Active textiles move in confined areas

Integrating shape-morphing materials into higher hierarchical level architectures can enable programmable, complex behaviors, but it remains unclear how thread architecture can turn local contraction into coordinated motion without changing the textiles’ overall shape. Here, we demonstrate that embedding contracting threads into the versatile topologies of bobbin lace creates reconfigurable textiles that operate within fixed boundaries. Varying the mix of passive and active threads, their routing, and node placement makes it possible to transmit, cancel, or redirect motion. When lace architectures are classified by ground type, further regularities can be identified. While thread materials determine amplitude, activation thresholds, and multifunctional response, the rules governing pattern motion are primarily geometric. These design considerations can program permeability, reversible contacts, and other related responses across fabrics, establishing lace topology as a design strategy for reconfigurable textiles as well as soft devices and robots built from them.