Skip to content

8. Wearables

INSPIRATIONS


My inspiration for the wearables is an artist who makes very smooth ceramic shapes that show how the colors change and look like something modern and new. I really like his work; it's like magic. This is his Instagram account Maxwell Mustardo and this is his website Maxwell Mustardo.

Project interactive mouse glove

Another project i found interesting is this one above from hackster platform.

The Smart Glove, made by Cameron Coward, is an attempt to introduce more novelty to this human interface device, which supports basic movements and clicking with either the left or right button. Movement is monitored with an accelerometer and sent to the host computer over USB, whereas clicks are detected with a pair of flex sensors.

ASSIGNMENT

For this assignment we discover different outputs, audio, lights, sound and learn how to create circuits with transistor and the materials in the lab to create interactions.

FLIP DOTS (GENERATING MOVEMENTS)

At the beginning, we learn how to create an electromagnetic field in the lab with components available. Start with the flip-dots.

  • In order to make it, you need copper wires.
  • Then you should make a coil wrapping many times of wires on a pencil.
  • Then we burn 1 cm from each side of the wires to make them conductive and remove the coat.
  • Now you can test the wires with the multimeter.
  • Must be conductive to work.
  • Put a small magnet Put it in the middle.
  • Then connect the wire to the 9-volt battery or to a circuit.
  • When you connect the wire to the + and - of the battery and then swap the polarity, the magnet flips.

Tools

  • magnet
  • tape
  • lighter
  • crocodile wires
  • copper tape



This is the final result for the flip dots. I just put some colorful thread around the copper coil, integrated it on cotton fabric, and soldered it on silver fabric.

Then I use the leftover silver fabric from the speaker coil.


CIRCUIT WITH TRANSISTOR

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semiconductor material, usually with at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals controls the current through another pair of terminals - From Wikipedia

Schematic of Transistor

I soldered the circuit with the diode, TIP120 transistor and resistor 100 Ohms with copper tape.

We connected to the Arduino pin 7 and GND on the right, and the battery on the top.

Down to the flip dot on the wire.


We use this code to flip dot with the Arduino Uno blinking code.

SOFT SPEAKERS (GENERATING SOUNDS)

I use the circuit below to turn on the sound from a soft speaker with a lot of magnets stacked on each other!

I checked the documentation of ala' janbek to learn more and gain knowledge about the speakers.

Tools

  • strong neodymium magnet
  • tape
  • cotton fabric
  • silver conductive tape
  • crocodile wires
  • 9v battery
  • transistor circuit

CIRCUITS


I got this sketch from Liza Stark, and I soldered it to my circuit with a TIP transistor and 100 ohms of resistance with conductive tape.

The battery, 9V, is connected on top, and the speaker is at the bottom.


ILLUSTRATOR

I designed my coil on Illustrator with pencil, and then it's ready to print it with the laser cutter after choosing the color RED and the right stroke thickness.

LASER CUT


The power here is 50, and the speed is 1.50. This is the best test I got to laser cut the silver fabric.


The final result for the coil speaker glued to the cotton fabric I use the multimeter to see if it's conductive before adding it to the circuit.

A video of the speaker working.



CODE

Here we use pin number 8 of the Arduino and GND connected to the right side of the circuit.

I used this code to play the sound through the Arduino.

#include "pitches.h"

int melody[] = {

  NOTE_C4, NOTE_G3, NOTE_G3, NOTE_A3, NOTE_G3, 0, NOTE_B3, NOTE_C4
};

// note durations: 4 = quarter note, 8 = eighth note, etc.:
int noteDurations[] = {

  4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
};

void setup() {

  // iterate over the notes of the melody:

  for (int thisNote = 0; thisNote < 8; thisNote++) {

    // to calculate the note duration, take one second divided by the note type.

    //e.g. quarter note = 1000 / 4, eighth note = 1000/8, etc.

    int noteDuration = 4000 / noteDurations[thisNote];

    tone(8, melody[thisNote], noteDuration);


    int pauseBetweenNotes = noteDuration * 1.30;

    delay(pauseBetweenNotes);

    // stop the tone playing:

    noTone(8);
  }
}

void loop() {

  // no need to repeat the melody.
}

THERMOCHROMIC (GENERATING COLORS - VISUAL EFFECTS)

In the lab, we have thermochromic powder that changes color to white when heated. We have 2 colors at the lab, one green one orange and they turn white at 50 degrees temperature.

Workflow:

  • First I put the powder in a cup.
  • Then we put hot water in.
  • Then I mixed it together.
  • I also added a piece of cotton to try dyeing the fabric.

COLORS


Each one turns white when it is heated.

DYING USING MICROWAVES


We put each one in each glass petri dish, and we heated.

  • We put a little dyebath from my previous assignment (turmeric dye leftover) in a petridish with some orange powder.
  • We put all in the microwave and started heating a little bit. I repeated the experiment with fabric. The base color of the cotton is now green.
  • When it's heated, the cotton becomes yellow, as the powder turns white.

We have many colors, many dyes, and many thermochromic colors. It's been a really satisfying week.

CHANGES


I use the dyed fabric together with the flip dot and the speaker, so when I connect them to the circuit and turn on the battery, the color changes.

The fabric was dyed with orange powder and the fabric turns white when its heated.

Just enjoy your week in these colorful things with the heat gun.