Explorations in Wearable Computing

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Welcome to Angela's Independent Study notes page. During FWT 2007, I will be researching and prototyping some wearable computing projects for a show in the spring with Rebecca Grabman, check out our wiki page here (mostly links for the moment).

Documentation from a wearables project I did Fall06 is available here (blog style, final product pics coming soon).

Contents

[edit] Objectives

  • Research current technologies in wearable computing. Get a feel for what's out there, then focus on research related to the concepts and technologies I will be using.
    • Gather links, articles, and books on both wearable computing, craft technologies, textile and fashion design, and other fields that may relate
    • Put together a 'library' of links and resources for easy access next term. Gather both theoretical and technical info. http://del.icio.us/gellamarie
  • Research technologies and tools I may use and begin building a toolbox of supplies.
    • Find information on suppliers, costs etc for materials (such as leds, conductive materials, etc)
    • Order free samples when available
    • Create an inventory of materials I already have/have access to, as well as a list of materials I will need for the spring or would like to experiment with over the winter. Available online here (forgive the poor formatting from exporting from Excel. 1/25
  • Prototype/Experiment with processes and tools I will be using in the spring
    • Explore the WiPort and get it up and running
    • Hook up Glowire and control it with an Arduino
    • Use DIY resources and technical articles and try out different techniques of e-broidery, conductive fabrics, and conductive snaps/magnets (along with other techniques I discover during my research)
  • Brainstorm/Sketch/Design the garments I will be creating in the spring
    • Allow time for creative brainstorming, look through photos/books/etc for look and feel
    • Have a collection of ideas to further edit/refine at the beginning of term, begin choosing the strongest ones for production
    • Discuss ideas/techniques/concepts with Rebecca to see how each of our explorations are evolving, if/how they can relate to each other as well as technical aspects of our presentation (when, where, who, etc)
  • Draft an SEA Grant to cover some of the expenses of materials for the projects next term

[edit] Things to Try

[edit] Things to Buy

(Or at least order samples of!)

[edit] Book Shelf

Here are some of the books/articles related to wearable computing, technology in fashion, and new materials that I will be reading over the winter.

Things I've found along the way are also located at http://del.icio.us/gellamarie/Articles

[edit] Experiments

[edit] Zippers as Inputs

1/22 - 1/23: I found an interesting report from a class at ITP called Sensor Workshop that shows you how to make zippers into both analog and digital input devices using conductive thread. It was quite easy to do and just took a little measuring if I wanted to get an even distribution of lines. The digital input just uses the slider to connect power to a line of conductive thread, acting as a bunch of digital switches. The analog one uses resistors to act like a 10K potentiometer. I set mine up so it would have close to a full range (0 - 1023) by doing a little math and dividing the 10k by 8 (the number of levels I decided to use) and then using the appropriate resistors. I ended up using 1.2K resistors. I tested this one serially by using the SerialMonitor in Arduino. Worked ok - here is what I got for readings (Unzipped - 0; Level 1: ~126; Level 2: ~253; Level 3: ~382; Level 4: ~510; Level 5: ~638; Level 6: ~766; Level 7: ~895; Totally Zipped: 1023). If I did some tweaking I could probably make a cleaner range, but I'm pretty happy with the initial results.

Image:SetUpZip.jpg
Here's the prototype (sorry about how messy) setup for a digital input zipper. I used 10 lines to light up 10 separate LEDS.
Image:HalfZip.jpg
The zipper is controlling the LEDs directly by acting as a bunch of switches (Arduino isn't doing anything, just powering the board through USB). It is very fun to zip, though the way the thread is sewn it tends to get stuck sometimes. A little refinement on my part would fix that.
Image:BothZippers.jpg
Here they are side by side: see how the analog one only uses one signal to send to the analog in on the Arduino, while the digital one has 10 separate signal lines.

[edit] LED Sequins

1/24: After seeing them on Leah Buechley's LED Tank Top, among other projects, I decided to try and make some LED sequins out of surface mount LEDs. I was dissatisfied with the LEDs I used for my heart displays in my last project because they stuck out so much from the clothing. These LEDs solve that problem because they are both flat and tiny, and easy to sew on once you solder some crimping beads to them.

