Smart fabrics are finding opportunities in a wide range of markets, including wearables, health, sports and automotive applications. BeBop Sensors’ smart fabric sensors are finding a home in these fields, as well as in musical applications.
 
Recently, BeBop Sensors introduced BopPad, in conjunction with Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI) musical instrument company. Keith McMillen, who is BeBop Sensor’s founder and CEO, has a love for music, and he sees smart fabrics as a way to enhance the experience.
 
“All musical instruments are essentially sensors with forms of acoustic processing attached,” McMillen said. “BeBop is a natural step for KMI, where we have diligently tuned fabrics, geometries, and production processes allowing us to ship over two million sensors to some of the most demanding musicians in the world.”
 
BopPad incorporates a 10” circular smart fabric sensor, divided into multiple zones, and can be used for any percussion playing style. The company reports that BopPad offers accurate hit detection, velocity, continuous radius and pressure at a speed of 2.4 milliseconds. Instead of just sensing a single stick hit, BopPad can sense a range of actions, from finger strikes to aggressive mallet assaults.
 
BopPad uses a continuous piece of smart fabric divided into multiple zones that are responsive to continuous pressure and location, making BopPad expressive as well as affordable.
   
BeBop Sensors prints multiple layers of circuits onto its fabrics. McMillen noted that the development of printed sensors is paving the way for new applications.
 
“Printing sensors is cheap, fast and versatile, allowing designers to mass produce thin, flexible sensors,” he said. “Most off the shelf sensors, however, lose sensitivity when bent. BeBop’s sensors measure force, bend, twist, and stretch over any size and geometry. They conform to complex geometries while maintaining a large dynamic range. BeBop leverages this technology across many different industries to make things knowable. With BeBop’s pressure sensitive fabric, data can be gathered from sitting position in car seats, the grip on a baseball bat, or the bend of a finger in a data glove.”
 
KMI created a Kickstarter campaign for BopPad that reached its goal of $35,000 in just over three days, and is now at more than $100,000. BopPad is priced at $199, and is available on Kickstarter with early bird discounted pricing.
  
McMillen sees excellent opportunities ahead for printed sensors.
 
“The frictions of rapid and custom printing will continue to fall away, allowing manufacturers to expand their capabilities to satisfy customers of many different types,” said McMillen. “The printed sensor market will not just be limited to large scale manufacturers or hobbyists. Faster turns, more complex geometries, with reasonable pricing opens up a whole new selling channel that comprises a huge percentage of the center of the bell curve.”