E-textiles


Inspiration

It’s been a while since I really wanted to dig into e-textiles, but I never managed to figure out how to start or where to go. However, I can share with you my greatest inspirations of all time!

DATA PAULETTE

→ Versatile


→Matrix - Interdigitation


→Digital Topography



CLAIRE WILLIAMS

→Workshop textile Electro←
☺ Speaker


☺ Electromagnetic Antennas


☺ textile Theremine



UNSTABLE DESIGN LAB


IRENE POSCH

Embroidered computer!

Her thesis -> Stitching Worlds: Exploring Textiles and Electronics (you can fin the PDF here)


Tools / website

  • Arduino UNO
  • Arduino IDE
  • knitting machine
  • conductive silver yarns
  • LEDS
  • batteries
  • conductive carded wool

  • wool
    /////////

  • Kobakant

  • Tinkercad

Our table !

DIGITAL SENSOR

☺☺☺ failed sensor ☺☺☺

For the assignement I wanted to use my indigo yarn that I died myself last week, during the biochrome week. Here are my draws for this first digital sensor !

The idea was that by scratching the surface of conductive yarns, the current could pass randomly, causing the LED to react by lighting up.

steps→→→→→→→

This sensor is failed because the conductive yarne I chose was not conductive enough.

With the multimeter, I decided to mesure the resistance of each conductives yarns / carded wool.* All of these yarns can be found on the Bart&Francis website

1→ eHajo 7x1 silver
2→ Merinox - Cordonnet
3→ ET-sewing-Cordonnet
4→ steel alloy Wool fiber

☺☺☺ TICKLE sensor ☺☺☺

steps→→→→→→→

résult↓↓↓

ANALOG SENSOR

For the analog sensor, I wanted to work with steel wool and experiment with the resistance. The interesting thing is that when you press the wool, the resistance decreases, making it more conductive. With Stephanie's help, I wrote code to make the LED react differently based on the pressure we apply to the button.

BUTTON ↓↓↓

This week-end I did a crochet and algorythm workshop where I learnt how to crochet the magic loop (→ which mean start your crochet in circle).

I used the pin probes that Stephanie designed during her Fabricademy because they were longer and easier to insert into my button.

résult↓↓↓

Code (for not a real analog sensor)

    int coussin = 0;


    void setup() {
      // initialize the digital pin LED_BUILTIN as an output.
      pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
      pinMode(A1, INPUT);
      Serial.begin(9600);
    }

    void loop() {
      // the loop function runs over and over gain forever
      coussin = analogRead(A1);
      Serial.println(coussin);

 digitalWrite(2, coussin);


  if (coussin < 200) {
  digitalWrite(2, HIGH);
  delay(50);
  digitalWrite(2, LOW);
  delay(50);
}
else {
  digitalWrite(2, HIGH);
  // delay(1000);
  // digitalWrite(2, LOW);
  // delay(1000);
}
}

Here's how it works:

The code defines a variable "coussin" that stores the value read from an analog sensor. In the setup() function:

Pin 2 is configured as an output (to control an LED) Pin A1 is configured as an input (to read the sensor) Serial communication is initialized at 9600 baud to display data

In the loop() function that runs continuously:

The sensor value on A1 is read and stored in the "coussin" variable This value is sent to the serial port for display If the value is less than 200 (pressure detected):

The LED on pin 2 blinks rapidly (50ms on, 50ms off)

Otherwise (if the value is greater than or equal to 200, meaning no pressure):

The LED stays permanently on (the delay and turn-off lines are commented out)

In summary, it's a system that uses a pressure sensor on a cushion, displays pressure values, and makes an LED blink when sufficient pressure is detected.

For this experiment, I wrote a code that allowed me to turn the light on in an analog way. In the video, I press my small crocheted button, which reduces the resistance and lets more current pass through. My code determines that when the resistance falls below a certain threshold (200), the light starts to blink. In this circuit, the lamp switches between states when the button is pressed, which creates an effect similar to that of a digital sensor.

Therefore, even though my code is analog, the result isn't very engaging as it doesn't fully utilize the potential of an analog circuit. It might have been more interesting to integrate multiple resistance thresholds, each with a different blinking rhythm.

Code (for real analog sensor)

Since I didn’t experiment with the real purpose of an analog circuit — namely, generating variations in brightness using a sensor — here is a modification of the previous code. Instead of making the LED blink at a certain pressure level, it now directly uses the sensor value to control the brightness.

    int coussin = 0;


    void setup() {
      // initialize the digital pin LED_BUILTIN as an output.
      pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
      pinMode(A1, INPUT);
      Serial.begin(9600);
    }

    void loop() {
      // the loop function runs over and over gain forever
      coussin = analogRead(A1);
      Serial.println(coussin);

 digitalWrite(2, coussin);

}