5. E-textiles

Research

What Are E-Textiles? 🤔

E-textiles, or electronic textiles, are fabrics with electronic components embedded, allowing them to sense, react, and interact with their environment.

---

How It Works ⚙️

• Integration: Conductive yarns connect the electronics woven into the fabric.
• Touch Sensitivity: The fabric can respond to touch, allowing users to control the brightness or patterns of the lights interactively.
• Interaction: Sensors trigger responses in the fabric (e.g., changing color or lighting up) based on environmental stimuli.

---

Why E-Textiles? 🎉

E-textiles merge technology with fashion, offering innovative solutions for everyday life and enhancing user experiences through interaction and functionality.

References & Inspiration

While researching, I found some interesting examples that got me really excited!

Tools

• Arduino IDE

Process and workflow

Materials Used 💻🔧

Here’s a quick rundown of the materials we’re using in our e-textile project:

1. Copper Fabric 🧵✨
   Conductive fabric used to create circuits. It allows electricity to flow through the textile, connecting electronic components.

2. Jumper Wires 🔌🔴
   Colorful jumper wires act like "bridges" in the circuit, connecting everything from sensors to power sources. Essential for prototyping!

3. Breadboard 🛠️📐
   A tool for building and testing circuits without soldering. The breadboard helps us experiment before finalizing the design.

4. Arduino Boards 🤖💻
   The brain of the project! Arduino controls sensors, LEDs, and other components, making the textile interactive.

5. 9V Batteries 🔋⚡
   Power source to keep the circuit and components running smoothly.

6. LEDs 💡🌈
   Light-emitting diodes that provide a visual effect. They can be programmed to change colors and brightness.

7. Conductive Thread and Tape 🧶✂️
   These act like "wires" in the fabric. The thread can be sewn into the textile, connecting components like LEDs and sensors, while the tape helps secure connections.

8. Resistors and Electronic Components 🔧📦
   Important for controlling the current in the circuit to avoid overloading components.

---

Testing the LED Circuit: From Basic Connections to Integrating Fabric Elements

In our exploration of e-textiles, we initially focused on understanding the functionality of our LED circuit without any fabric. This preliminary step was crucial as it allowed us to establish the fundamental connections needed to light up the LED effectively. We used standard alligator clips and Led to test the circuit's responsiveness, gaining confidence in our setup.

Once we verified that the LED illuminated as intended, we advanced to incorporating conductive materials, specifically conductive thread and tape. These materials enabled us to integrate the LED into fabrics, showcasing how e-textiles can create interactive and responsive designs. By sewing the conductive thread into our fabric and using conductive tape to make connections, we were able to bridge the gap between electronics and textile art.

In our exploration of e-textiles, we connected conductive fabric to see how it can conduct electricity. This setup introduced an interactive element, allowing users to complete the circuit by touching or manipulating the fabric, which in turn lit up an LED. By combining conductive thread and tape with the fabric, we enhanced the project's tactile experience and demonstrated the potential for integrating technology with textiles in innovative ways. And also we connected two LEDs to a single battery to test if they would light up together. During our experimentation, we tried various colored LEDs, observing that each color could exhibit different brightness levels and power requirements.

Exploring Arduino and Sensor Integration

During my journey into learning Arduino, we began by exploring the basic setup. The photo captures the moment we connected an Arduino Uno board to a sound sensor module using jumper wires. At first, it was challenging to figure out how to join the right cables, but through trial and error, we learned how to properly use the board’s digital and analog pins. The sound sensor has a microphone and a potentiometer, which we adjusted to fine-tune the sensitivity, helping us understand how external input could trigger responses in the Arduino.

In this part of our project, we used a sound sensor module to detect environmental sounds and trigger reactions in the Arduino. The sound sensor works by capturing sound waves and converting them into electrical signals. It has three main pins: a signal pin, a ground pin (GND), and a voltage pin (VCC), which we connected to the corresponding pins on the Arduino board. We programmed the Arduino to rotate the motor by 90 degrees when the sound sensor detects a sound above a certain threshold.

Integrating Creativity with LED Illustration and Laser-Cut Felt

After finding inspiration, I opened Adobe Illustrator and started creating an illustration with the goal of combining LED lights with the design. The idea of using a fire illustration came to mind, where the LED could represent the light of the flame. I created the design and separated the layers for laser cutting, choosing felt as the material for the cut. This allowed the LED to shine through the felt, simulating a realistic and creative fire effect, combining art and technology in an interesting way.

During the laser cutting process, I realized that cutting small details like the eyes, nose, and mouth out of felt wasn’t working as expected—they were too small and deformed easily. To solve this, I decided to embroider those details instead. Embroidery gave me more precision and control, allowing the features to stand out clearly without compromising the integrity of the design. After deciding to embroider the finer details, I began the assembly process using fabric glue to attach the laser-cut felt pieces. While working on it, I started thinking about how I could integrate conductive tape and needles to further enhance the interactive elements of the design.

