WEEK 09 | 23.11.17
E-Textile and Wearables II
Becky Stewart gave the lecture this week. She showed us some interactive projects she has developed in collaboration with artists and designers. All her work is really inspiring not only to be applied on this assignment but also on our final project.
Here is Becky's page to explore her projects.
The challenge for this assignment is incorporating computation into soft circuits by using microcontrollers and single-board computers.
What's an arduino?
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for anyone making interactive projects.
Learn more about arduino here
What's a sensor?
A sensor is a device that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment.
Application | Using a Lilypad
As I am not a complete beginner coding, I decided to use a lilypad as a microcontroller and a ultrasonic sensor to interact with distances to make my design nicer.
Some ideas:
At the beginning I wanted to design a necklace which moves some of its pieces by sensing sounds. I made an sketch of it.
However, I had
Tools:
- Soldering station
- Soldering iron
- Scissors
- Multimeter
Components:
- Conductive thread
- 01 Lilypad arduino
- 12 LilyPad LED
- 02 Pin header 1×6
- 01 Ultrasonic sensor
- 01 Lithium battery 3.7v
- 04 Push button
- A garment (brassiere)
Process:
1. Paste the copper tape into the garment in the shape of the design.
2. Cut the circular pieces of the push-up button
3. Solder the copper tape circuit where is necessary
4. Use the multimeter to check electrical continuity along the process.
5. Just after that, start soldering the components. Firstly, the coin cell battery holder and secondly the circuit made with the copper tape.
6. Finally, I checked if it was working as I expected.
