Unconventional Computing Laboratory, UWE, Bristol, UK.
Department of Architecture, UWE, Bristol, UK.
Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 21;13(1):4595. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-31594-9.
Mycelium bound composites are promising materials for a diverse range of applications including wearables and building elements. Their functionality surpasses some of the capabilities of traditionally passive materials, such as synthetic fibres, reconstituted cellulose fibres and natural fibres. Thereby, creating novel propositions including augmented functionality (sensory) and aesthetic (personal fashion). Biomaterials can offer multiple modal sensing capability such as mechanical loading (compressive and tensile) and moisture content. To assess the sensing potential of fungal insoles we undertook laboratory experiments on electrical response of bespoke insoles made from capillary matting colonised with oyster fungi Pleurotus ostreatus to compressive stress which mimics human loading when standing and walking. We have shown changes in electrical activity with compressive loading. The results advance the development of intelligent sensing insoles which are a building block towards more generic reactive fungal wearables. Using FitzHugh-Nagumo model we numerically illustrated how excitation wave-fronts behave in a mycelium network colonising an insole and shown that it may be possible to discern pressure points from the mycelium electrical activity.
菌丝体结合复合材料是一种很有前途的材料，可应用于多种领域，包括可穿戴设备和建筑元素。它们的功能超越了一些传统的被动材料的性能，如合成纤维、重组纤维素纤维和天然纤维。从而创造出包括增强功能（感官）和美学（个人时尚）在内的新颖方案。生物材料可以提供多种模态传感能力，如机械加载（压缩和拉伸）和水分含量。为了评估真菌鞋垫的传感潜力，我们对由牡蛎真菌糙皮侧耳殖民的毛细管垫定制鞋垫在模拟人类站立和行走时的压缩应力下的电响应进行了实验室实验。我们已经显示出随着压缩加载电活性的变化。研究结果推进了智能传感鞋垫的发展，这是更通用的反应性真菌可穿戴设备的基础。使用 FitzHugh-Nagumo 模型，我们数值模拟了在鞋垫中殖民的菌丝体网络中激励波前的行为，并表明可能可以从菌丝体的电活动中辨别出压力点。
