I have successfully developed soft sensing actuators by levaraging textile materials and knitting technology. I demonstrated the design, fabrication, and characterization process of a seamless knit actuator that has reduced weight and volume with respect to elastomeric and tendon actuators. The actuator was manipulated via a compressed fluid such as air to assist hand movements by mimicking fingers’ flex and extend motion. For the first time in literature, whole-garment knitting techniques have been utilized to manufacture a seamless fully knitted pneumatic flexing and extending actuator. Unfortunately, The COVID-19 crisis has had a wide-ranging impact on the research project. The lockdown has significantly disrupted normal communication channels, resulting in the cancellation of meetings and long-planned events, among other things. Additionally, it has resulted in delays in the completion of some tasks due to the laboratory closures and travel restrictions. In spite of the adverse effects of COVID-19, successful and flourishing results of this project and my career
progress are beyond my expectations. We have attended several scientific meetings and project results were disseminated not only in these meetings but also in other activities to the general audiences such as high school students. I have applied for several different research grants. Most importantly, I submitted the proposal to the ERC-2021-STG and I have been informed that my proposal was retained following Step 1 of the evaluation and will now proceed to the second step. I have also been appointed as Associate Professor (Tenure position) in the Faculty of Textile Technologies and Design at Istanbul Technical University.
Through my MSCA Individual Fellowship, I expanded my knowledge from the manufacturing side of the soft structures to the controlling and application side of soft structures by acquiring new skills such as gaining expertise in control systems. This is also illustrated by my teaching in automatic control for textile students at undergraduate level.
Having secured MSCA IF, I established a soft sensor laboratory as a co-founder at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey. The laboratory has currently 11 team members that include 2 Postdocs, 3 PhD students, 3 Msc students, 3 Bachelor students.
During the course of the project, we succesfully produced a prototype of soft robotic glove and filed patent application. Our plan is to apply National new ideas and new products research funding program (
https://www.tubitak.gov.tr/en/funds/academy/national-support-programmes/content-1005-national-new-ideas-and-new-products-research-funding-program(opens in new window))
with industrial partner to increase the technology readyness level of the prototype for potential commercialization opportunity. Flexible, user friendly and light-weight asssistive glove will ease the life of patient and will provide great support to them. Moreover, it will help to enhance people’s interest in life by providing them an aid and reducing their dependency on other human beings. They will be able to do their chores by themselves. People using assistive gloves will be benefitted from an increased feeling of well-being.
The textile and medical industries are expected to benefit from this project. We collaborated with Tetas (the local distributor of Shima Seiki knitting machines) to develop soft actuators. The successful collaboration and knowledge transfer have boosted the confidence of the local knitting/clothing industry to seize their hands into this unexplored territory. This will help the industry diversify its product line by including smart textile-related articles
