{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T09:55:37Z","timestamp":1791971737098,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789344000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791936000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":30,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nat Commun"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Wireless body sensor networks could enable unencumbered human-machine interfaces for robotics, assistive healthcare, and immersive computing. However, their widespread adoption remains constrained by bulky batteries and inefficient wireless communication. Here, we report a battery-free wireless body sensor network enabled by a dual-mode metamaterial textile for continuous and unobtrusive human-machine interactions. The textile, digitally embroidered with liquid-metal fibers, establishes ultra-wideband electromagnetic pathways to simultaneously support efficient near-field power transfer and Bluetooth communication across the entire human body. This architecture enhances data throughput by 37.8 times and doubles wireless power transfer efficiency compared with emerging near-field clothing. When worn, the metamaterial-integrated clothing allows an NFC-enabled smartphone to serve as a central hub, wirelessly delivering power to and acquiring multimodal signals from distributed battery-free HMI sensors. We demonstrate that this battery-free body sensor network remains robust during motion and enables intuitive, unencumbered interactions in robotic control, virtual reality, and human digital twins.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-026-77600-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T06:04:41Z","timestamp":1789365881000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Metamaterial-enabled battery-free wireless sensor networks for unencumbered human-machine interactions"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yimeng","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fengman","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0642-4894","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tianyiyi","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qianrui","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juerui","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5746-5894","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qinghao","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Changqing","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyue","family":"Chai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuchen","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tong","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yiru","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chun","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4952-699X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiping","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0597-4512","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wenbo","family":"Ding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1633-1210","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xi","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"77600_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"473","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-019-1687-0","volume":"575","author":"X Yu","year":"2019","unstructured":"Yu, X. et al. Skin-integrated wireless haptic interfaces for virtual and augmented reality. Nature 575, 473\u2013479 (2019).","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"77600_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eaaz8693","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.aaz8693","volume":"6","author":"M Zhu","year":"2020","unstructured":"Zhu, M. et al. Haptic-feedback smart glove as a creative human-machine interface (HMI) for virtual\/augmented reality applications. Sci. Adv. 6, eaaz8693 (2020).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"77600_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"702","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-025-09255-w","volume":"645","author":"P Kaifosh","year":"2025","unstructured":"Kaifosh, P. & Reardon, T. R. A generic non-invasive neuromotor interface for human-computer interaction. Nature 645, 702\u2013711 (2025).","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"77600_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1601185","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.1601185","volume":"2","author":"Y Liu","year":"2016","unstructured":"Liu, Y. et al. Epidermal mechano-acoustic sensing electronics for cardiovascular diagnostics and human-machine interfaces. Sci. Adv. 2, e1601185 (2016).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"77600_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-022-32745-8","volume":"13","author":"Z Sun","year":"2022","unstructured":"Sun, Z., Zhu, M., Shan, X. & Lee, C. Augmented tactile-perception and haptic-feedback rings as human-machine interfaces aiming for immersive interactions. Nat. Commun. 13, 5224 (2022).","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"77600_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eabl6700","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.abl6700","volume":"8","author":"Y Liu","year":"2022","unstructured":"Liu, Y. et al. Electronic skin as wireless human-machine interfaces for robotic VR. Sci. Adv. 8, eabl6700 (2022).