Dec 13, 2022

Skin Electronics

This class focus on a wearable computing subfield that integrates technology into cosmetics to be applied directly to one’s skin, fingernails and hair in order to transform the body’s surface in an interactive platform. Connect your body with environment and enhance your communication.

Table of content

1.Inspiration and research

1. Inspiration and research

For the week of skin electronics I decided to investigate more about time management and how to use this week to do something related to this topic that can be used by people while they work to make them more efficiente and less focus on their phones.

Skin Electronics is an experimental and innovative field, this week's lecture was taugh by Katia Vega, she works on many projects related to this field, each one of her projects integrate circuits onto the skin using hair extensions, nails, cosmetics, or even using facial muscles to control behaviours. Some of her projects are:

Kinisi is an FX e-makeup application. Kinisi tries to answer the question: "Could your skin act as an interface?". As you can see in the video, each of these muscle movements will trigger different light patterns. Larca Meicap, a special effects makeup artist, combined her FX materials with our Beauty Technology sensors for precisely applying them on specific muscles. LEDs were also hidden on the skin and hair. Digital signals collected by the sensors are sent to a microcontroller that activates a light sequence on Kisini's face and hair. Source

Blinklifier is a wearable computer that amplifies human blinking and minimizes the use of intrusive devices on the face such as heavy glasses and electromyography. It follows the natural eye muscles' contractions, extending that motion into a visible light array that changes pattern depending on the blinking gesture. Fake eyelashes were metalized to capture the blinking motion and a conductive material was used as eyeliner to connect the eyelashes with the wearable device. Blinklifier uses LEDs to create the blinking patterns in the headpiece and is prototyped using an Arduino microcontroller. Source

2. Pomodoro technique:

Here's a quick recap about this technique, all the information is from this page.
A super simple method to help you get your tasks done. Named after a pomodoro (tomato) kitchen timer, the essence of it involves considering in advance how many pomodoros you might need for what you want to get done, setting your timer for, normally, 25 minutes and then focusing on your task until the time’s up. Then take a 5 minute break. That’s one pomodoro. After you’ve done four pomodoros take a longer break, of about 30 minutes.

3. Idea:

The idea is to develop a circuit that can be attached to the hand with 2 led lights, one light indicates the time to work and the other the time to rest. The circuit should stick to the right hand. This could help the individual to schedule their work habits and be more productive.

I started making a test in a protoboard using Arduino. Here's the test:

Here are my results:

Skin electronic test de Silvia Lugo

4. Ciurcuit:

I started designing the circuit using Rhinoceros, I came up with this design:

Using the vynil cutter I fabricate the circuit and sold the components:

TEST 01-SKIN ELECTRONICS de Silvia Lugo

5. Code:

I found the code for a simple pomodoro timer here. For my test I change the time frame to seconds instead of minutes. If you want to change the this remember this example tracks time with millis.

6. Test:

TEST 02 - SKIN ELECTRONICS de Silvia Lugo

7. Files

Skin electronic pomodoro

8. References:

Katia Vega website

Weekly assignments

100%
Document the concept, sketches, references also to artistic and scientific publications
100%
Design a “skin-circuit”. Document the project and included all source files and all materials used
100%
Upload your design files and source code
100%
Make a video with your skin electronic working