Shape changing material

1. An apparatus comprising:

a garment including:

a fabric;

one or more sensors, the one or more sensors being arranged to detect a shape-related parameter of the fabric and responsive to the detected shape-related parameter to produce a first signal; and

one or more control elements responsive to a second signal and arranged to provide a force on the fabric corresponding to the second signal; and

circuitry responsive to the first signal to determine an initial shape of the fabric, to determine a change in the fabric shape according to a difference between the initial shape of the fabric and a target shape, and to produce the second signal according to the determined change in the fabric shape.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry is further responsive to stored information to determine the change in the fabric shape.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the stored information includes a previously-measured shape-related parameter.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry is further responsive to a user input to determine the change in the fabric shape.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the fabric is substantially elastic.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one or more sensors is integral to the fabric.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one or more control elements is integral to the fabric.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry is integral to the garment.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry is further configured to utilize a computational model to predict the change in the fabric shape.

10. In an apparatus comprising a fabric coupled to electronic circuitry, a method comprising:

sensing a shape-related parameter, the shape-related parameter corresponding to a region of the fabric;

producing data corresponding to an initial shape of the region of the fabric according to the sensed shape-related parameter;

responsive to the produced data corresponding to the initial shape, selecting a target shape of the region of fabric and producing a fabric shape changing signal, the fabric shape changing signal being selected to produce the target shape of the region of the fabric; and

applying force to the region of the fabric according to the fabric shape changing signal to produce the target shape.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the region of the fabric forms at least a portion of a garment.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein sensing a shape-related parameter includes:

receiving at least one of an electromagnetic signal, an ultrasonic signal, an image, and a coordinate.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein applying force to the region of the fabric according to the fabric shape changing signal includes:

applying a voltage across an electroactive polymer.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein applying force to the region of the fabric according to the fabric shape changing signal includes:

actuating a mechanical metamaterial.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein applying force to the region of the fabric according to the fabric shape changing signal includes:

providing at least one of a magnetic, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, and a thermally induced force to the region of the fabric.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein applying force to the region of the fabric according to the fabric shape changing signal includes:

providing a force between a first sub-region of the region of the fabric and a second sub-region, different from the first sub-region, of the region of the fabric.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein applying force to the region of the fabric according to the fabric shape changing signal includes:

providing a force to at least one fiber in the region of the fabric, wherein providing a force to the at least one fiber in the region of the fabric includes applying at least one of a longitudinal stretching force, a lateral force, a bending moment, a bending force, and a torque.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein producing a fabric shape changing signal includes:

processing a second signal corresponding to the sensed shape-related parameter to produce the fabric shape changing signal.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein processing a second signal corresponding to the sensed shape-related parameter to produce the fabric shape changing signal includes:

using a computational model to produce the fabric shape changing signal responsive to the second signal.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein using a computational model to produce the fabric shape changing signal responsive to the second signal includes:

simulating a response of the region of the fabric to one or more hypothetical forces.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein processing a second signal corresponding to the sensed shape-related parameter to produce the fabric shape changing signal includes:

comparing the second signal to a reference signal.

22. The method of claim 10 wherein the shape changing signal includes at least one of electromagnetic energy, electrical energy, ultrasonic energy, and acoustic energy.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the second signal includes at least one of electromagnetic energy, electrical energy, ultrasonic energy, and acoustic energy.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein processing a second signal corresponding to the sensed shape-related parameter to produce the fabric shape changing signal includes:

determining an initial shape of the region of the fabric.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein processing a second signal corresponding to the sensed shape-related parameter to produce the fabric shape changing signal further includes:

determining an adjusted shape of the region of fabric.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein processing a second signal corresponding to the sensed shape-related parameter to produce the fabric shape changing signal further includes:

comparing the initial shape of the region of the fabric to the target shape; and

determining the fabric shape changing signal according to a difference between the initial shape of the region of the fabric and the target shape.

27. The method of claim 10 wherein the producing the fabric shape changing signal is further responsive to a fabric property, wherein the fabric property includes at least one of fiber type, fiber dynamics, weave, mass, thickness, density, and reflective property of the fabric.

28. The method of claim 10 wherein applying force to the region of the fabric according to the fabric shape changing signal includes:

irreversibly changing at least a portion of the region of the fabric.

29. The method of claim 10 wherein the shape-related parameter includes at least one of a force, a stress, a pressure, a strain, a bend, a twist, a deformation, a geometry, a surface topology, an orientation, a reflective property, and a position of one or more portions of the garment.

30. An apparatus comprising:

one or more sensors, the one or more sensors being arranged to detect a shape-related parameter of a fabric and responsive to the detected shape-related parameter to produce a first signal;

a garment including:

the fabric; and

one or more control elements arranged to provide a force on the fabric corresponding to a second signal different from the first signal; and

circuitry responsive to the first signal to determine an initial shape of the fabric, to determine a change in the fabric shape according to a difference between the initial shape of the fabric and a target shape, and to produce the second signal according to a first determined change in the fabric shape.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is external to the garment.

32. The apparatus of claim 30 further comprising:

a display operably connected to at least one of the one or more sensors to show information related to at least a portion of the garment.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the display is configured to show an image of at least a portion of the garment.