Yarns that swell, stretch or dissolve when wet are becoming building materials for shape-changing textiles at Cornell University, where researchers are combining traditional weaving with electronics designed to fit directly on the body.
The Hybrid Body Lab’s AquaWeave project uses yarns made from seaweed, shrimp shells and gelatin to create fabrics that form tubes, flaps, domes and extensions when exposed to liquids, according to a Cornell Chronicle feature. The work is part of a broader effort led by Cindy Kao, an associate professor of human centered design in the College of Human Ecology, to develop wearable devices through weaving, knitting and body art.
Turning material changes into design tools
The yarns initially appeared flawed: Seaweed yarn swelled in water, shrimp-shell yarn elongated in acidic conditions and gelatin yarn dissolved. Researchers instead began exploring how those changes could give textiles useful movements and openings.
AquaWeave examines how different weave structures produce different shape changes, rather than concentrating on a single material or pattern. Lead author Jingwen Zhu, who earned her doctorate at Cornell in 2026 and is now an assistant professor of design at the University of California, Davis, presented the research Nov. 4 at ACM UIST 2026 in Detroit.
The potential applications involve interfaces that can change physical form. Kao offered a hypothetical example of a smartphone transforming into a neck massage pad. That illustrates a research concept, rather than a product announced in the feature.
The team first tested how each yarn changed and under what conditions, then developed parameters and prototypes for working with the materials. Weavers recruited at a conference in Norway celebrating the TC2 jacquard loom’s 30th anniversary used those properties to make their own textiles.
One created a ribbed texture using seaweed yarn’s swelling. Another used curling to produce a pattern. A third built a three-layer textile whose middle layer deformed to reveal its internal structure.
Zhu said the participating weavers were already accustomed to using water for dyeing, washing and finishing, making liquid activation a natural extension of their craft. Additional AquaWeave co-authors are doctoral student Eddie Zhu, Emily Fan, Megan Wu and Samantha Chang.
Building electronics that fit the body
Another lab project, SkinLink, provides modules for assembling circuitry directly on the skin, including around joints such as elbows and knees. Kao developed the toolkit with doctoral student Pin-Sung Ku.
Using the modules, Kao assembled a finger-worn device in a few minutes that tracked hand movement in real time. She said experienced researchers previously needed hours to make a similar device.
Possible applications described in the feature include a device that could send a text alert when an older wearer falls, a necklace that vibrates when its wearer slouches and a face tattoo that functions as a flashlight, brightening automatically in a dark room. The lab is also exploring body locations beyond the wrist, where many current wearables are concentrated.
Traditional textile techniques help make those devices flexible. WovenProbe, a bandage-like device that detects changes in hand motion, uses Spanish lace weaving to leave openings around finger joints so they can move freely. The device incorporates seven small printed circuit boards and more than three dozen connecting wires.
Kao’s interest in combining craft with on-skin interfaces grew after a 2018 visit to a 1,200-year-old Nishijin weaving workshop in Kyoto, Japan. After joining Cornell in 2019, she learned weaving from textile artists at Luna Fiber Studio in Trumansburg and learned digital machine knitting.
Her lab uses a TC2 jacquard loom to weave complex circuitry, wiring and biodegradable yarns. The computerized, manually controlled loom is roughly the size of a large upright piano and allows researchers to develop and test prototypes quickly.
Body artists bring different approaches
Kao began collaborating with artists in 2021, when a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award helped support an artist residency program. Artists specializing in tattoos, makeup, nail art and hair have joined the lab for up to two months to experiment with its technologies alongside students.
Hair artist Lauren Hooks created Dancing Hair, inspired by the lab’s Knitdema robotic textile. The design combines braided hair, green aventurine beads and shape-memory alloy coils. Programmed electrical signals cause the coils to contract, activating acupressure points at the temples, apex and base of the head.
In 2023, tattoo artist Joe George developed the face-worn flashlight and Thermaldermal, a flexible strip of black heating coils that can be arranged into a tattoo-like drawing and emit heat against the skin. He also made UV Scale, flexible resin-printed scales that change color under ultraviolet light.
The lab’s related EdemaFlex project, developed with Weill Cornell Medicine’s Rehabilitation Medicine Department, uses more than three dozen actuators across the fingers and palm with the aim of reducing swelling. The feature describes that goal without establishing a clinical treatment outcome.
Across the projects, Kao is examining how technologies worn close to the body can reflect personal identity and cultural context. The work brings together researchers, textile makers and body artists to explore both how devices function and how people might wear them.
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