Rice University engineers are stepping into a global spotlight as key contributors to a $24 million international effort to turn ordinary garments into mobility-boosting tools. The project aims to embed assistance directly into clothing, so support that once required bulky hardware can instead be slipped on like a favorite jacket or pair of pants. By joining forces with partners abroad, the Rice team is helping to push assistive smart clothing from speculative concept toward everyday reality.
At the center of this work are mechanical engineering professors Daniel Preston and Vanessa Sanchez, whose labs specialize in soft materials and wearable systems that can move with the body instead of fighting against it. Their role in the new collaboration is to help design textile-based devices that are not only technically sophisticated but also comfortable, washable, and affordable enough to be worn outside the lab.
The $24 million push for assistive smart clothing
The new initiative is anchored by a University of Alberta led consortium that is investing $24 million in assistive robotic clothing designed to support mobility. Within that international team, Rice University engineers Daniel J Preston and Vanessa Sanchez are identified as key partners, a signal that the project depends heavily on their expertise in soft robotics and wearable systems. The stated goal is to create clothing that can provide mobility assistance while remaining washable, affordable, and scalable, so it can reach people far beyond specialized clinics or research centers, according to Insights.
Rice’s role in this collaboration reflects a broader shift in assistive technology, away from rigid exoskeletons and toward garments that look and feel like everyday wear. The project’s backers are explicit that they want solutions that can be produced at scale, not bespoke devices that only a few patients can access. By tying the work to a substantial funding pool and a cross border research network, the University of Alberta partnership gives Rice a platform to translate its lab scale prototypes into real world products that can be manufactured, laundered, and worn in daily life without special handling.
Rice engineers at the center of a global team
Within Rice, the effort is anchored in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where professors Daniel Preston and Vanessa Sanchez are collaborating on the smart clothing project as part of their broader research on soft and wearable robotics. Department communications describe how Rice University Mechanical faculty are helping to build assistive devices that avoid the bulk of traditional systems, a priority that aligns directly with the clothing based approach of the international consortium. By positioning Preston and Sanchez as co leaders on the Rice side, the university is effectively tying its reputation in mechanical engineering to the success of this new generation of wearable support.
A separate departmental update reinforces that Daniel Preston and are central figures in the collaboration, underscoring that this is not a peripheral side project but a core part of Rice’s research agenda. Their combined backgrounds, which span soft actuators, textiles, and human centered design, position them to bridge the gap between mechanical performance and wearability. In a field where many prototypes fail because they are too heavy, too stiff, or too fragile for daily use, that blend of skills is likely to be decisive.
From soft robotics to wearable assistance
The scientific foundation for Rice’s role in assistive clothing comes from Preston’s long running focus on soft robotics, which replaces rigid metal and plastic components with flexible materials that can safely interact with people. In describing his lab’s philosophy, Preston has emphasized that his team uses existing materials in previously untested applications, such as deploying soft materials for gripping tasks that would traditionally rely on hard mechanical fingers. That approach, detailed in a profile of Preston, translates naturally to clothing that can flex, stretch, and conform to the body while still delivering meaningful mechanical support.
By treating fabric and other compliant materials as active components rather than passive coverings, Preston’s lab can embed actuation and sensing directly into garments. That is a crucial step toward assistive clothing that can, for example, help lift a leg during walking or stabilize a joint during standing without resorting to external frames. When combined with Sanchez’s expertise in wearable systems, the result is a design philosophy that starts from the human body and works outward, instead of bolting robotics onto the body as an afterthought. In the context of the $24 million international project, this soft robotics mindset offers a pathway to devices that are both technically capable and genuinely wearable.
Turning everyday garments into mobility tools
The vision that motivates Rice’s participation is straightforward but ambitious: transform everyday clothing into a platform for mobility assistance. University communications frame the question in simple terms, asking what might happen if ordinary outfits could change how people experience support for walking or standing. In that framing, Rice engineers are presented as helping to make smart garments that integrate assistance so seamlessly that users can simply get dressed rather than strap into a machine.
That focus on “everyday” is not cosmetic. For assistive clothing to matter at scale, it has to fit into people’s lives as easily as a pair of jeans or a sweatshirt, surviving washing machines, daily wear, and the social scrutiny that comes with visible medical devices. By working within a global consortium that explicitly targets washable, affordable, and scalable technologies, the Rice team is aligning its research with those practical constraints. If the project succeeds, the payoff could be profound: instead of choosing between independence and comfort, people who need mobility support could pull their assistance off the hanger, zip it up, and head out the door.
