Ritual, Vice, or Fetish (Design Workshop Project 2)

For this assignment we have to do some observation and needfinding surrounding a group or activity, analyze it, and offer some design solutions.

I have decided to pursue the book as my subject of scrutiny. The basic design, use, and function of books has not significantly changed since the invention of modern typesetting and binding practices. Yet people are reading less and less, and reading can still be an unwieldy process. Ever try reading lying down? Clearly something can be done besides insisting that everyone read on their computer 100% of the time.

This shall be my challenge.

Next Design Icon (pt.2)

The prototype and final presentation are finished for my re-imagining of the Swiss Army Knife as the next design icon.

Link to the presentation: Design Icon

The Next Design Icon

For Design Workshop I have to decide upon and add to what I think should be the next design icon. (The chair is the current one). I have decided to pick the Swiss Army Knife as the new icon. Check back soon for a link to the presentation I gave on Monday regarding my choice.
For this week, I need to design the next iteration of the swiss army knife. I have some great ideas, so stay tuned for some sketches and whatnot.

Final Project Development – Secret Messaging Sweatshirt

Final Project Development

This blog is just to outline the process for my final project over the past few weeks.

It is called SMS – the Secret Message Sweatshirt. (props to Amber Reed for the name)

What it is:
A system for personal expression, embedded in an everyday hooded sweatshirt. The system uses thermochromic ink, fabric swatches, conductive thread, conductive Velcro, conductive fabric tape, wrapping wire, and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

It is designed to be wearable, modular, durable, Eco-conscious, low-Tech, easy to use, easy to adapt, and most of all, fun.

A break down of the elements as I see them currently:

So, to explain in brief: The battery (encased in a secure but removable pouch in the pocket) is connected to a button switch, that, when activated, will send current to the conductive thread patches, which will heat up, and thus change the color of the ink on the patch, revealing a message/symbol/etc.

The ink changes color from black to clear, so the message underneath will have to be painted on the fabric beforehand (as the fabric color itself is black as well).

The complicated part of the process is getting the right amount of current to the patch, in an effective way. Too much current, and the patch will get too hot and possibly spark or short circuit; too little, and the ink won’t change color at all.

The trick is resistance. The conductive thread heats up more effectively with greater resistance; different types of conductive thread have different resistances, so I have tested a number of different types:

Initially, I thought that sewing a circuit path from the battery to the patches with conductive thread would be feasible, but after experimentation, I realized a few things:
1. The entire length of the circuit would get hot, becoming very uncomfortable or even dangerous to the wearer.
2. By expending heat along the entire length of the circuit, I was reducing the effectiveness of the circuit by the time the current reached the patch.
3. By using wrapping wire to connect the battery to the patch, not only would I create a more stable connection, but I would reduce the heat loss, and potentially create a faster reaction time in the patch.

So, I switched to wrapping wire, as it has a few properties I thought were desirable:
1. It is insulated, allowing for effective current transfer without heating up.
2. It is thin enough to be stitched, or fastened in a way that would not reduce the comfort or wearability of the garment.
3. Less expensive, more reliable.

Now, the only thing left is to put it all together.

I have the hand-stitched battery holder with velcro:

The wrapping wire:

The materials : conductive fabric tape, conductive thread, conductive and regular velcro, and fabric patches (not pictured: thermochromic ink, textile ink, sweatshirt)

Now to put it all together in the grand finale!

Tune in soon to see how it all turns out.

Hand-Made Conductive Velcro

This week was focused on making a soft switch and coming up with questions for the trouble shooting class. Since my final project will (I think) invlove the use of velcro as switches, I wanted to make sure I could succesfully make one without too much problem. I had ordered some conductive velcro online, but it was hijacked by the United States Postal Service – I almost got in a fight with the guy at the post office, bu that’s another story.
I took this as an opportunity to see if I could use regular velcro and conductive thread to make my own switch. I started by obtaining some regular velcro and mapping out my circuit. I reasoned that I could sew conductive thread through both sides, making a positive and negative ‘patch’ on each half of the velcro, thus completing the circuit when the two pieces were fully touching. The real struggle I had was the actual sewing of the thread through the velcro. Velcro is really tough to get through, espcially since the only needle I have that is big enough for the conductive thread is also dull. I ended up poking holes in the velcro with an xacto knife, then pushing the needle through the hole that way. As soon as I figured that out, the rest was no big deal. The other innovation I had was to sew the patches in such a way as to indicate their polarity (i.e. the positive side was a + shape, the negative a – shape). This turned out to be a real time saver when I was testing the switch.

