Week 3: First Fabrication Foray

Week 3: First Fabrication Foray

The assignment this week called for us to design and build something with the following components: a normal, non-conductive fabric (i.e. cotton), a conductive fabric or thread, and an electric component. Oh, and it had to be wearable.

I had done some design work with sweatbands before, so I opted to continue the trend. I experimented with a few different types of conductive fabric, along with various potential circuits and physical computing components. In the end, I came up with this:

Top (LED on the left)

Bottom (Button & Conductive Thread)

Basically, I was inspired by my childhood toys to create a sweatband LED zapper. The LED is pointed forward when you wear it, so that you can aim it, push the button on the bottom and 'zap' your enemies. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun with it before it broke.

The design was achived using a simple LED, switch state button, conductive thread, and a 3V coin cell battery. The design was relatively simple, as the thread simply acted as the wire would in a normal curcuit.

However, the thread I was using was actually pulled threads off a piece of Organza I had been experiemtning with, since I had no proper thread, I had discovered the possibility taking out the conductive fibers from the Organza and stitching them into the sweatband to create what was essentially conductive thread. Unfortunately, the threads from the Organza were significantly weaker then traditional conductive thread, and while I was able to get the curcuit stitched and present it in class, the thread broke when I attempted to put the sweatband on. In all, it was a very fun project, and really got me excited to work more with conductive fabrics.

I was also inspired by the E-Broidery article, espically the overview of applications section. The fact that there are people out there who are developing and using these materials in such interesting ways just illuminates the face that there are so many possibilities yet to be explored. Being a musician, I particularly enjoyed the musical jacket and keypad idea, though the keypad immediately sparked thoughts of a 'soft' mobile phone or social networking device. (Potential project?)

Week 1 & 2: Intro and Venus

So, it's a bit overdue, but here it is: my first real wearables blog. This post will cover the first and second weeks thoughts, readings, and projects.

There are two main reason I decided to study wearable technology: first, I see I lot of very interesting possibilities in the realm of portable, comfortable devices; secondly, I think it's crucial to able to design with the human body in mind, becuase given an option, people will pick the product that feels right.
So with these thoughts in mind, I took on the task of creating my own Venus of Willendorf. A few things struck me about the Venus . It seemed to be an object that fit well into the hand, was comfortable to grasp, and I thought of all the things that only our hands can do. Thus, I decided to take a block of wood and carve it to fit specifically in my hand. I chose wood because, besides being nice to work with and nice to hold, it also changes over time, absorbing oils and moisture from the body, effectively taking on some aspects of its owner.

The hand, as it turns out, is a rather complicated piece of machinery. I hand to debate what sort of hand position provided optimum comfort and stability. After quite a bit a meticulous carving and sanding, this is what I came up with:

Front

Back

The guitar, meant to symbolize an important, personal (but non-portable) object was hammered into the wood using a metal punch. As you can see, my drawing skills leave much to be desired. However, the shape and the grooves for the fingers and palm proved to be quite effective in nestling the wood into my hand.
I thought this was a great excercise; I spent a lot of time just thinking about my hands, the impressions they make, the spatial relationships that work well with them, and how hard it is to make an object that works for one hand, let alone many.

As for the first set of readings and discussion, a few points stuck out in particular for me. In the Fashion article by George Simmel, I was particularly interested in his discussion of fashion as it relates to class, espically in light of the time in which he was writing versus today. The idea that fashion trends are set by the rich and immitated by the poor certainly has some credibility; just think of all the direct imitations of pricey label items (Louis Vuitton bags, Oakley Sunglasses, fake diamonds, etc.). However, while this is still certainly true, today there are some striking counter-examples. For example, the prevelance of 'urban' style (baggy pants, oversized shirts and jerseys, sneakers), or the rise of pre-ripped or dyed jeans that make them look old and worn right off the rack. These are certainly not styles inspired or designed by the upper class.