The ConText project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under grant number 16SV8250, ran from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2022 and was led by Dr Michael Haupt. Its goal was to create “Connecting Textiles” that could serve as cable‑based power and communication conduits for Internet‑of‑Things (IoT) devices in domestic settings, while also providing intuitive, gesture‑based interaction on fabric surfaces. The consortium, which included the German Institute for Textile and Fibre Research in Denkendorf and several other academic and industrial partners, developed a modular demonstrator concept that allowed decentralized integration of components and accommodated the disruptions caused by the COVID‑19 pandemic. The project was extended by six months to complete all planned activities, and the final report was published on 28 June 2023.
Technically, the project produced two functional fabrication principles for the textiles. The first approach embeds polarized magnets directly into the fabric, which are then coupled to corresponding polarized patches that carry power and data lines. This magnet‑based solution is highly robust, providing secure electrical contact and shielding against electromagnetic interference, but it requires complex manufacturing steps to integrate the magnets uniformly across large textile areas. The second approach uses printed conductive traces on the back of fleece textiles or woven fabrics that incorporate conductive yarns. Needle contacts on the back of the patches pierce the textile to establish electrical connections. This method is easier to produce at scale and allows flexible patterning of circuits, though it is less mechanically robust than the magnet‑based design. Both concepts were evaluated in iterative demonstrator builds, with user participation integrated from the earliest design stages to refine usability and reliability.
Beyond the physical integration, the project developed an energy and physical communication concept that supports low‑voltage power delivery and wired data exchange across the textile network. A software platform was implemented to manage the communication infrastructure and to detect haptic interaction patterns on the textile’s touch sensors. The platform supports configurable gesture‑based interaction modalities, enabling users to control IoT devices through simple touch or swipe gestures on the fabric. While the report does not provide explicit numerical performance figures, the demonstrators were tested with stakeholders to assess power delivery stability, data throughput, and gesture recognition accuracy, and the results informed successive iterations of the design.
The seven work packages (AP1–AP7) guided the project’s progress. AP1 defined requirements from electrical, information‑technology, manufacturing, installation, application, and interaction perspectives. AP2 focused on interaction design, refining use‑case scenarios. AP3 tackled mechanical integration and fabrication of the textile electronics, ensuring electrical supply, safety, and redundancy. AP4 developed the energy and communication concepts, the software platform, and haptic pattern recognition. AP5 assembled demonstrators and conducted evaluations with stakeholders, feeding insights back into AP2–AP4. AP6 addressed commercialization, engaging industry partners and exploring business models. AP7 handled project management, coordination, and reporting. The collaborative effort combined expertise in textile engineering, electrical engineering, human‑computer interaction, and industrial design, culminating in a set of prototypes that demonstrate the feasibility of integrating power, communication, and intuitive interaction into everyday fabrics for smart‑home environments.