Week 5: E-Textiles and Wearables I

This is my first time using Arduino, so i started testing and playing with a basic example.

The code that appears is this:

In order to make a modification, I included a second LED and I modified the code:

And I tested it on a breadboard:

It´s a just an easy modification, when Led A is on, Led B is off and viceversa.

To get the ATtiny software:

1. File > preferences > Aditional boards url > add:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/damellis/attiny/ide-1.6.x-boards-manager/package_damellis_attiny_index.json

2. Tools > Board > Board Manager

Then we look for ATtiny and install it.

3. Then in Tools > Boards have to appear the ATtiny.

Now we have the software to use our arduino as a programmer for our ATtiny. To do that we have to know what are the different pins of the ATtiny, to programm it using ISP.

In Kobakant there is a fantastic schematic for conecting Attiny to our arduino.

Tip: We need to put a 10mF capacitor between reset and GND to avoid the reset procedure.

Programming the ATtiny45 or ATtiny85:

1. Select “ATtiny45 (8 MHz)” from the “Tools > Board” menu
2. Select “Arduino as ISP“ from the “Tools > Programmer” men
3. Open the sketch you want to upload to the ATtiny
4. Upload sketch

I use again the blink code to test how th Attiny works. I changed pin 13 for 0:

And using the schematic to see the conection of the led to the AT, I put it in the bread board:

All this process was possible with the help of Kobakant and the tutorial to do it, and the tips of High Low Tech. Here I write the sources:

• http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3742
• http://highlowtech.org/?p=1706

Actually this was a fail, because I used wrong materials to make it. My idea was to replicate the Bonded Bend Sensor that Kobakant shows ih their web.

Materials:

• cotton fabric
• Eeontex Stretch Fabric
• Silver stretch conductive fabric
• Fabric Glue (the key of the fail!)

I don´t know if the fabrics glue just “melts” the fibers to paste them, or it´s simply that it acts as insulation, but when I measured with the multimeter, the sensor had a lot of resistance, and when i strecthed it that only decreases a little bit. I thought the glue could be a good alternative to the heat bond adhesive that appears in Kobakant, but obviously that was a very bad solution.

Making my textile sensor (Part II)

In this case I made a simple pressure sensor using:

• Velostat
• felt
• aluminium sheet
• adhesive copper sheet