- Team
- Anxin Lian, Vita Sipayung
- Course
- DesignTech Studio, Spring 2025
AirBend
Passive Cooling Wearable, Activated by Movement
- Grasshopper
- Rhino 3D
- Arduino
- MulticolorEngine API
- Laser cutting
- Rapid prototyping
- Material research
Problem
Heat exposure is rising, but most cooling wearables are powered, rigid, and not built for everyday movement.
Approach
Kirigami-inspired cuts, mapped to where the body sweats and stretches, open when you bend. Sensors and an app tell you when to move.
Outcome
A full-scale bodysuit prototype reaching up to 19.9% opening area when stretched, activated by natural body movement.
- My role
- Led material testing, pattern optimization, Arduino integration, and final prototype fabrication
How might we use the body's natural bending and motion to passively ventilate people when they're too hot?
How the system works
- 01
Set up a profile in the app
- 02
Sensors track body and air temperature
- 03
An alert fires past your personal threshold
- 04
You stretch or bend
- 05
The cuts open and air flows through
How I built it
01
Map the body
Sweat maps and movement analysis showed where cuts should go and how big.
Research, data synthesis
02
Test the pattern
Laser-cut samples varied four cut dimensions, and image analysis measured each one's opening area, narrowing to a pattern that opens up to 19.9%.
Parametric testing, image analysis (MulticolorEngine API), laser cutting
03
Fit it to the body
The best pattern was scaled across sweat zones to follow the body's curves.
Parametric design (Grasshopper, Rhino)
04
Make it real
A 1:1 bodysuit was laser-cut from stretch fabric and sewn to keep its stretch.
Fabrication, laser cutting, sewing
Outcome
19.9%
opening area when stretched, from the optimized cut pattern
1:1
full-scale wearable prototype, no power needed to cool
Assembly drawing
Section drawing
System diagram
Explorations: sensors & companion app
Temperature sensor testing on LilyPad Arduino (explored, not integrated into the final prototype)
Companion app: alert, live temperature, and assistant (UI designed by teammates)