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Page 26 of 38 Wei et al. Soft Sci 2023;3:17 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ss.2023.09

[206]
interface .

Smart home
A smart home connects various devices in the home through the Internet of Things technology to provide
intelligent human-machine interaction [2,207,208] . It not only has the traditional living function but also has
network communication, information appliances, and equipment automation to offer a full range of
information interaction functions. Therefore, smart home has extensive research in the field of flexible
electronic devices [209-211] . In the modern information society, home security is an important part of the smart
[212]
home. He et al. showed a safety warning carpet based on 3D angle-interlock woven structural TENG .
The TENG textiles are mounted on a coded array, where the sole contacts and separates the textile to
generate signals for transmission to the programming system. When someone walks by, an outsider will
trigger the alarm without realizing it, as shown in Figure 13A. Further, in order to maintain home security
and prevent intrusion by an outsider, Dong et al. developed an identity recognition carpet using 3D braided
[57]
TENG . The recognition system consisted of a carpet for energy harvesting, a multi-channel module for
data acquisition, and a real-time platform for data analysis that enabled password path setting and real-time
travel path recording (as shown in Figure 13B).

In addition to being used for home security, smart carpets have also shown application potential for escape
and rescue. As shown in Figure 13C, a self-powered escape and rescue carpet was demonstrated by Ma et
al., which could pinpoint the location of survivors and indicate escape routes to assist victims in timely
[213]
search and rescue . Moreover, Niu et al. designed a multifunctional system based on bionic scales knitting
triboelectric generators, which could realize personal outdoor rescue with wireless signal transmission .
[214]
Intelligent control of home devices to enrich human life is a hot topic in smart home research. A smart
home system was reported by Zhang et al., constructed for elderly health protection, intelligent control of
household appliances, and security management of access control . Chen et al. proposed an automated
[215]
fabrication of a braided electronic cord to realize natural, convenient, and efficient user interfaces .
[216]
Because the braided electronic cord was a miniaturized form, it was suitable to be combined with various
occasions in life, including a control music player App, emergency call, musical instruments playing, and
control light (as shown in Figure 13D).

CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
Considering its salient merits, such as softness, comfort, wearability, and portability, electronic textiles with
multimodal sensing functions have shown wider application potential than other wearable electronic
devices, which are regarded as an important research direction for future human-machine interfaces. The
electronic textiles reported at present can detect human body information in a full range from small signals
such as pulse, ECG, and respiratory rate to large deformation signals such as joint bending and limb
movements. They can also analyze the chemical components in human body fluids [54,155,163] . The durability of
electronic textiles is crucial to ensure their long-term normal operation in practical applications. Electronic
textiles are often required to be in contact with the skin and exposed to the external environment; therefore,
the impact of human sweat, mechanical wear, and environmental factors on durability needs to be
considered. At present, many electronic textiles with excellent durability have been reported through
structural design, material selection, and packaging technology. Some of these textiles have a cycle life
exceeding 10,000 cycles [149,178,217] . In order to promote the development of electronic textiles, we discuss the
advanced manufacturing technologies in this review in detail. We cover information from the
manufacturing of functional fibers (including coating, injecting, twisting, spinning, thermal drawing, and
coaxial extrusion) to the textile forming process (including weaving, knitting, sewing, and non-woven). In