Category: Projects

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Unconventional Honesty Post 3

Hoorah! We finally got all of our project parts!
What we got in: 3 Neopixel strips, a heart rate monitor, a jacket to hack, and our lillypads!



We have begun learning about the heart rate monitor and checking that we can process the information it collects.

We have also begun hacking into the jacket by sewing the neopixel strips on and breaking into the lining.I have found difficulty with attacking the strips; I plan to look for easier ways to attach during class.

Our plan for this week: We’re going to complete our first mock up of the jacket, with attached neopixels, wiring, and functional heart rate monitor. We’re also going to look at the possible designs we can create with layers of neopixels!

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Muscle jet Post#3

This past week I made a few test with the fiber optic.

1. Using only FO with a diameter of .25mm I weaved a 1.5 cm section, below you can see how it looks.

this FO is quite flexible and on the next video you can see it lights up enough to be seen in the dark after being sanded with a rough grade sand paper.

however it lacks structure, the FO slips through the warp

2.  Using FO with a diameter of .50mm alternated with a cotton strand (?)             I weaved a 1.5 cm section below you can see how it looks.

this FO is much less flexible, but the combination with the cotton gives more structure. On the down side alternating the FO hides half of it, as you can see in the video.

this one lights up more, so its pretty much a trade off between flexibility and surface area (the more surface area the more light).

Conclusions:

  1. Using a thinner cotton strand for the warp and the weft will allow the FO to show more.
  2. Instead of alternating FO and Cotton, I’l  do a double weft FO + Cottton.
  3. I will sand the FO before weaving it, its harder but gives better results.
  4. It only looks cool on the dark.

 

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Unconventional Honesty Post 2

We have started experimenting with out Neopixel designs and fabric overlay! We have videos of several fabric overlay options, but the MB are too large to be uploaded onto the site.

We have uploaded the videos to youtube!



Our most promising overlay is a double organza, which we would style into a vest over the neopixels. The interior of the jacket will have a quilt-like stitching into it so that we can hide pockets inside without compromising the aesthetic outside. We were also able to find the neopixel coding in Arduino which with will begin playing with to find the right design we want.

Our issues still remain with not having the sensor and neopixel strips, but we are expecting both any day now.

Plan for the week: Once we get in our final pieces we will attach to our first prototype, test run it, and start to work out the kinks! Over spring break, Jade will find a suitable fashion jacket to hack and we will begin working on our second prototype.

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Step by Step

  • Last week
    • Heel Components
      • The 1st version of the 3D prints for the heel component arrived. However, they did not fit in each other, so I tried modifying the physical components with a jewelry file to see if I could get them to fit. This caused the threads on the largest of the rings to snap.
    • Platform work
      • I hollowed out the pre-existing platform of a heel that I own so that it can be used in the shoe until a custom platform has been fabricated. 
  • This week
    • Heel Components
      • I will continue to modify the 3D components and order the second version of the design.
    • Bluefruit
      • I will start to experiment with the Bluefruit components to see if I can get the device to work.
  • Next week
    • Heel Components
      • If the second version of the components function properly, I will order the final version in metal. Otherwise, I will continue to iterate and order new versions.
    • Motor
      • While in Milwaukee, I will go to American Science and Surplus to see if they have recommendations on small motors for the shoe.
    • Bluefruit
      • Once I have the motor, I will begin experimenting with the Bluefruit board to see if I can get it to spin the motor in two directions.
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Muscle jet-Post #2

A few bad news this past week.

tracking

In parallel I’m still working on the code:  Getting an analog input to change a color scale.

 

Based on this code and…..

also a light sensor code.

 

    /******************************************************************************

LilyPad Light Sensor Example
Angela Sheehan
SparkFun Electronics

This example code reads the input from a LilyPad Light Sensor and displays in
the Serial Monitor.

Light Sensor connections:
   * S pin to A3
   * + pin to A5
   * - to -

******************************************************************************/

// Set which pin the Signal output from the light sensor is connected to
// If using the LilyPad Development Board, change this to A6
int sensorPin = A3;
// Create a variable to hold the light reading
int lightValue;

void setup()
{
    // Set sensorPin as an INPUT
    pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT);

    // Set pin A5 to use as a power pin for the light sensor
    // If using the LilyPad Development Board, comment out these lines of code
    pinMode(A5, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(A5, HIGH);

    // Initialize Serial, set the baud rate to 9600 bps.
    Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{

 

for next week I’ll do what I had planned for this one:

  • Weaving the fiber optic
  • finishing the code
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Week 2 Post – Haptic Glove

