LuxKnit: Fabricating Interactive Display Textiles Integrated with Sensing by Machine Knitting

Displays are crucial in modern smart devices, conveying information visually. Wearable displays have gained increasing interest due to their ability to integrate into everyday environments while maintaining an unobtrusive presence. Textile-based displays, in particular, offer extra advantages of comfort, lightness, and natural feel. We present LuxKnit, a design and fabrication pipeline for textile-based displays with integrated sensing using digital machine knitting. LuxKnit employs electroluminescent (EL) yarn for displays and conductive yarn for sensing. We offer an interactive design interface for users to customize the display’s color, shape, position, and size. We evaluate display luminance and sensing performance across various knitted layouts, deformations, and conductive yarn types. LuxKnit offers a scalable, deformable, stretchable, washable, and interactive display textile system with applications in assistive wearables, interactive educational interfaces, interactive input devices, and common display formats like the seven-segment display.