UK–Korea Smart Textiles
Clothing that shows you the force you are putting through your body.
A five-partner UK–South Korea programme proposing smart clothing with embedded strain sensors and printable colour-change OLED — so that force becomes visible light on the garment itself.
MAI Motion then reads that light, extending motion analysis from fixed joint points to continuous measurement across the whole limb.
5
Consortium Partners
OLED
Strain-Triggered Colour Change
30mo
Industrial Research
The Challenge
Movement is measured in rooms most people never enter.
To monitor progress and prescribe rehabilitation, clinicians rely on gait laboratories and motion capture rooms. They are expensive, inaccessible to many, and — because they are laboratories — they do not capture how someone moves in ordinary life.
1.71bn
People reported with musculoskeletal health issues globally (WHO)
~20m
People affected in the UK — almost a third of the population, including 12,000 children
£5bn
Annual NHS cost — the third largest area of NHS spend, over 25% of surgical interventions and 20 million lost working days
- 01
Gait labs are expensive
Motion capture rooms and gait laboratories are the current method for monitoring progress, but they are costly and not accessible to all users.
- 02
Not representative of real life
Laboratory capture does not provide data from the real-life scenarios in which patients actually move.
- 03
Joints only, not limbs
Existing technology detects movement at fixed joint locations — elbow, knee — rather than continuously across the whole skeleton.
- 04
Bulky attachments
Strain gauges and gyroscopes rely on multiple attachments, specially manufactured uniforms or enhanced markers.
Measure movement through light
Integrating OLED within colour-changeable yarn provides the illumination MAI Motion needs for complete gait analysis. The application describes this as a disruptive approach to motion accuracy — detecting movement across the entire limb rather than at fixed joints.
MAI Motion currently processes 5,000 points per second for joint detection at fixed points. This programme proposes overlaying a whole-body light model on top of that existing model.
The Consortium
Five partners, five distinct capabilities
No single partner could build this garment. The application splits the work by capability across two countries, with each organisation owning a defined technical role.
MSK Doctors & Associates
Clinical application, user engagement and AI model development. Tests prototypes through MAI Motion, providing the computer-vision and machine-learning layer.
University of Leeds
Multifunctional yarn design and manufacturing, smart textile design and integration, and experimental testing and assessment.
KAIST
Colour-tunable OLEDs for strain sensors, PPG sensors using OLEDs and OPDs, and TFT sensor array systems for the clothing platform.
Incheon National University
High-durability thin film technology for washable textile displays, and establishing a washing evaluation system based on relevant standards.
MCell
Smart textile cloth platform for sensing, signal processing and communication, using advanced nano-coating technology.
An existing relationship
The application notes that MSK Doctors and the University of Leeds already collaborate on Smart-MOTION, funded by the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst 2023 (project 10034862). This programme is framed as extending that work towards demonstration and commercialisation.
Thirty Months, Five Work Packages
Yarn first.
Then garment, then intelligence.
The programme is managed with Kanban and agile software development, with monthly technical and quarterly project meetings across the UK and South Korean partners. Values shown are UK-side costs.
WP1
£68,540
Project management
M1–M30 · All partners
Clinical requirements collected to facilitate device development, day-to-day project management and consortium meetings.
Milestone — Project completed.
WP2
£203,808
Smart yarns from user behaviour
M1–M18 · University of Leeds
Study of user behaviour for sensing design; selection of multifunctional nanomaterials for sensing and colour-changing functions; optimised synthesis and manufacture of multifunctional yarns.
Milestone — Multifunctional yarn manufactured and experimentally assessed (M18).
WP3
£135,872
Smart textile garment integration
M19–M27 · University of Leeds
Prototype design and development of the smart textile garment; encapsulation technology to protect the multifunctional yarns for extended service life; assessment of sensing and colour change.
Milestone — Smart textile garment piece fabricated (M27).
WP4
£337,464
User investigation & clinical application
M1–M30 · MSK Doctors
Solution ideation for user design and specification; body movement pattern study for parametric study of electronics printing; development of a prediction model grading light intensity by multimodal learning.
Milestone — Development of the AI light-based model.
WP5
£391,955
AI processing, validation & dissemination
M15–M30 · MSK Doctors
Collecting clinical data for design refinement; initial testing with clinical feedback; cross-platform applications for motion analysis; validating the smart clothing models for accuracy, efficiency and user experience.
Milestone — Overlaying the AI light model with current technology.
Expected outputs
Fully functional prototypes of OLED smart clothing for motion analysis, progressing from TRL 4 to TRL 7, with user documentation for both end-user and admin-user.
What It Would Enable
Rehabilitation you can see on yourself.
Whole-limb measurement
Measuring movement through light across the entire limb instead of fixed points on joints — foregoing the prediction line currently required in motion measurement.
Real-time visual feedback
Immediate feedback on force distribution and biomechanics, displayed on the garment itself, supporting performance optimisation.
Outside the laboratory
Non-invasive, continuous data collection in real-life scenarios, intended to remove the need for motion capture rooms and gait labs.
Better adherence
An easy-to-use and discreet monitoring solution, with the light display intended to increase engagement with rehabilitation plans.
The application identifies athletes, sports teams, fitness enthusiasts, physical therapists and healthcare professionals as intended users alongside rehabilitation patients.
Application-Stage Evidence Boundary
What the application does — and does not — establish.
This page describes a funding application for an industrial research programme. The garment described is a proposed development, not an existing product.
Supported by the application
- A 30-month industrial research application to UK–South Korea CR&D 2024, proposed to start 1 October 2024.
- A five-partner consortium: MSK Doctors (lead) and the University of Leeds in the UK, with KAIST, Incheon National University and MCell in South Korea.
- UK-side finance summary of £1,137,927 total costs, with £898,539 funding sought across the two UK partners.
- Five work packages with named leads, values and milestones, spanning yarn design, garment integration, AI modelling and validation.
Not established by the application
- That the OLED smart-textile garment has been built, tested or clinically validated — the application targets progression from TRL 4 to TRL 7.
- That whole-limb light-based motion measurement has been shown to outperform existing joint-based capture.
- That the application was funded, or that the project commenced on the proposed start date.
- That the technology is available to patients, clinics or commercial partners.
Source provenance
- Competition
- UK–South Korea CR&D 2024
- Application name
- Advanced Fabricating and Integrating of Smart Textiles/Clothing and AI Health Management System Development
- Lead organisation
- MSK Doctors & Associates Limited
- UK academic partner
- University of Leeds
- Korean partners
- KAIST · Incheon National University · MCell
- Proposed duration
- 30 months, from 1 October 2024
- Proposed maturity
- TRL 4 to TRL 7
- UK-side total costs
- £1,137,927 (£898,539 funding sought)
Care delivered outside the motion capture room
Using a wearable device in real-life scenarios, outside of a laboratory, is described in the application as an unprecedented use of wearable technology in a clinical setting — one intended to remove the need for motion capture rooms and gait labs entirely.
A UK–South Korea CR&D industrial research application led by MSK Doctors & Associates with the University of Leeds, KAIST, Incheon National University and MCell, continuing to develop within the active innovation pipeline.
International & Industrial Collaboration
We welcome textile, sensor, electronics and rehabilitation partners interested in wearable motion analysis and smart clothing for musculoskeletal care.