Creating a Touch Sensor with E-Textile Materials 🔌🧵

To make my design interactive, I decided to add a touch sensor using conductive tape, Velostat, a 3-volt battery 🔋, and threads 🪡. The conductive tape and threads will act as connectors, while the Velostat, which is pressure-sensitive, will trigger the sensor when touched. The battery powers the system, allowing the sensor to activate, like lighting up an LED 💡. This fun combination adds a cool, interactive element to the project, making it not just creative but functional too! 😊

And here it is—it works, and I’m really happy with the result! 😊 I decided to attach the finished touch-sensor piece to a tote bag to showcase the interactive design. Afterward, I took some photos and videos to document the project and capture how the sensor reacts when touched, lighting up the LED 💡.

Creating a Sensitive Sensor with Arduino

In this step of the project, we aimed to create a sensitive sensor using Arduino. The photos show two important components: a multimeter and resistors. In the first image, we used the multimeter to measure resistance and check the connections of our circuit. It shows a reading of 10.82 kΩ, which helps us determine the correct flow of current. In the second image, you can see a bag of 0.25W 910Ω resistors. Resistors like these help control the amount of current in our circuit, ensuring it operates correctly without damaging other components.

Connecting the Flora and Sensor Setup

We began by connecting the Flora board to all the necessary cables, ensuring each one was in the correct position. Once everything was securely in place, we linked the Flora to the computer and opened Arduino to begin coding. Our main task was to program the board to check the values we receive when we press the sensor, allowing us to observe the sensor's sensitivity and response through real-time input data. This step was crucial in fine-tuning the sensor's performance for the project.

Code Example

/*
  AnalogReadSerial

  Reads an analog input on pin 0, prints the result to the Serial Monitor.
  Graphical representation is available using Serial Plotter (Tools > Serial Plotter menu).
  Attach the center pin of a potentiometer to pin A0, and the outside pins to +5V and ground.

  This example code is in the public domain.

  https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/BuiltInExamples/AnalogReadSerial
*/

void setup() {
  // initialize serial communication at 9600 bits per second:
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
  // read the input on analog pin 0:
  int sensorValue = analogRead(6);
  // print out the value you read:
  Serial.println(sensorValue);
  delay(400);  // delay in between reads for stability
}

Programming the Flora for Color Change

After testing the sensor, we decided to take the project further by programming the Flora board to implement a color change. The idea was to have the NeoPixel lights transition from yellow to green based on the input values from the sensor. Using Arduino, we wrote a program that connected the sensor's data to the color output on the Flora. When the sensor detected a touch within the 100-200 range, the color of the lights would smoothly change, symbolizing interaction through touch. This feature added a dynamic and interactive element to the project! 🌈✨

Code Example

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

#define PIN        8   // NeoPixel pin
#define NUMPIXELS  1   // Number of NeoPixels

Adafruit_NeoPixel pixels(NUMPIXELS, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

int sensorPin = 6;  // Pin connected to the sensor

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);          // Initialize serial communication
  pixels.begin();              // Initialize NeoPixel
}

void loop() {
  int sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);  // Read the sensor value (0-1023)
  Serial.println(sensorValue);              // Print sensor value for debugging

  // Check if the sensor value is between 100 and 200
  if (sensorValue >= 0 && sensorValue <= 1000) {
    // Map the sensor value (100-200) to the green-yellow transition (0-255)
    int colorValue = map(sensorValue, 100, 200, 255, 0);  // 255 is yellow, 0 is green
    pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(255, colorValue, 0));  // Change NeoPixel color
    pixels.show();  // Update NeoPixel with new color
  }

  delay(10);  // Delay for stability
}

Creating a Touch-Sensitive Digital Soft Sensor

Then I decided to create a digital soft sensor that would function as a touch-sensitive button. For this, I used felt and conductive tape. I cut a shape out of felt and placed the conductive tape inside to serve as the conductive material. I made sure the button was two-layered, so the conductive layers wouldn’t touch until pressed. The button acts like a switch, controlling the LEDs. I connected the positive leads of the LEDs to the battery’s positive terminal and the negatives to the negative terminal, completing the circuit when pressed.

For my project, I created a digital soft sensor that controls LEDs in a unique way. The sensor works as a switch — when I press the felt button, it connects the conductive tapes inside, completing the circuit and turning the lights off. When the button is not pressed, the circuit remains open, and the LEDs stay on. This reverse logic creates an interactive experience where pressing the sensor actually causes the lights to go out, adding a playful twist to the interaction.

Conclusion of My E-Textile Journey 🎨💡

Throughout this e-textile adventure, I explored how to blend technology with fabric in fun and creative ways! From coding a Flora board to designing soft sensors, I experimented with different materials like conductive threads and tape. I learned how to control LEDs and create interactive components like buttons that respond to touch. 🧵🔌

The coolest part was when I made a button that switches the LED off when pressed. It was amazing to see how textiles can interact with electronics and transform into something more dynamic! 😄 This process showed me how much patience and creativity it takes to combine electronics with soft materials, but it also opened my eyes to so many new possibilities.