As a new e-Body researcher, I took the opportunity to start and carry out my own research project. In efforts to design sustainably, the lab is interested in developing dry textile-based electrodes for their wearable applications. My research investigated electrode construction and integration techniques for dry silver-based textile electrodes capturing EMG signals from the biceps brachii muscle. Three integration techniques and two construction methods were compared on their EMG performance and contact-impedance data. I was responsible for defining the project, formulating the experimental design, manufacturing the samples, overseeing experimentation and data collection, and analyzing the data. After extensive lit-reviews to study state-of-the-art wearable technologies, I used several design engineering skills to execute the project: human-centered design methods, rapid prototyping, signal processing, and project management. Many post experimentation tasks were completed with Python and MATLAB programming. We were able to make a recommendation based on the design parameters explored and submit an abstract paper to the E-textiles Conference. This project is the start of a larger aim to provide makers/designers extensive design recommendations for dry electrodes. Now, a different e-Body Lab project focused on EIT hand gesture recognition is using the work done to inform their electrode design decisions.
