Desktop Biofibers Spinning

ABSTRACT
Smart textiles combine electronics with traditional textile forms, showing great promise in creating soft and flexible interactive systems for human-computer interaction and robotics. However, they also present significant sustainability challenges as they merge two substantial waste streams: textiles and electronics. This paper contributes to sustainability efforts by focusing on the integration of biobased materials that are biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable in the design of smart textiles. We introduce a Desktop Biofibers Spinning Machine to enable smart textile innovators to explore biobased fibers (i.e., biofibers) and envision applications in sustainable smart textiles. We describe the machine’s design, a usage walkthrough, considerations for fiber spinning, and an exploration of various formulations to make gelatin biofibers. We provide several examples of biofibers integrated into smart textile applications. Finally, we discuss lessons learned from working with biofibers and the unique opportunities our machine brings to the fiber design space in HCI.

PUBLICATION
2024 – Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez, Mirela Alistar, Laura Devendorf, and Michael L. Rivera. 2024. Desktop Biofibers Spinning: An Open-Source Machine for Exploring Biobased Fibers and Their Application Towards Sustainable Smart Textile Design. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 856, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642387

PDF – Video presentation

EXHIBITIONS

Pioneering Biomaterials: Academia and Industry Convergence
- Theme | Biomaterials Exhibition
- Samples exhibited | Gelatin biofibers, biofoams, bioplastics, and woven biofoam yarns.
- Location | California College of the Arts, San Francisco
- Date | Feb 2025
Matter of South: Biomaterial Cultures from Latin America
- Theme | Biomaterial Archive
- Samples exhibited | Gelatin biofibers, biofoams, and woven biofoam yarns.
- Location | Museum of Decorative Arts Berlin
- Date | Jul-Aug 2024

MEDIA

Articles:
- NPR – All Things Considered – How fibers spun from gelatin could help reduce textile waste
- ASME Newsletter – Gelatin Fibers for Recyclable Textiles
- Fox31 Denver / KDVR News – This machine weaves gelatin-based clothes you can dissolve after use
- CBS Colorado (Denver 4 News) – CU researchers work with gelatin to create fibers that could help reduce waste from “fast fashion”
- CBS News – University of Colorado Boulder researchers create fibers from gelatin to solve waste problem
- Techspot – This machine weaves gelatin-based clothes you can dissolve after use
- ZME Science – The future of clothing: wear it and then dissolve it into gelatin
- Extreme Tech – Researchers Create Gelatin-Based Textiles That Dissolve For Easy Disposal
- The Engineer – Designers create dissolvable textiles from gelatine
- Sourcing Journal: Colorado Researchers Make Dissolvable Duds from Gelatin
- Fashion Value Chain – Researchers Create Dissolvable Shirts
Podcast:
- Biofiber Fashion Designed To Dissolve After Wear – The Lisa Wexler Show | Acast