I followed the tutorial that Grace Kim put together on Flickr. I got a bunch of LED samples from Lumex, and picked up some crimping beads from Walmart (all they had was these cheapo gold ones, but for testing they seemed to work fine).

I managed to put one sequin together, but it was tricky because of size of the soldering tip I was using. I am holding off on any kind of 'mass production' of them until my smaller tip comes in the mail. I definitely need to practice soldering more, and making these little guys is a good way to work on my precision.

Image:TinyLED.jpg
A finished sequin made by soldering two crimping beads on a surface mount LED. These things are super tiny.
Image:SolderedLED.jpg
A close up of my crappy soldering. Things to work on - getting them even, figuring out the best placement (ie either side, both on the bottom, or some other configuration).
Image:SMTLED.jpg
Here is the little guy working. Time to sew it on to something and try it out.
Image:CompareLED.jpg Image:CompareLED2.jpg
Just look at the difference! I like the tiny ones a lot more.

[edit] Hacking Walkie Talkies

1/29: When I was scavenging for parts last semester my Dad donated his old walkie talkies to my cause. I ripped the speakers out and tossed them aside, but have come back (and am working on reconnecting the speakers) to see if they could be a useful alternative to wireless (WiMicro, Bluetooth) for a few of my projects. I opened them up and they seem pretty straightforward:
Image:WalkieLabeled.jpg
As you can see I've already started messing with them. I soldered some leads on the battery contacts so I can ditch the casing and just hook it up to a powered board. Tested it out with my power adapter and works like a charm. The only problem I'm trying to work through right now is how to solder leads onto the buttons, they are smaller than I'm used to working with and so far my attempts have failed (maybe I need smaller wire, I've got a nice small tip for my soldering iron. Holding the wire in place seems to be the hardest part). Ideally I'd like to be able to run wires from all the buttons etc and maybe even have it be controlled by an Arduino using the Maxim chips I have.

1/30: I managed to come up with a little bit of thinner, flexible wire from an old project and was able to solder it onto a few of the contacts before I ran out. Also discovered that there are places to plug in external speakers and microphones - saves me the trouble of trying to reconnect the little speakers I ripped out. I tested out on my flower speaker in the prom dress and worked nicely. Now if I can just find a way to get to RadioShack and grab a couple mics and more thin wire I'll be all set to hook both up and test them together.
Image:WalkieLabeled2.jpg
The talk button is actually soldered onto the side as a pushbutton rather than the smushy buttons of the front with contacts on the board. Easy enough to solder leads to though. The Up/Down buttons work for both volume and channel (channel if you are in Menu mode). Call makes a really annoying sound and flashes a light to page the other walkie talkie. Other buttons I didn't label: Lamp (lights up the LCD screen), Scan (runs through open channels automatically, versus using the Up/Down buttons), and Monitor. The antenna is just a big spring that slides out of the hard plastic antenna casing, so there is a possibility of fitting that into another, more flexible casing (perhaps as part of a plush?).

2/1: Wired up all the buttons I figured I would use (leaving out scan, monitor, and lamp), added external speaker and mic. I have nicknamed them 'FrankenTalkies' cause they are crazy.
Image:FrankenTalkies.jpg
Image:FrankenClose.jpg

[edit] Using WiMicros

2/11: Spent some time following the tutorial on Tom Igoe's site to set up the WiMicro (which is the same pin configuration as the Cobox Micro he uses). The basic set up I am using is the WiMicro connected to my laptop serially using a KeySpan adapter. An additional tutorial shows basic configuring of the WiPort on the WiMicro board. Using Zterm, I've been able to bring up the set up menu and have named each of the WiMicros (microA and microB), and set some basic parameters based on those of the tutorial. I am reading through the Lantronix User's Guide for the WiPort to learn more about the additional options (such as emails sent upon events etc). I don't know a lot about networking, so I think I'm going to sit down with Joe and show him what I've done so far and hopefully learn more in depth about what these things are actually doing.

Image:WiMicroSetUp.jpg
The board is also set up so that with a little rearranging it can hook right up to the Arduino. The yellow and green wires (RX and TX) currently going from the Hex Inverter to the serial connector would just hook up to the appropriate pins on the Arduino, with an additional line from the DTR pin of the Inverter to a pin on the Arduino.

