TexYZ: Embroidering Enameled Wires for Three Degree-of-Freedom Mutual Capacitive Sensing

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present TexYZ, a method for rapid and effortless manufacturing of textile mutual capacitive sensors using a commodity embroidery machine. We use enameled wire as a bobbin thread to yield textile capacitors with high quality and consistency. As a consequence, we are able to leverage the precision and expressiveness of projected mutual capacitance for textile electronics, even when size is limited. Harnessing the assets of machine embroidery, we implement and analyze five distinct electrode patterns, examine the resulting electrical features with respect to geometrical attributes, and demonstrate the feasibility of two promising candidates for small-scale matrix layouts. The resulting sensor patches are further evaluated in terms of capacitance homogeneity, signal-to-noise ratio, sensing range, and washability. Finally, we demonstrate two use case scenarios, primarily focusing on continuous input with up to three degrees-of-freedom.