Final Project

For my final project, I'm working with Alexandra and we're working on an E-swaddle. What's that you say? It's the most freaking amazing project you've ever heard of. Don't believe me? Just wait.

During the Fabricademy, Alexandra's sister gave birth to a baby-girl. While spending time with them, Ale realized how hard it was to make her fall asleep. She also thought it was very hard to monitor a baby while they're asleep. She told me this, and we started making some research about the problem. We found that the current solution is “Bouncers”. These are vibrating chairs which help babies fall asleep. The problem with the system is that it's not suitable for long-term sleeping. After a while, babies must be transferred to a crib, and they might wake up.

We thought that, if we could create a vibrating crib, we could solve the problem. We made some further research, and we found a vibrating crib by MIT called the SNU. This crib costs 6000 dollars. So we decided to make a fabable vibrating crib. Our idea evolved a little bit, after the tenth week: Applications and Implications. We decided to make the crib customizable by adding a swaddle, which can sense the parent's soothing rhythm, and send it wirelessly to the crib so that the latter can later replicate it. We also considered making the crib a portable system, making it easier for the parents to carry it around.

We analyzed the customer journey in order to fully design the idea.

So. Here's the idea. Alexandra and I will divide the work, that is, one of us will focus on creating an electronic blanket, and the other one will focus on the crib. What should each of these components do?

These are the main functions of the blanket:

• Swaddle the baby easily
• Measure the parents' soothing rhythm and send it to the crib.
• Record the parent's voices and send it to the crib

These are the main functions of the crib:

• Secure the baby
• Vibrate according to the information sent by the blanket
• Play the parents' voices so as to soothe the baby

How are we going to achieve this?

We plan on using as many concepts as possible from what we've learned at Fabricademy:

1. Design modular patterns for the blanket, using Valentina.
2. Laser cut the patterns.
3. Use natural dyes to color the prototype.
4. Create vinyl cut soft circuits
5. Incorporate hard sensors
6. Parametrically design the crib, using mattress foam.
7. Design a soft circuit and implement soft actuators (fabric speaker)
8. Personalize the crib
9. Implement Bluetooth/RFID/NFC communication
10. Integrate both systems.

So what have we achieved so far?

During most of January, Ale and I have been conducting research regarding babies, fabric, and electronics. I've been contacting Lafayette, an antibacterial fabric manufacturer from Colombia, to obtain the adequate fabric for babies. I've also been working on designing and manufacturing the soft circuits. Ale has been designing and cutting the modular patterns for the blanket and researching the best mattress foam for babies while analyzing whether or not it can be laser cut. Here are some pictures of our progress.

Here are my files