Fantasy becoming reality as U of A-led team develops Batman-like clothing fabric

Inspired by Batman, an international team led by a U of A professor has created fabric that stiffens to help with muscle weakness.

A super-hero-inspired idea has leapt into action, with an Edmonton-based researcher leading the international charge.

Vivian Mushahwar is the project lead for a team developing smartwear that helps people in their recovery from injuries and with problems affecting posture, balance, walking and standing.

“There’s a big need for this because about 25 per cent of Canadians have musculoskeletal weakness,” Mushahwar told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

“The interventions that are available are not as completely helpful for their needs, and especially that the persons who need these activities are not even part of the design of the type of solutions that are out there. The need is growing because we also have an aging population.”

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Mushahwar is a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta, and is the director of the Institute for Smart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies and Health Innovations, and of Smart Technology Innovations.

The inspiration for the project came from team researcher Dan Sameoto, a professor of mechanical engineering at the U of A, who was interested in a cape worn by movie character Batman in the 2005 film Batman Begins.

“He was inspired by Batman and how the clothing changes and stiffens and becomes very soft, depending on what Batman needed to do,” Mushahwar told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

“The idea here is now to make your regular clothing -- the clothing that you’re all wearing -- become Batman-like clothing, where your clothing will change its shape and its stiffness to assist you while you’re doing your daily activities.”

Sameoto said the technology they’re developing will go through several stages.

“The overall goal for our work is both mature the fabric manufacturing technology and allow collaborators across the world to figure out their new designs with respect to sensors, actuation schemes, stiffness, switching mechanisms,” he said.

The project team includes 64 researchers and collaborators from the U of A and across Canada, the United States and Europe. It includes fashion designers, disability advocates, clothing manufacturers, visual artists, a choreographer, as well as researchers from eight faculties in several disciplines.

The project received one of six transformation grants from Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund for high-risk, high-reward research in 2025.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Brandon Lynch