance in terms of design and sensitivity; (2) to increase the fabrication yield; and (3) to develop a strategy for fiber electrical connections within a product. During the period of the project, working with a postdoctoral associate and then a doctoral student, we could significantly advance the types of fibers that can be fabricated with novel and state-of-the art performance as deformation sensors, publishing three articles in top materials science and electronics journals. We could demonstrate the fabrication of hundreds of meters of soft fibers, and identified two approaches used in industrial prototypes for fiber connections. Beyond these three objectives, we also could identify promising markets and products developments avenues, including the composite sector and the area of health care and sleep monitoring. We have launched a project with a company to develop a prototype of a smart mattress, as a direct result of the advances made in the SenFlex project.
