Welcome!

Welcome!

Our bodies are our primary interface for the world. Interactive systems that live on the body can be intimate, upfront, and sometimes quite literally in your face. They sit close to your skin, inhabit your clothing, and sometimes even start to feel like part of you. This makes wearable electronics an exciting, challenging, and inspiring area to work in.

What is a Wearable

The terms “wearable technology“, “wearable devices“, and “wearables” all refer to electronic technologies or computers that are incorporated into items of clothing and accessories which can comfortably be worn on the body.

A Survey of Wearables

Wearbles started out to serve function

Oldest Smart Ring

Made in the Qing Dynasty era (1644-1911), this 1.2 cm long and 0.7 cm wide ring is a functional abacus that you can wear on the finger.

In 1961 Edward O. Thorpe and Claude Shannon concealed a timing device in a shoe which could fairly accurately predict where the ball would land on a roulette table.

Peter Cook's Info Gonk wearables from the 1960s

Steve Mann is widely regarded as “The Father of Wearable Computing”

Steve Mann: AR eyeglass and wearable computing... Veillance (Surveillance versus Sousveillance) from Steve Mann

Google Glass

What was the problem here?

Wearables as Beauty

Synapse dress by Dutch fashion-tech designer Anouk Wipprecht

Hussein Chalayan

http://sensoree.com/

Hybrids

Korean collective Shinseungback Kimyonghun have created ‘Aposematic Jacket’ a wearable computer for self-defense. The lenses on the jacket give off the warning signal, “I can record you”, to prevent possible attack. When the wearer pushes a button under threat, the jacket records the scene in 360 degrees and sends the images to the Web.

The Wearable Microcontroller:

The Wearable Microcontroller:

The Wearable Microcontroller:

The Wearable Microcontroller:

WHAT IS A MICROCONTOLLER:

Most of us know what a computer looks like. It usually has a keyboard, monitor, CPU (Central Processing Unit), printer, and a mouse. These types of computers, like the Mac or PC, are primarily designed to communicate (or “interface”) with humans.

WHAT IS A MICROCONTOLLER:

There are also little computers all around us, running program and quietly doing calculations, not interacting with humans at all. These computers are in your car, on the Space Shuttle, in a toy, and maybe even inside your hairdryer.

WHAT IS A MICROCONTOLLER:

We call these devices “microcontrollers”. Micro because they’re small, and controller because they “control” machines, gadgets, whatever !

They’re cool because, you can build a machine or device, write programs to control it and then let it work for you automatically. And they are cheap!

WHAT IS A MICROCONTOLLER:

We call these devices “microcontrollers”. Micro because they’re small, and controller because they “control” machines, gadgets, whatever !

They’re cool because, you can build a machine or device, write programs to control it and then let it work for you automatically. And they are cheap!

• Red "#13" LED for basic blinking
• 10 x mini NeoPixels, each one can display any rainbow color
• 1 x Motion sensor (LIS3DH triple-axis accelerometer with tap detection, free-fall detection)
• 1 x Temperature sensor (thermistor)
• 1 x Light sensor (phototransistor)
• 1 x Sound sensor (MEMS microphone)
• 1 x Mini speaker (magnetic buzzer)
• 2 x Push buttons, left and right
• 1 x Slide switch
• 8 x alligator-clip friendly input/output pins
• Includes I2C, UART, and 4 pins that can do analog inputs/PWM output
• All 8 pads can act as capacitive touch inputs
• Green "ON" LED so you know its powered
• Reset button

First Program

/*
  Blink
  Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.
  This example code is in the public domain.
 */
 

int led = 13;

// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup() {                
  // initialize the digital pin as an output.
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);     
}

// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(led, HIGH);   // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  delay(1000);               // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(led, LOW);    // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  delay(1000);               // wait for a second
}
                 

• 10 x mini NeoPixels, each one can display any rainbow color

Neopixels

#include 

void setup() {
  CircuitPlayground.begin();
}

void loop() {
  CircuitPlayground.clearPixels();

  delay(500);

  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(0, 255,   0,   0);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(1, 128, 128,   0);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(2,   0, 255,   0);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(3,   0, 128, 128);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(4,   0,   0, 255);
  
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(5, 0xFF0000);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(6, 0x808000);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(7, 0x00FF00);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(8, 0x008080);
  CircuitPlayground.setPixelColor(9, 0x0000FF);
 
  delay(1000);
}
                 

Introduction to Addressable LEDS

Basic LEDS Need a lot of Wiring

Addressable LEDs provide circuitry to communicate serially

Each LED has a chip to receive, decode, drive LED’s and propagate data

They are chainable, fairly cheap and have their own resistors etc..

You can drive 10000's from 1 microcontroller

Adafruit has branded these Neopixels

Lets go through the examples

• All 8 pads can act as capacitive touch inputs

Experiment: Imagined Wearable

An experiment? That’s right! The best time for you to start prototyping wearable electronics is right now. Sometimes it’s easier to work through ideas before you even know what technologies you might use to create them.

Experiment: Imagined Wearable

Imagine something intended to be worn on your body (a garment or accessory) that would help you better relate to the world around you. It could be something practical, possible, or desirable. Or it could be something ridiculous,Beautiful outlandish, annoying, or invasive. The technology that your garment utilizes does not have to actually exist and can be one of your own invention.

Experiment: Imagined Wearable

Once you’ve imagined your wearable, create a physical, wearable prototype or mock up that demonstrates what it might look like and how it would work. To make it, you can modify something that already exists (t-shirt, sneakers, top hat, etc.) or create something new from raw materials. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Sometimes paper, duct tape, and Sharpies will do just fine.

Experiment: Imagined Wearable

This is a conceptual prototype—you do not need to implement any technology. Instead, focus on the design of the piece as well as the story behind it. Feel free to be creative, playful, and inventive. Try creating supporting materials such as instructions for use or user scenarios to help develop the story of your wearable.