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"77600_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"374","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-022-00765-3","volume":"5","author":"YH Jung","year":"2022","unstructured":"Jung, Y. H. et al. A wireless haptic interface for programmable patterns of touch across large areas of the skin. Nat. Electron. 5, 374\u2013385 (2022).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."},{"key":"77600_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"64","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-022-00888-7","volume":"6","author":"KK Kim","year":"2023","unstructured":"Kim, K. K. et al. A substrate-less nanomesh receptor with meta-learning for rapid hand task recognition. Nat. Electron. 6, 64\u201375 (2023).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."},{"key":"77600_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"627","DOI":"10.1038\/s42256-025-01018-6","volume":"7","author":"J Tang","year":"2025","unstructured":"Tang, J. et al. Human-centred design and fabrication of a wearable multimodal visual assistance system. Nat. Mach. Intell. 7, 627\u2013638 (2025).","journal-title":"Nat. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"77600_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1038\/s44460-025-00001-3","volume":"1","author":"X Chen","year":"2025","unstructured":"Chen, X. et al. A noise-tolerant human-machine interface based on deep learning-enhanced wearable sensors. Nat. Sens. 1, 39\u201351 (2025).","journal-title":"Nat. Sens."},{"key":"77600_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"698","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-019-1234-z","volume":"569","author":"S Sundaram","year":"2019","unstructured":"Sundaram, S. et al. Learning the signatures of the human grasp using a scalable tactile glove. Nature 569, 698\u2013702 (2019).","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"77600_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-021-00558-0","volume":"4","author":"Y Luo","year":"2021","unstructured":"Luo, Y. et al. Learning human\u2013environment interactions using conformal tactile textiles. Nat. Electron. 4, 193\u2013201 (2021).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."},{"key":"77600_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.1038\/s42256-023-00780-9","volume":"6","author":"A Tashakori","year":"2024","unstructured":"Tashakori, A. et al. Capturing complex hand movements and object interactions using machine learning-powered stretchable smart textile gloves. Nat. Mach. Intell. 6, 106\u2013118 (2024).","journal-title":"Nat. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"77600_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-020-00510-8","volume":"4","author":"A Moin","year":"2021","unstructured":"Moin, A. et al. A wearable biosensing system with in-sensor adaptive machine learning for hand gesture recognition. Nat. Electron. 4, 54\u201363 (2021).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."},{"key":"77600_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"361","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-019-0286-2","volume":"2","author":"S Niu","year":"2019","unstructured":"Niu, S. et al. A wireless body area sensor network based on stretchable passive tags. Nat. Electron. 2, 361\u2013368 (2019).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."},{"key":"77600_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eaau0780","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aau0780","volume":"363","author":"HU Chung","year":"2019","unstructured":"Chung, H. U. et al. Binodal, wireless epidermal electronic systems with in-sensor analytics for neonatal intensive care. Science 363, eaau0780 (2019).","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"77600_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eabj3269","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.abj3269","volume":"7","author":"T Stuart","year":"2021","unstructured":"Stuart, T. et al. Biosymbiotic, personalized, and digitally manufactured wireless devices for indefinite collection of high-fidelity biosignals. Sci. Adv. 7, eabj3269 (2021).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"77600_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eadt7488","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.adt7488","volume":"11","author":"KA Kasper","year":"2025","unstructured":"Kasper, K. A. et al. Continuous operation of battery-free implants enables advanced fracture recovery monitoring. Sci. Adv. 11, eadt7488 (2025).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"77600_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-020-14311-2","volume":"11","author":"R Lin","year":"2020","unstructured":"Lin, R., Kim, H.-J., Achavananthadith, S., Kurt, S. A. et al. Wireless battery-free body sensor networks using near-field-enabled clothing. Nat. Commun. 11, 444 (2020).","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"77600_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-022-29859-4","volume":"13","author":"R Lin","year":"2022","unstructured":"Lin, R., Kim, H.-J., Achavananthadith, S., Xiong, Z. et al. Digitally-embroidered liquid metal electronic textiles for wearable wireless systems. Nat. Commun. 13, 2190 (2022).","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"77600_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"243","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-019-0257-7","volume":"2","author":"X Tian","year":"2019","unstructured":"Tian, X. et al. Wireless body sensor networks based on metamaterial textiles. Nat. Electron. 