  1. An image or video 
    Tested the wires.

    Connect Unity to Arduino (Unity part) [Using touching the item in Unity to turn on and off LED as an example]
    Read data from Unity (Arduino part) [Using touching the item in Unity to turn on and off LED as an example]
  2. A Listing of accomplishments made by all group members for the previous week
    1. Received the actuator wires and tested on them
    2. Used heat tape to prevent heat from transforming to fingers
    3. Learned about how to implement wires on gloves
    4. Connected Unity to Arduino
  3. A description of problems encountered and outstanding issues
    1. We had some conflicting test results. Still not aware if the problem lay in the wire, the gauge, or the microcontroller being used. Problems may or not be that the actuator wire is not set to form currently, the result would be a lackluster performance of the wire, possibly leading to faster degradation of the wire when activated. (Maybe we burn a wire.)
    2. There is more refined technical information on how to use the Actuator wire, considering the length, gauge, and power supply that we need to sort through and apply. Currently, we are in the trial and error stage of material and component testing:
      1. -Wires need a standardized system of shaping for memory setting
      2. -Need to figure out a “tender” was to set the memory of the wire without superheating it and burning the wire.
      3. -Controller communication in relation to power output still needs to be established and regulated.
        1. Needed current: 0.2 A; Arduino voltage: 5V
        2. Calculated needed resistance: 25 ohms
        3. Wires’ resistance: 126 ohms/ meter ⇒ 1.26 ohms/centimeter
        4. So we still need 25-1.26x ohms(set x as the length of the wire) to guarantee 0.2A current
  4. A plan for the next week of work
    1. By next week we will have determined if materials need to be re-evaluated for the practicality, or usability. Reorder any parts or new parts, create an experimental prototype that will hopefully be a functioning prototype.
    2. Keep working on Unity.
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Sirena 3/14/17

So far we have worked on a couple of things.

Last week Keegan was able to figure out the code for the vibration motor using Arduino.

Emma was also able to work on the design analysis of the bracelet- figuring out sizing and how the Simblee and rest of the tech can fit into the bracelet. Mapping it out is a little difficult without having the entire product assembled but we were able to get an idea of how large the bracelet will be. We found some scrap pleather to piece together but now we are currently working with some clay to get an even better idea of the design.  

Problems we have faced is working with the pleather to get an idea of the shape of the bracelet- it is still in the very beginning stages.

We also haven’t been able to connect our Simblee yet- we plan on getting a new cord hoping that will allow it to work.

Next steps include getting the Simblee to work and working with the clay for design purposes.  Also working on getting the button to work.

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EoS Week 2

Progress: I was able to download some slightly questionable software from a Chinese website allowing me to find my serial port that my USB to TTL converter uses. So I stripped some wire and hooked up the transmit and receive ports on the converter to see if it would work, and my “test” did transmit and receive properly!

 

I then built a rough housing prototype out of simple paper and it what I didn’t even think of was how tall it was going to be. It is pretty tall for an attachment on the glasses and splitting it between the two sides won’t remedy that. It doesn’t appear to be too wide however I think splitting will ease the burden from one side to both sides of the user’s glasses.

I

Issues: Mainly the communication with the converter to the range finder is somehow not working properly and I would love to get that figured out this week so I can move on to implementing code and the OLED screen. And of course the issue of the housing should be figured out once I build another prototype housing unit that is split between both sides of the user’s glasses.

Plan For The Week: Get the range finder working, start displaying on the OLED screen and get some Arduino code put up to communicate with both of them. Also build the other housing prototype to see the difference between the two.

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Week 1 Post – Haptic Glove

  1. An image or video A draft that demonstrates how we want different components such as wires, microcontrollers, 3D-material holders to be built on the glove.Based on the data read from serial to change the LED light to be on or off. This can be applied to reading data from Unity and turn the wires on or off on the glove.
  2. A Listing of accomplishments made by all group members for the previous week
    1. Figured out how to use Arduino and Lilypad to read specific data from serials
    2. Contacted the wire company and ordered the wires
    3. Bought gloves and heat resistant tape
  3. A description of problems encountered and outstanding issues
    1. Still learning about Unity and how to connect Unity with Arduino
    2. Need to learn about sewing and how to integrate those wires and microcontrollers to the glove
    3. Delayed Shipping of Flexinol Wire
  4. A plan for the next week of work
    1. The most important material — wires will arrive tomorrow. So the task for next week will be testing the wires.
    2. Connect Unity with Arduino
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Project Post 3/7/17

Project Post 3/7/17

 

Since last week we’ve landed on a name for our product. We are going with “Sirena” a translation of siren in Greek. Our inspiration for the name came from the idea that this bracelet would work like a safety alarm, or siren, alerting those closest to you when you are in danger.

Emma has ordered the Simblee microcontroller off of Sparkfun and it should be here by the end of the week so we can begin moving forward with tests on that. Both Emma and I have reached out to Bellabeat and Ringly, companies designing smart tech to retrieve some information on their power sourcing and integration of Bluetooth into such small pieces of jewelry. We have begun researching the problem of sexual assault on campus through multiple documents obtained through the UW-Madison Police department. The sheer amount of documentation to look through has been a lot but we are making progress.

As soon as the Simblee comes in we hope to begin testing the Bluetooth interface with the Arduino application. If the Simblee comes in by Thursday our plan will be to work with that as much as possible. The plan is to write out our prototype layout for the Simblee, vibration motor, surface mount LED, and battery by Thursday so we can start to lay the real thing out as soon as possible.

 

This our links to the two companies we have reached out to for information about their products. They have also served as a great inspiration for us moving forward.

Bellabeat Shop

Ringly

 

Emma Boykin

Keegan Moldenhauer