12. Skin Electronics¶
Research¶
Understanding a Sensitive Matrix¶
Sensitive Matrix
= A grid where intersection nodes are sensors e.g. Pressure Sensor
My Sensitive Matrix¶
[made on Bioplastic]
Once connected to my computer and the Processing software, using the sketch provided to us we could visualise our Matrix working.
Practical Process¶
Inspired by Riley↗ and Stephanie↗
In particularly Rileys concept regarding facial recognition and her use of LEDs that you can turn on and off giving you the power to choose when you are seen.
Looking deeper into facial accessories, I was drawn to the traditional jewellery of the Afar women in Ethiopia. I wanted to try and incorporate and combine the aesthetics of these accessories with future-facing electronic skin design to visualise how the face could be used as a site for communication and privacy.
Prototyping¶
I approached this week with a very experimental process. I had a vision but soon realised that function wsa more important that aesthetic. I protoyped with LEDs, with the aim to progress to SMD LEDs.
EXPERIMENTING WITH FACIAL RECOGNITION
My aim for this prototype was to see if I could use the LEDs to make me not recognisable as me. This worked to an extent and was a fun concept to work with.
Final Prototype¶
Making a facial accessory on myself got too frustrating so I decided to move over to my hand. This made it much easier to make an effective wearable piece. I removed the protective coating in the areas I wanted to solder the SMD LEDs. This was very fiddly as they were so small but I managed to get some successful soldering done.
- It was very important to solder the LEDs the correct way round. The black side of the SMD is the negative charge.
Once I knew it worked when connected to a battery, I wanted to now use the microcontroller to make a push sensor switch within my two fingers. I made copper plasters that connected to the board and practised with aligator clips first. It all worked so I secured it all in place properly.
The Code :
int outputPin = 5; //actually connect to pin D4
int switchPin = A0;
void setup(){
pinMode(outputPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(switchPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
}
void loop(){
if(digitalRead(switchPin)==LOW){
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH); //Turn the output on
}
else{
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW); //Turn it off
}
}