Top View

The inside: note the + and -

Coin cell on the left, LED on the right

Side View

Once again, I really enjoyed this week. I’m very relieved that I can make a velcro switch without the stuff I ordered, just in case it never comes. It was good practice for my final, and I may end up using non-conductive velcro with the thread anyway, as it was a relatively cheap and simple solution (the conductive velcro is really expensive).

The Penny Switch

The assignment for week five was to create a device that addressed our senses. I struggled a little bit deciding on an idea, because the materials I was planning on using had not come in the mail yet.
I started just experiemting with really minimal elements that I had around me: conductive thread, pennies, led’s, etc. Keeping our senses in mind, and keeping to my theme of hand-based switches, I eventually thought of making a switch that would use the pennies as contacts, transmitting the current along the conductive thread to light an LED – I really liked to minimalism and the exposed nature invloved. So, strategically placed the pennies and LED on my hand so as to light the LED when I gave someone the finger – definately a shock to the senses. The switch also had a really interesting consequence: because I put the battery directly against my skin, it gave me a tiny shock whenever I closed the switch. So it ended up being a reward/punishment sort of behavior modification switch; if you want to give someone the finger, you have to endure a shock, but you get to see an LED light up, which is stimulating.
Here are some pictures:

pardon the gesture…

The mechanism.

The thing I really enjoyed about this week was appreciating just how difficult minimalism and simplicity can be. It took a long time to get the thread, pennies, LED, and battery working together — the positioning of the thread so as not to cause a short turned out to be a serious task. Overall, very enjoyable — even getting shocked.

Week 4: The Light Glove

This week our assignment was to hack a toy, and make it into a wearable object. I went to K-Mart and picked up this neat spy toy that used some basic LED’s and fiber optic cable to make a hand’s free ‘flashlight’ of sorts.
I basically took apart the whole thing, down the circuit level. I kept the LED’s, fiber optic cable, button switch, and finger hooks. I picked a fingerless glove I had so I could utilize the cool finger hooks that had come with the toy. I thought they might come in useful for a future project.
I soldered some stronger wires onto the switch, and threaded the wires through the cuff of the glove. I sewed the switch, LED’s and plastic piece in place, and attached the wires to a coin cell battery on the inside of the cuff to hide the power source. The results were pretty cool:

In all, I really enjoyed this assignment – you can really get some great ideas just from taking apart what other people have already done.

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?)

Intro

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.

Headbanger’s Ball

Final Blog : Headbanger’s Ball

This blog shall cover the conception, development, and completion of my final physical computing project, entitled ‘Headbanger’s Ball”.

Concept

The concept behind ‘Headbanger’s Ball’ is a stress relief device in the form of a boxing pad attached to the wall (in a public or semi-public space) that, when hit (preferably with the head) will insult the user with a vaiety of pre-recorded audio samples. The user presumably hits the device until they find the insults funny, or have hit the pad enough that their rage has subsided.

The user then has the option of recording an insult or joke of their own into the array of audio samples so that future users shall get the benefit of their own wisdom, and give the inital user incentive to come back and see their contributions in practice.

The idea was concieved while I was struggling with a particular part of a project; so much so that I wanted to bang my head against the wall – and therein lies the epiphany.

Design

The physical structure of ‘Headbanger’s Ball’ is relatively simple; two thin pieces of plywood, one with four buttons at the corners, are inserted into a boxing practice pad. This way, a hit anywhere on the surface of the pad will trigger at least one of the buttons, all of which are connected to the same digital input pin on the microcontroller (thus, a hit triggering one of the buttons is as good as a hit triggering all four).

The pad is sheltered in a wooden frame (made lovingly by myself). The frame is meant to limit the pad’s movement along and the X and Y axises, and give some extra support along the Z axis. The frame also has hooks on the top to facilite the mounting process.

The wires from the buttons come through a hold cut in the back of the frame, so as to minimalize the stress on the wiring. They go from the back of the frame into the case containing the breadboard, microconroller, and the mechanism to record your own vocal additions.