[edit] Concepts

Here are my notes/images/concept boards in the works for ideas so far.
TAG
RANGE
VOODOO
BFF
WORRY STONE

[edit] Blog

[edit] Week One

This week I spent my time reading, spending about one day per book from my shelf. So far I've read four of them, and will finish up the other two this weekend. Here are some of my notes/reviews:

  • Techno Fashion -
    I really enjoyed this text, as it gave an overview of fashion that is influenced by or uses technology. Each chapter profiled a series of designers, and is a good resource as I don't know a lot about the current fashion industry. Of particular interest were designers Hussein Chalayan and Lucy Orta, who I just recently began reading about in the fall. Other designers I'm going to do some more research on are Tristan Webber and Alexander McQueen. The book devoted a section to 'Transformables', which included clothes that function as both furniture and apparel, (Kosuke Tsumura, CP Company, Jeff Griffin etc). This book also got me really interested in Issey Miyake, who is a big name in the industry (especially interesting is the A-POC project). Some companies mentioned were Vexed Generation, Charmed Technology, Starlab, and Fashion Active Lab. A good book to start out the week.
  • Immaterial|Ultramaterial -
    Organized into four sections: edge, surface, substance, and phenomena, this book centered around the exhibition named in the title. I found this book fascinating, although it was focused on architecture, it had a lot of theoretical concepts that apply to any kind of design. Many of the readings I have done in the past draw strong parallels between fashion and architecture, especially when both mediums begin to cross into interaction design. The best part of this book were the transcripts of panel discussions with architects about materials, concepts, and direction.
  • Techno Textiles -
    Going back to something more fashion related, I picked up this book which is a detailed exploration of advances in the textile industry. Lots of technical info, history, and application of both traditional textiles reinterpreted and 'smart' textiles. It was broken up into sections titled 'The Future of Fibres and Fabrics', 'Electronic Textiles', 'Engineered Textiles', and 'Textile Finishes'. Companies mentioned that I took note of were: Nono Corporation (designer Reiko Sudo) and RE:Form! studio (which made interactive wireless pillows pg 47. More interesting designers: Nigel Atkinson, Naoki Takizawa (works with Issey Miyake), and Rei Kawakubo (also mentioned in Techno Fashion). Great indepth coverage of both materials and design, to complement Techno Fashion's bios of designers (more full color photographs as well) with a detailed glossory and biography/history section in the back.
  • Material ConneXion -
    More of a catalog layout, this is a great reference and inspiration book. Divided by material (Carbon-Based, Cement, Ceramics, Glass, Metals, Naturals, Polymers), it is mostly pictures and descriptions of swatches/products/samples. Great to look at for color/design inspiration, though many of the materials would be more applicable in architecture or industrial design than in fashion. The Polymers and Naturals sections had some particularly interesting materials. Some of the eco-friendly products/processes were ones that I had encountered while briefly working with the Green Materials team while interning at Timberland. It is great to be able to connect my experience with their application in footwear with the other uses displayed in the book.

I also started making an inventory spreadsheet of all the materials I've gathered over the last few months, to get organized and start to decide what other things I should order/get samples of.

- 22:18, 12 January 2007 (EST)

  • Transmaterial -
    This has been my favorite resource so far. The book is another, more technical catalog of materials divided up into materials (Concrete, Mineral, Metal, Wood, Plastic + Rubber, Glass, Paint + Paper, Fabric, Light, Digital) with a whole page dedicated to descriptions and specs for each individual material. Each material is also further categorized into Ultraperforming, Multidimensional, Repurposed, Recombinant, Intelligent, Transformational, or Interfacial. Contact info for the supplier, applications, limitations, and more info makes it a quick guide (versus Material ConneXion's more artful overview style). I found a lot of interesting materials including FabriLED (leds woven into cotton), Fuzzy Light Switches (which I've seen before), as well as more architectural products and projects such as Wood.e (electrified wood) and translucent concrete. Lots of inspiring pictures and applications.
  • Skin -
    Skin is a more focused book, a welcome change from the more straightforward catalog styles. It has two articles (one on the anatomical structure of skin and artificial creation of skin, and the second focused on a more digital interpretation of product design, archtitecture, and the concept of surface. The rest of the book is pictures and descriptions of different projects focusing on or related to skin as a concept. I bookmarked a lot of images/ideas in here. There is also a good section on fashion, and some wearable computing stuff too, in addition to photography, architecture, and industrial design.

