Archive for the ‘wearables’ Category
Ok, so by the end of the day, I was jumping around the WIP lab with joy!
That’s right, you guessed it: success. The changeover to the lilypad arduino went smoothly, and when we hooked it up to the battery power source everything worked!So now the technology pieces must be integrated into the garment. This will involve some temporary tacking and pockets, because we’re not sure exactly how it will work/feel once it is part of the vest. So before permanently altering the garment I’ve worked so hard on, we’ll try some arrangements and continue to develop that aspect later. But for now, we are both very happy with what we have. 
Although it’s not done yet, I’ve posted some photos of the vest (a work in progress).So everyone will just have to wait and see how the whole thing looks together tomorrow morning.
Good luck everyone!
Tags: clothing, design, fabric, heart rate, hrmi, interactive, lilypad arduino, programming, prototype, sewing, sketch, sound, technology, wearable
Posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, design, wearables | 2 Comments »
Success at last!!
Thanks to the code Bryan helped us write, and some soldering skills from Holly and I, we have built upon what we have got so far, and today we were able to get the HRMI to communicate with the arduino! In short, we successfully asked the HRMI for a heart rate, the arduino calculated what “track” we should then be at, and moved the MP3 player to the correct track number! I was wearing the heart rate monitor, and it was playing different tracks as my heart rate changed. We were so excited and happy that it worked that my heart rate was increasing and the tracks were changing accordingly! It was brilliant, believe me.
The image I’ve posted is a screen shot that shows ‘proof’ that we got it to work. We are just a bit scared that once we try to transfer everything from the breadboard to the lilypad that something might screw up. So I’ve ‘documented’ the achievement as best I could.
In order to get the HRMI to talk to the arduino, we had to change some of the settings on the HRMI that came as factory default (this was the key). We needed to install the OPO jumper so that the HRMI could operate on I2C signals. This meant that we also had to uninstall the SJ1 jumper.
The next step is to move everything from the breadboard to the lilypad, which is, as I mentioned, the scariest part.
Cross your fingers for me**
Tags: heart rate, hrmi, interactive, lilypad arduino, programming, sketch, technology
Posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, design, wearables | 6 Comments »
As the long weekend rolls along, I’ve been madly trying to complete my project. Holly is working on the sound files, and I have been busy programming and sewing. We have established the heart rate ranges we would like to work with, and Holly is busy editing the “sounds” that go with each of those ranges.
The next step was to create a logic-flow chart, which would form the foundation for writing our program. I had some help here, along with the programming, from the lovely Bryan (thank you Bryan!). Once the logic was written, the rest was easy for Bryan, and started to make some sense for me.
The ’sketch’ for now works as follows:
- we can now give the sketch a random heart rate, and it will calculate which track the MP3 player should play, and successfully move to that track. Believe me, it sounds much easier than it actually is! The last step now is to successfully get the heart rate monitor interface (HRMI) to talk to the arduino, which is what we are having problems with now.
I’m quite well versed in sewing, so this project has been fairly straightforward in terms of creating the wearable portion. The trickiest part is always creating the pattern. Holly and I want to create a high-collared garment, so that the speaker can be embedded within the collar next to the wearer’s ear. The collar is going to be higher on the speaker side, and then scrunch down on the other side, so the wearer can hear the environmental sounds as well. The photos I’ve posted show the beginnings of patterning, with a paper and mannequin mock-up, and then me wearing the very crude garment that I’ve thrown together, before the tailoring and adjustments I’ve made now.
Tags: arduino, clothing, design, fabric, fashion, heart rate, hrmi, interactive, lilypad arduino, pattern, programming, sewing, sketch, technology, wearable
Posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, design, wearables | 6 Comments »
In addition to images of the 3D printed versions of my fragile jewelry, I also have some softimage renderings of the rings as well. The idea is to play with material and meaning. If the rings were made of gold and silver, what would the message be about icebergs as precious and rare? If they were bronzed, what would that say about preserving something in time? If they were glass and really did break when you wore them, what would that mean? And if they were made out of a totally unexpected material, such as pink plastic, what would that say about souvenirs, commodifaction and exploiting the beauty of nature?
There are so many options already, and I’ve really only just begun!
Tags: accessories, design, fragile, iceberg, jewelry, material, meaning, wearable
Posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, design, wearables | 1 Comment »
In addition to the electronic aspect to the project, there is also the textile/wearable component. Holly and I went to check out fabric and notions, and gathered a lot of inspiration for the form of the garment. We looked at fasteners, buttons, tubing and a bunch of stuff we don’t even know the names of, and came up with some great ideas for detailing.