Click on the link below for a simple diagram of the Headbanger’s Ball:

http://itp.nyu.edu/~blm272/PComp/HBB_Diagram.pdf
(copy and paste the above if the other one doesn’t appear)

The programing, in theory, wasn’t that difficult, though I personally had a few stumbling blocks along the way which made this the mose challanging part of the project, next to refining the hit response.

In sum, I created an arraylist of audio samples using the Sonia library. I then prerecorded and preloaded about 20 samples to populate the array. The tricky part was writing code that would record the sample based on a chage in incoming serial data and put it in the correct spot in the array. Obviously, the problem was eventually solved.

Here’s a copy of the processing code, just for kicks (and in the name of open source):

//Headbanger’s Ball
//Ben Leduc-Mills
//Final Project, Fall 2006

import processing.serial.*;
import pitaru.sonia_v2_9.*; // import necessary libraries
import java.util.ArrayList.*;

ArrayList allSamples = new ArrayList(); //declare array list

int whichSample; //var for sample that is playing
int inByte; // var to read bytes from serial port
int sampleTime = 5; //max length of live sample in seconds
int preLoadedSamples = 23; //var to chnage # of preloaded samples (= to # -1)

Serial myPort;
Sample mySample;
Sample myLiveSample;

void setup(){

size(512,200);

Sonia.start(this); // Start Sonia engine.
LiveInput.start(); // start Live Input engine

println(Serial.list());
myPort = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);

// create a new sample object.
mySample = new Sample(“file1.wav”);

//write loop to go through and load all the samples in the array list
for (int i = 1; i < preLoadedSamples; i++) { //test = number of PRELOADED samples +1
Sample mySample =new Sample (“file” + i + “.wav”);
allSamples.add(mySample);
}

myPort.write(65); //send an “A” out the serial port
}

void draw(){

while (myPort.available() > 0) {
int inByte = myPort.read();
println(inByte);
}
delay (100);

//play samples in array on hit
if (myPort.read() == 49){
println(“play”);
Sample currentSample = (Sample) allSamples.get(whichSample);
currentSample.play();
//mySample.play();
delay (1000);
whichSample++;
if (whichSample >= allSamples.size()){
whichSample = 0;
}
}
//record new sample when button is pushed
if (myPort.read() == 51){
println(“record”);
myLiveSample = new Sample (44100 * sampleTime);
LiveInput.startRec(myLiveSample);
delay (5000);
myLiveSample.setVolume(7); //adjust volume
myLiveSample.play();
allSamples.add(myLiveSample);
}

}

/*void keyPressed(){
println(“play”);
//on mouseclick, play current sample in arraylist, wait 1 second, cue next sample, wait for next click
Sample currentSample = (Sample) allSamples.get(whichSample);
currentSample.play();
delay(1000);
whichSample++;
//if we get to the end, start over
if (whichSample >= allSamples.size()){ //allSample.size (returns # of things in array)
whichSample = 0;
}
}*/

/*void mousePressed(){
println (“recording”);
myLiveSample = new Sample (44100 * sampleTime); //five seconds worth of sample @ 44100 rate
LiveInput.startRec(myLiveSample); // start recording
delay (1000); //wait
}

void mouseReleased(){
println (“stopped”);
LiveInput.stopRec(myLiveSample); //stop recording on key (button) released
delay(200);
myLiveSample.play();
allSamples.add(myLiveSample);

}*/

// Safely close the sound engine upon Browser shutdown.
public void stop(){
Sonia.stop();
super.stop();
}

Conclusions

I was quite happy overall with the way this project turned out. Apart from the frame being less sturdy then I had hoped, the actual circuit interface took a lot of abuse and still works, an aspect integral to the cathartic success of the project.

I am interested in pursuing some further work on this project, specifically in two main areas; refining the response actions, and refining the strutural interface.
Ideally, I think a variety of responses based on such things as how hard the hit was, the rapidity of the hits, and even proximity sensing might enhance the user experience tremendously. In addition, I am interested in looking into alternate (or at least more stable) housing for the project. Perhaps a correctly weighted stand could allow for the pad to be disconnected from the wall. There are also a myriad of possibilities concerning the actual look of the pad; covered by a mask, encased in a life-sized dummy, embedded or hidden into a wall, and turning the pad back into a handheld portable device are all ideas that seem to have some merit. All in all, this was a very rewarding process and I look forward to continuing it.