9. Wearables¶

༚༅༚˳. Research, references & ideation.˳༚༅༚¶

Wearables, or wearable technology, refer to objects designed to be worn on the body that integrate technology, materials, and functionality into everyday garments or accessories. They sit at the intersection of fashion, design, technology, and the body, turning clothing and adornments into active interfaces rather than passive objects.

There is a wide range of this type of projets, there are ones that are more functional and for every day life use:

@wearlumia Meet Lumia 2 Smart Earrings ⭐ Redefining wearables with next-gen health sensing - in a form you actually want to wear. Blood flow, sleep, cycle tracking + Forecast Score all in one modular earring back to be paired with hoops, studs, cuffs and even your own jewelry. 👂 Lumia 1 Members: your free upgrade email just went out. #Lumia2 #SmartEarrings #WearableTech ♬ Glow - nimino

And more fashion leaning ones:

@maiahirschlab This isn’t just fashion—it’s engineering, robotics, and movement fused into one. I created a dress that responds to hand gestures, blending mechanical design, wearable tech, and interactive motion. Fashion has barely changed in decades, but technology has—why shouldn’t what we wear evolve too? This is just the beginning of dynamic, responsive clothing. Imagine wearables that move, adapt, and interact with the world around us. 💡 Would you wear a dress that reacts to your movements? Drop a 🌸 in the comments! ⬇️ #FashionTech #WearableTech #RoboticDress #EngineeringMeetsFashion #WomenInSTEM #FutureOfFashion #SmartClothing #Innovation ♬ original sound - maiahirschlab

But there are also projects that serve as starting points. These two bracelets that I found caught my attention a lot, and I felt confident that I could carry out this type of project with my current skills, since the world of electronics is relatively new to me.

describe what you see in this image

Left image: Ultimate Felt Bracelet With LEDs by bliedahl on Instructables.

Right image: Color Mixing LED Bracelet by push_reset on Instructables.

Since I didn’t have enough time to build a circuit with an air pump for a soft robot, I wanted to find another way to combine both of them in a wearable piece, so I looked for inspiration for my circuit on mainly YouTube.

Bracelet 𓁹 𓁹¶

Tools¶

Thread & niddle
Lilypad LED
Copper tape
Seeed XIAO-RP2040
Velostat
Transparent thin plastic
Soldering iron and tin
jumper wires
Arduino IDE

Process and workflow¶

I started by designing mi circuit, taking into account that it would be incorporated into a piece of fabric and function as a bracelet:

Fabricademy by Samantha Sánchez, 2026

The idea was that every time the velostat was pressed, the LED light would turn on, so for i wrote the next prompt to chat gpt to help me create the code:

I have a Seeed XIAO RP2040 with a velostat connected to D0 and an LED on D1.
When I don’t press the velostat, analogRead gives me 20, and when I press it, it gives me 6.
I want the LED to turn on only when I press the velostat.
Write the code for me in Arduino.

analogRead is a function in Arduino that checks how much electricity is coming into a pin and turns it into a number. The number changes depending on how hard you press a sensor or turn a knob. It lets Arduino understand sensors that are not just ON or OFF. You can see further details on how to use arduino on my e-textiles week.

You can find this function on top bar left serial monitor.

This is the code:

const int velostatPin = A0;   // Velostat
const int ledPin = D1;        // LED en D1

int umbralDePresion = 15;     // Entre 20 (sin presión) y 6 (con presión)

void setup() {
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  int lectura = analogRead(velostatPin);
  Serial.println(lectura);      // Para seguir viendo los valores

  // Presionas (lectura baja, ~6) → LED ON
  if (lectura < umbralDePresion) {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  } else {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  }

  delay(10);
}

I did the first test of my circuit using jumper wires and alligator clips:

After I saw that it worked, I started incorporating the elements into a piece of denim. In the center, I embroidered an eye where I placed the LED, like an iris, and passed a piece of copper wire through it. I also integrated the velostat sensor on the outer part of the bracelet and sewed it in place. You can see how I made this sensor in my e-textiles week; the only difference is that instead of using felt, this sensor is made with plastic film.

On the back of the bracelet, I built my circuit using a combination of conductive materials such as jumper wires, copper wire, and copper tape. In some parts, I stripped the ends of the jumper wires and soldered them into their corresponding positions.

Results¶

Fabricademy by Samantha Sánchez, 2026

Note: when I bent it to make it into a bracelet, it worked at first, but after a while it stopped working. I think that for this specific project it would be more suitable to use flexible conductive materials.

Air motor 𓇢𓆸⋆｡˚¶

Tools¶

Adhesive vinyl
Parchment paper
Heat press
Mini air pump motor 12v
USB-C cable
H bridge Mx1508 Mini L298n
Seeed XIAO-RP2040
Soldering iron and tin
jumper wires
Arduino IDE

Process and workflow¶

This Mx1508 Mini L298n H-bridge lets a microcontroller control a motor, making it spin forward or backward and change its speed. It acts as a middleman between the motor and the board so the motor can move safely.

Having that into consideration, this is how mi circuit looks like:

I used two power banks because powering both the microcontroller and the motor with only one would not have worked properly: either the motor would not have had enough power, or the XIAO could have been damaged. Another option would have been to use a step-down voltage regulator to reduce 12 V to 5 V or 3.7 V for the XIAO and run everything from a single battery, but... I didn’t have much time :/ , so I chose the first option.

For my code i prompted it on chat gpt as well

I have a Seeed XIAO RP2040 connected to an MX1508 motor driver.
The motor is connected to MOTOR-A, and the control pins IN1 and IN2 are connected to D0 and D1 on the XIAO.
I want the motor to run forward for 10 seconds, then stop, then run in reverse for 5 seconds, and repeat this cycle.
Please write the Arduino code for this.

code:

// XIAO RP2040 + MX1508 (MOTOR-A)
// IN1 -> D0
// IN2 -> D1

const int IN1 = D0;
const int IN2 = D1;

void setup() {
  pinMode(IN1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(IN2, OUTPUT);
}

void inflar() {              // forward
  digitalWrite(IN1, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
}

void retraer() {             // reverse
  digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(IN2, HIGH);
}

void parar() {
  digitalWrite(IN1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(IN2, LOW);
}

void loop() {
  inflar();
  delay(10000);   // ⏱️ 10 segundos echando aire

  parar();
  delay(1000);    // pausa 1 segundo

  retraer();
  delay(5000);    // ⏱️ 5 segundos retrayendo

  parar();
  delay(3000);    // pausa larga antes de repetir
}

I stripped the USB-C cable and only used the red wire (positive) and the black wire (ground) this is the one that gives power to the motor; I cut and insulated the other two wires. I also soldered extensions onto the H-bridge so that the connections with the jumper wires would be more ergonomic.

I built my circuit using a combination of conductive materials such as jumper wires and alligators.

result:

Trial with a vinyl "soft robot":

Conclusion¶

This project made me realize how different it is to work with electronics when they are inside something wearable. Even though the bracelet worked at first, bending and using it showed me that rigid conductive materials are not ideal for textiles. It was a good learning experience and made me think more about how materials and electronics need to work together. Next time, I would use more flexible conductive materials to make the wearable more comfortable and reliable.