Information
Fabrics–mechanical metamaterials created through interlacing or interlooping fibers and yarns–provide a powerful platform for encoding function directly through structure. Leveraging structure–function relationships defined by topology, these materials can be designed to sense, actuate, and even demonstrate forms of embodied intelligence. This paradigm enables fabrics to function as soft robotic materials, in contrast to traditional rigid robotic systems. Such functional embodiment is especially promising in the context of wearable devices, where comfort, personalization, and scalable low–cost manufacturing demand robust strategies to integrate sensors, actuators, and interconnects. This seminar will explore how textile design principles and manufacturing methods can be harnessed to create robotic fabrics, highlighting how topology becomes a means of programming robotic function.
Date
Thursday, October 9, 2025 10:30 – 12:00 (JST)
Venue
TOKYO ELECTRON House of Creativity 3F, Lecture Theater, Katahira Campus, Tohoku University [Access]
Capacity
Onsite: 60 (First–come–first–serve basis, registration required)
Online: 100
Invited Speakers
Vanessa Sanchez (Rice University)
Registration
Registration deadline: Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 17:00 (JST)
Registration deadline for online participation: October 1, 2025
– Closed
Additional Activities
– Closed
Participation fees:
(Public Lecture is free of charge)
– Workshop: ¥1000
– Reception party: ¥1000
Time Schedule
- 10:30 – 12:00
- Vanessa Sanchez (Rice University)
- Encoding Robotic Function in Fabrics
Poster
- Download [PDF]
Contact
Tohoku Forum for Creativity
Email: tfc_pg*grp.tohoku.ac.jp (change * to @)
Organizers
Email: periodic.tangles*gmail.com (change * to @)