Overview
Textro enables people to create functional textile interfaces without embedding rigid components or making soldered connections. Its web-based design environment lets users import sewing patterns and place sensing elements, then automatically generates optimized component, circuit, embroidery, and cutting files.
During fabrication, embroidered circuits and textile sensors are assembled with fabric glue through capacitive coupling. A reader device and companion software wirelessly retrieve sensor data and visualize real-time signals, helping users quickly validate a prototype.
Why it matters
Smart textile prototyping often requires specialist electronics knowledge, rigid hardware, and difficult assembly. Textro abstracts low-level circuit design and supports common digital-fabrication tools, giving fashion experts, makers, and novices a more accessible path from garment concept to working textile interface.
Citation
Yanfeng Zhao and Te-Yen Wu. 2026. Textro: A Prototyping Toolkit for Solderless and Chipless Smart Textile Interfaces. In The 39th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '26), November 2-5, 2026, Detroit, MI, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 20 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3830398.3830561