Proceedings of the International Conference on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology, 30-31 October 2018, BSD City, Indonesia, ISSN: 2477-1538 144 Carbon Nanotube-Coated Thread for Wearable Proprioception Sensing Dedy H.B. Wicaksono a* , Bilhan Benhanan a , Deby Erina Parung a , Putri Indes Oktabriani a , Fuad Ughi a , Aisyah A. Shafi b , Vitriana Biben c , Novitri Maulana c , Farida Arisanti c , Yuliati Herbani d , Brian Yuliarto e,f & Hermawan K. Dipojono e,f a Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Life Sciences and Technology, Swiss German University (SGU), Tangerang, Indonesia b School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Malaysia c Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD) / dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia d Research Center for Physics, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia e Department of Engineering Physics, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Bandung, Indonesia f Research Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Bandung, Indonesia *corresponding author: dedy.wicaksono@sgu.ac.id Abstract: This paper focuses on the development of thread-based sensor for proprioception sensing in finger and knee. The thread sensor is made by dipping cotton thread into carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersion. The electrical and electromechanical properties of the thread change depending on the dipping parameters. The resistance of the CNT-Coated threads changes due to in-plane force, exhibiting a piezoresistive-like mechanism. The CNT-coated thread functioning as strain gage is sewn into hand glove and yoga pants. The thread sensor will stretch upon finger or knee bending, and its resistance will change accordingly. Using this wearable sensor, proprioception detection is conducted for finger bending and sit-to-stand movement. Keywords: Carbon Nanotube, Cotton Thread, Proprioception, Wearable Sensor 5. Introduction Proprioception is the sense of the effort to make movement of one’s parts of the body (Elsevier, 2013). The loss of proprioceptive sense may affect muscular control. Many neurological and orthopedic conditions are related to proprioception such as stroke (Kenzie et al., 2014). Therapies have been applied and proven to be effective (Aman, Elangovan, Yeh, & Konczak, 2015). Therapies can be assisted by using orthosis, or prosthesis in the case of missing body part. In order that an assessment can be done during the therapy, there is a need to detect and sense the relative position of one’s part of the body to the others, hence proprioception sensing. For therapy assessment purposes, this can be carried out using camera and image recognition system, called as visual proprioception monitor (Pauwels & Kragic, 2015). However, such system is complex and cumbersome. Furthermore, it cannot be made portable, let alone wearable by the person undergoing the treatment. Previously, silver nanoparticles (AgNP) have been patterned on cotton fabrics to develop stretchable sensor for finger’s proprioception sensing (Yuen et al., 2014). While the sensor performs quite well, AgNP is a rather expensive nanomaterial with potential toxicity towards human’s body. In 1991, Carbon Nanotube (CNT) was discovered by Iijima (Iijima, 1991). CNT has fascinating electronic, and mechanical properties. The atoms bonding on CNT is very strong and CNT has high electrical conductivity. CNT has been applied in several applications. CNT has also been used to coat thread for finger proprioception sensing (Shafi & Wicaksono, 2017). CNT-coated thread offers a lower cost, stretchable and wearable sensor for proprioception sensing.