A sketch has been settled on, and I’m in the process of making a pattern for the garment. The collar of the vest will be high enough to cover one of the wearer’s ears, while the other side can be scrunched down so that the ambient sounds of the environment can be heard as well.
After I make a pattern, I’ll sew together a quick muslin and work out the details. Simultaneously, we will be working out the details of our electronic components as well! So much to do, so little time. But at least its fun!
Tags: Bio Circuit, clothing, creativity, design, fabric, fashion, inspiration, material, pattern, textiles, wearable
Posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, design, wearables | No Comments »
I have to admit, I’ve never hacked into anything before. And, although I have been fascinated with soldering and the mercury-like appearance of it when heated, I have never ventured into that worldd either. But alas, here I am: one grand idea, two more weeks, and a whole lot of learning to do!
Over the last two weeks, Holly and I have been attempting to hack into an inexpensive MP3 player so that we can hook it up to our heart rate module.
The first attempt was to no avail – the MP3 components were too tiny to solder wire to. So, we tried another one. This one has bigger, chunkier components that were easier to solder to, so thats a start. We also had to hack into our headphones, breaking the plastic and reconnecting wires.
We have been trying to manipulate the ‘forward,’ ‘back’ and’play’ buttons so that the wearer of the garment does not need to set up the player before hand. We’ll see how that goes…
Tags: electronics, final project, MP3 player, sound, technology
Posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, design, wearables | No Comments »
I finally have images of my iceberg rings to show everyone! By now everyone must know of my fascination with icebergs, and if you don’t know already you will eventually realize I adore jewelry… so I combined my two favourite things!
I designed the five rings that fit together to form a miniature iceberg landscape in a three dimensional rendering program, and then had the rings 3D printed. The next step is to cast them, make molds, and experiement with materials. Icebergs are fragile and disappearing, so I was thinking of using a fragile material like porcelain. Or maybe, since one day they might be compeletly gone, perhaps I should immortalize them in something like gold or silver. The idea of bronzing something to freeze it in time, and remember it forever (like a baby’s shoes I guess) also seems interesting. I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Tags: accessories, climate change, design, fashion, fragile, iceberg, jewelry, material, rings
Posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, design, wearables | 3 Comments »
My first love in this life has always been jewelry. That love affair couple with my new-found interest in wearable technology has led me to find some very exciting examples of jewelry that incorporate elements of technology. Kyeok Kim’s Aurora project uses patterns of light projected from pieces of jewelry onto the body as ornamentation. ‘Aurora’ highlights the relationship between different pieces of jewelry, by its nature the pieces interact with the another.
To operate the decorative light, one must gently move the ring (containing a magnet) towards the main jewelry piece. This project is interesting to me because it expands on what the idea of jewelry is as ornamentation, making it more than just a piece of something that you decorate your ear, neck or wrist with.
Tags: accessories, jewelry, light, ornament, pattern, projection, skin, surface, technology, wearable
Posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 in design, wearables | 1 Comment »
It’s about that time….
Time for everyone to choose a direction and go with it! Time for us to share our ideas! And time to get working!! I am collaborating with ECUAD Masters student Holly Schmidt for the interactive wearables project. The idea is to work with the human heart rate, and externalize the interior sound of the body and the heart beating.
I wanted to see what else was out there using heart rate, and I came across Diana Eng’s project, Heartbeat Hoodie.
The hoodie uses a heart rate sensor and a camera to take pictures whenever your heart rate increases. The photos automatically upload to a blog that you can refer to or share with your friends. According to Eng, it is intended as a form of involuntary blogging.
“The camera is wired discreetly through the seeming of the garment to a basic stamp that communicates with a wireless heart rate monitor. The basic stamp uses an algorithm to analyze the heart beat for increases that might signify a moment of excitement or interest as opposed to physical exercise.”
The conecpt behind this project is useful for Holly and I because it is taking data from the heartrate and turning it into something else, something external. It also creates visual data from ‘excitment’ from the monitor involunatarily, which could provide some evidence or something you were not aware you were ‘excited’ about. It’s an interesting way of externalizing something internal, and the involunatry aspect is especially appealing to me.
Tags: accessories, camera, clothing, communication, fashion, hearbeat, identity, interactive, my final project, technology, wearable
Posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 in dana's portfolio work, wearables | No Comments »
Hey wearable technology fans:
I promised I would post some links and info on where to find components and supplies that might help us with our project, and here they are!:
Lee’s Electronics RP Electronics Robot Shop Solarbotics HVW Tech Sparkfun
A lot of them are Canadian-based, and Lee’s is in Vancouver.
Tags: arduino, lilypad, resources, suppliers, technology
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 in design, wearables | 2 Comments »