2, 243\u2013251 (2019).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."},{"key":"77600_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-023-39850-2","volume":"14","author":"X Tian","year":"2023","unstructured":"Tian, X. et al. Implant-to-implant wireless networking with metamaterial textiles. Nat. Commun. 14, 4335 (2023).","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"77600_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-025-01516-w","volume":"9","author":"Z Li","year":"2026","unstructured":"Li, Z. et al. Body sensor networks based on flexible topological clothing. Nat. Electron. 9, 59\u201368 (2026).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."},{"key":"77600_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Takahashi, R., Yukita, W., Yokota, T., Someya, T. & Kawahara, Y. Meander coil++: a body-scale wireless power transmission using safe-to-body and energy-efficient transmitter coil. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1\u201312 (ACM, 2022).","DOI":"10.1145\/3491102.3502119"},{"key":"77600_CR25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-51061-x","volume":"15","author":"X Zhu","year":"2024","unstructured":"Zhu, X., Wu, K., Xie, X., Anderson, S. W. & Zhang, X. A robust near-field body area network based on coaxially-shielded textile metamaterial. Nat. Commun. 15, 6589 (2024).","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"77600_CR26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"847","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1098999","volume":"305","author":"J Pendry","year":"2004","unstructured":"Pendry, J., Martin-Moreno, L. & Garcia-Vidal, F. Mimicking surface plasmons with structured surfaces. Science 305, 847\u2013848 (2004).","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"77600_CR27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"025004","DOI":"10.1103\/RevModPhys.94.025004","volume":"94","author":"FJ Garcia-Vidal","year":"2022","unstructured":"Garcia-Vidal, F. J. et al. Spoof surface plasmon photonics. Rev. Mod. Phys. 94, 025004 (2022).","journal-title":"Rev. Mod. Phys."},{"key":"77600_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eabe1315","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.abe1315","volume":"6","author":"Y Lee","year":"2021","unstructured":"Lee, Y. et al. Visual-inertial hand motion tracking with robustness against occlusion, interference, and contact. Sci. Robot. 6, eabe1315 (2021).","journal-title":"Sci. Robot."},{"key":"77600_CR29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"584","DOI":"10.1038\/s42256-019-0125-1","volume":"1","author":"S Mintchev","year":"2019","unstructured":"Mintchev, S., Salerno, M., Cherpillod, A., Scaduto, S. & Paik, J. A portable three-degrees-of-freedom force feedback origami robot for human\u2013robot interactions. Nat. Mach. Intell. 1, 584\u2013593 (2019).","journal-title":"Nat. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"77600_CR30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eadt6041","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.adt6041","volume":"11","author":"C Yiu","year":"2025","unstructured":"Yiu, C. et al. Skin-interfaced multimodal sensing and tactile feedback system as enhanced human-machine interface for closed-loop drone control. Sci. Adv. 11, eadt6041 (2025).","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"77600_CR31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-46662-5","volume":"15","author":"X Xiao","year":"2024","unstructured":"Xiao, X. et al. Fast human motion reconstruction from sparse inertial measurement units considering the human shape. Nat. Commun. 15, 2423 (2024).","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"77600_CR32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cohen, G., Afshar, S., Tapson, J. & Van Schaik, A. \u201cEMNIST: extending MNIST to handwritten letters\u201d. In Proc. 2017 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) 2921\u20132926 (IEEE, 2017).","DOI":"10.1109\/IJCNN.2017.7966217"},{"key":"77600_CR33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"808","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-021-00663-0","volume":"4","author":"A Hajiaghajani","year":"2021","unstructured":"Hajiaghajani, A. et al. Textile-integrated metamaterials for near-field multibody area networks. Nat. Electron. 4, 808\u2013817 (2021).","journal-title":"Nat. Electron."}],"container-title":["Nature Communications"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-77600-2","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-77600-2.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-77600-2.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T09:38:20Z","timestamp":1791970700000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-77600-2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,12]]}},"alternative-id":["77600"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-026-77600-2","relation":{},"ISSN":["2041-1723"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2041-1723","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"assertion":[{"value":"12 February 2026","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"21 August 2026","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"14 September 2026","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics"}}],"article-number":"10778"}}