Machine-knitted magnetoactive textiles for wireless charging, biomechanical sensing, and haptic feedback

A central goal of wearable computing is to understand and augment human physical interactions. This requires equipping wearable devices with functionalities such as wireless charging, biomechanical sensing, and haptic feedback. Most wearable devices integrate each of these functions separately with specialized components, which limits the device’s overall flexibility, comfort, and scalability. Here we present machine-knitted magnetoactive textiles that unify the physical mechanisms of wireless power transfer, biomechanical sensing, and haptic feedback in a single soft architecture. By coupling extruded magnetic fibers with digitally machine-knitted electromagnets, we enable functional textile transducers that can stably charge a 7.4 V battery, sense body movements up to 3000 Hz, and provide perceivable haptic forces up to 4.2 mN. We demonstrate how these transducers can seamlessly integrate into garments for applications like smart home control, motor rehabilitation, and skill acquisition, establishing a foundation for multifunctional wearable interfaces that are intrinsically compatible with everyday clothing.