Last night I set up a del.icio.us account to make it easy to keep track of all the links I am compiling (plus there is a nice little plug-in for Firefox so I can tag things from the browser toolbar).

- 12:59, 14 January 2007 (EST)

[edit] Week Two

Decided to try researching how to work the WiPort. Spent half the day going 'why can't i find any documentation' 'where is the place to plug this sucker in (power, to the computer to debug/config, etc)' before i realized it isn't the WiPort, but the WiMicro. Which pretty much means that it's a board with a WiPort on it. That should make it easier for me to find what i'm looking for, some kind of tutorial or guide to getting one up and going.

- 16:02, 15 January 2007 (EST)


Been spending most of my evenings looking up some of the designers mentioned in my books, along with doing a bit of research on different types of materials (LEDs etc) and tagging them all on my links page. Style.com has a lot of videos and pictures of collections (from '00 to now) that I've been eagerly browsing.

- 20:05, 16 January 2007 (EST)

  • E-broidery: Design and fabrication of textile-based computing -
    This article presented a brief overview/history of electronic embroidery and then described various projects utilizing different techniques. The section on Textile Circuit Fabrication Techniques offered good info on the strengths and weakness of different fabrics, threads, and construction techniques.

Been hanging out in the library reading and starting to brainstorm. Made lists of types of social interaction, social roles and pairings, and types of communication (what kinds of tech etc).

- 15:26, 17 January 2007 (EST)

[edit] Week Three

Ordered some supplies from Jameco today: Sockets for the Ardunio Stamp (as the ones I bought last term ended up not fitting), a smaller tip for my soldering iron (the one I had was a monster). Ripped a zipper out of an old pair of jeans and started marking up places to sew in conductive thread (as preparation for trying out making a zipper as digital input device). Continued inventory on the stuff up in my studio to get an idea of what I'll need to restock on. Continued surfing for free samples of electronics. Later on tonight I'm going to see if I can get the 'zipper controller' construction started.

- 15:36, 22 January 2007 (EST)

Having some nice progress on reviewing and trying out some of the goodies we have down in the studio that I never got a chance to play around with before. So far I've just done basic hook ups and reading inputs from a flex sensor and potentiometer - super simple with Arduinos, so not that exciting. I'm working through to see if there is anything in the cabinet I am interested in trying out and having experience with before I start building my projects.

Brainstorming is going well and I am jotting down notes/rough sketches. Going to get them organized and post them on my website to share them with Robert and Rebecca and get some feedback and/or technical ideas for how to go about making them.

I came back to the WiMicro after a couple days to try and get it figured out. After searching all over the internet for the wrong thing (WiPort vs WiMicro) last week, I finally realized that all I needed to hook up the WiMicro was right on Tom Igoe's site - the trick was realizing that the setup is exactly that of the Cobox Micro that he shows on the site (D'oh!). So as soon as I can get some of the parts needed I should be able to follow the instructions on the site to get the WiPort wireless device on the WiMicro board up and running. Wish I had done this earlier in the week when I was ordering things from Jameco so it could be in one big shipment - I wonder if RadioShack in town will have any of these things?

- 14:28, 25 January 2007 (EST)

Today I compiled all of my notes and posted them on my site. Having them written up in a standard format definitely makes it easier to see which ones need more thought and time. This evening I'm going to start working on concept boards - something I did a lot of at one of my jobs, which I found is a great way to brainstorm/present design information. We usually started with the target customer/consumer type and then showed trend images/inspiration/color themes and swatches when readying teams for designing a new season. I'm going to adapt this to my purposes and get images of both fashion stuff and technology to make a sort of collage to use for visual brainstorming. A plus is that it will get me thinking in costume design mode so that I will start out the term with something to show/discuss to my class. Eventually they'll be good to use in my SEA Grant application too.

- 15:47, 26 January 2007 (EST)

Worked on together some early boards of direction/concept. Am started to post them on the notes pages as I finish them up. Ordered goodies from Jameco so hopefully by next weekend or early the week after I will have some things to hook up the WiMicro and see about some wireless action.

