⌂ John Hilla

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AUTOMOTIVE ADAPTABILITY

General Motors
University of Michigan

During a long-standing research partnership with General Motors, it was discovered that the bending behavior of an inflatable bladder that is packaged inside of a specially designed knit tube could be particularly affective in the context of automotive handles. The benefits of this inflatable technology were two-fold: (1) A deflated handle could be discretely stowed and quickly deployed when needed; (2) Haptic feedback and signaling could be provided for the user by alternating the air pressure inside the bladder.

To begin this body of research, a large series of handle iterations were created to study the range of bending behaviors made possible by this system of materials. Bending occurs when one side of the tube is more constrained than the side opposite it: a condition which can be created by changing the elasticity of the yarn material or the overall stretch characteristics of the knit pattern. This can either be done locally to create regions of sharp bends, or more globally across the entire handle to create a more of an arching effect.

Inflation of the bladder can be precisely driven by a series of computer controlled pressure valves. In this way, the handles can be deployed by any user input device, such as capacitive touch sensors which we were able to knit directly into the grab handle. Dynamically changing the pressure can also produce various fluttering, breathing, blinking, or various other haptic effects which can be used for user feedback or signaling.