- 19:45, 28 January 2007 (EST)

[edit] Week Four

Spent some time today soldering some more LED sequins, trying to do a few each day as part of my workshopping time. Worked more with walkie talkies - hopefully can get some good things going with them. Starting to brainstorm some more concepts/ideas for projects, should do another upload by the weekend once I get a few more written down. Trying to find a way to RadioShack (and town in general) after discovering my car won't start - definitely slows material gathering down a bit! Tonight I've been reading about resistance wire, want to learn more about ways to trigger my Thermochromic inks electronically. Haven't heard back from the company recommended in the tutorial I found, but maybe I'll find another company that will suit my needs...

- 20:07, 30 January 2007 (EST)

I love this wearable computing stuff! I was inspired when a group came to yahoo and hacked up a project where you could automatically blog from your purse. They took first place!

-- Iain Lamb, friend of Joe Holt, (Yahoo DHTML Evangelist)
Hi Iain, thanks for the links and glad you stopped by to check out my stuff - AngelaSheehan 14:08, 31 January 2007 (EST)


Was reading Grace Kim's Thesis and found a discussion of the application of thermochromic inks in wearables -
"Unfortunately, I found out in March that thermochromic ink is not a viable technology to use with wearables, as Joey Berzowska intimated at a recent lecture that in order to create enough heat to change the ink, one must short a line of conductive thread. In order to prevent the garment or the power supply setting ablaze, she uses $1200 medical power supplies. As a result, she only uses thermochromics in conjunction with a peltier, a ceramic heating implement that, unfortunately, takes a lot of energy (read: heavy batteries) to power, or in hanging tapestries that can be plugged into a wall socket. It’s a shame, because when used correctly, thermochromic ink in conjunction with embroidery makes a beautiful, subtle effect. Perhaps when e-ink (ink that changes color when given a positive or negative electronic charge) develops and becomes more widely accessible, color-changing embroidery will become a viable output for wearables." (pg 21).
Hmm....I have seen some projects with thermochromics like the Emotional Wardrobe, Printed Organism, and the stuff from XS labs (Joey's Studio), so it's done, but is it out of my price range/abilities? I'm still going to see if I can get some supplies and try it out - maybe the applications I would use it for are less. Also she mentioned using thread and not wire, so maybe it is possible though not as embroidery. Not being battery powered would be a drag....

- 14:05, 31 January 2007 (EST)

[edit] Week Five

I am currently researching resistance wires for using with Thermochromic inks, trying to find something really conductive and also a good price. I've got all the LED sequins soldered up and ready to be incorporated into some design. The first few were messy but eventually I got used to the technique and the later ones look a lot better.

- 15:16, 5 February 2007 (EST)

Finally finished uploading my boards and another new idea to the Concepts section. Trying to get some creative juices flowing to brainstorm a few more ideas before the term starts to have a good selection for workshopping. Today I also got the materials for hooking up the WiMicro in the mail and that will be my project for tomorrow. After a long wait, I've also finally heard back from the Bekaert folks and they will be sending me samples (not sure what the timeline on that is), I am excited to experiment with the resistance yarns and wires they have.

- 20:36, 8 February 2007 (EST)

Made some progress on the WiMicros today (check it out in the Experiments section above). Tonight's agenda consists of doing some preliminary sketches for the concepts I have so far. I like most of the concepts I have come up with, though they definitely need some workshopping. I feel pretty good about having a variety of ideas to present those first few weeks of class, and hopefully the discussion will give me even more. Time to catch up with Rebecca and do some brainstorming together.

- 17:53, 11 February 2007 (EST)

[edit] Week Six/Wrap Up

I've uploaded brainstorming sketches to a few of my concept pages.

- 10:22, 14 February 2007 (EST)

After taking a break to move/unpack/get ready for term, I'm about ready to start the semester and get going on more production/refinement. What a pleasant surprise to have my samples from Bekaert arrive right at the start of term. Received two big cones of their Bekitex BK50/1 and little samples of Bekinox VN 190, VN 12/2, VN 12/1, VN 12/4, VN 12/3 and VN 12/6. Haven't had a chance to play with or read up more on them, but will be sure to this week. Good to have so much material, hopefully it will be useful for my purposes.

- 13:26, 20 February 2007 (EST)

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