Wearable Technology (+ a bit of open sourcery)

Open Source Hardware Camp, UK, 2012Rain Ashford - http://rainycatz.wordpress.com

Hello, my name is Rain and I create interactive wearables and art, working with many flavours of microcontrollers & various components…

‘Yr In Mah Face’: temperature /mood sensing t-shirt

I’m interested in…

Social interaction – formal and informal events where one is put on the spot/ excruciating circumstances: networking, bars, clubs, meet ups, introductions, conferences, etc.

Building multi-sensor wearables which output data on the wearer’s physiological signs comprised of:

a logging device sensors – tracking physiological

signs: heart rate, accelerometer, temperature, etc.

Actuators Visually reactive Sonically reactive Might record sound / feedback

from user camera

Wearable technology is a diverse area, and can be fashionable, whimsical, fun, practical, arty, serious, protective, interactive, sensing, medical, energy harvesting, communicating, musical and lots more…

Wearable technology of yore: heavy, messy, angular & clunky

A quick tour: In the beginning…

Beam me up Scotty…..sci-fi has a lot to answer for!

But we’re moving on from when wearable tech evoked thoughts of axe grinding cyborgs, serf robots, toasters and space pirates…

Some people have obviously had too much sci-fi…

“Let’s just hope that they all don’t show up at once.“ Anon

..but I digress!

Anyways I have tons of questions…

What are we going to use Wearable Technology for?

How will Open Source work with Wearable Tech industry?

What about sustainability?

OpenWear / open design?

Interoperability vs proprietry?

Will smartphones / computers end up integrated into our clothing?

Ethics issues - who owns / has access to our data?

Privacy & Surveillance

How far will we get towards Cyborg culture - implants anyone? CuteCircuit M-Dress

..for another time!

The growth of hacker culture & communities has inspired a new group of creatives to evolve and enter the tech industries

..a convergence of readily available electronic components, shared knowledge through communities and open source approaches to technology has broken barriers to learning & creativity

For me, the availability of sewable electronic & e-textiles has revolutionised the way I and many other artists & designers work

..plus the styling of some of these components has made them more attractive to work with

LilyPad ArduinoMicrocontroller

Conductive Thread E-Textiles C (ish) Programming Sensors Actuators Hacked Electronics Conductive items

Wearables Sound Artworks Games All Interactive

LilyPad Arduino Microcontroller

• Fabulousness

It’s sewable! It’s open source – you can find

the Eagle files & free code libraries online / with IDE

Good number of digital & analogue I/O

Great vector for encouraging girls/ boys /adults/ artists /anyone / to experience electronics

It’s round (dismisses the idea that electronics are sharp grey and cold)

Enthusiastic & helpful community

• My wish list

An industrial version Make it cheaper More modules please Different sizes and shapes of

board Choice of microcontrollers Variable voltages More competitors, to increase

innovation (Flora, Seeedstudio) Development of washable

conductive thread

The miniaturization of technology has changed how people build & use wearable tech & electronics; they’re no longer comprised of cold, bulky sharp, boxy & ugly components that you might prefer to remain hidden

…allowing me create much more elegant work

…incorporating the technology into the design

The availability of sensors in particular that allowed me to bring my ideas to fruition

..plus due to communties & individuals interested in sharing knowledge there’s lots of information out there to help you make your own!

Hacking existing tech & combining sensors has allowed me to make pieces such as ‘You Make My <3 Flutter’: a proximity detecting, heart rate sensing ‘techlace’

And for looking at social interaction -‘Yr In Mah Face’: temperature /mood sensing t-shirt - uses Celsius temperature data from a sensor, averages it, then visualises the results via LEDs.

I’m also interested in practical uses - Don’t Break My Heart is a wearable, colour-coded distance warning system prototype for cyclists to wear on their back

Teapot Bunny Ears!

Summary: exciting time for e-textiles & wearable tech

Availability of sewable electronics is revolutionising the work of artists & designers

Hackspaces & online communities are helping demystify electronics & coding

Open Source ethos is sharing & making knowledge more accessible

Small Maker start-ups are changing the face of tech entrepreneurs

Sewable electronics are inspiring a broader demographic to become interested in electronics & coding

School age students are investigating electronics & code via e-textiles and wearable tech

Wearable tech workshops for 8-16 year olds for Technocamps, an initiative to encourage school children in Wales to try out various forms of computer & hardware based tech from robotics, game development, animation to forensics.

..for schools in Aberystwyth, Lampeter & Cardigan, homeschoolers (mums came too!) & Saturday drop in club.

Sophie & I show our Dragons to the MEP for Wales, Aberystwyth University & Technocamps dignitaries came to see what we were up to!

A big list of stuff the students learned about…

Functions Variables Numbers: eg Intergers Delays can be so much fun! True / False states Conditional s: If / else statements Loops Formatting is important! Serial monitor Drawing simple circuits Not to be afraid Learn from things not working Troubleshooting Experimenting is good Hacking isn’t bad! You can personalise your work You can work on your own or with friends Forget about stereotypes Coding / Electronics isn’t gender specific Invent stuff! Have fun with code & electronics!

Intro to wearable tech E-textiles Intro to Arduino & LilyPad Video examples by others Communicating with computers via USB Arduino IDE Compiling Uploading Power & Ground Ohm’s Law Resistors Sensors Actuators Analogue vs Digital PWM Circuits, inc Parallel & Series circuits Short circuits Switches Sewing with conductive thread Breadboards Crocodile clips

Ideas and work examples from Wearable Technology half day workshop & three-day Easter bootcamp.

The students loved how they could personalise and control electronics very quickly by learning a few examples of code and following a few rules of circuitry!

Summary: get coding and hardware hacking into more schools!

School age students enjoy investigating electronics & code via e-textiles and wearable tech

Wearable tech as a vehicle fascinates school children as it allows them to use their imagination and come up with fantastic ideas

Young people are very inquisitive and receptive to the principles of open source Giving students project examples that they can personalise gets them interested Don’t talk too long - show them straight away how to get a response from code

and hardware Video examples give them ideas! Make workshops fun – find interesting analogies to describe what they’re going

to do Don’t make lessons dull and worthy! Don’t try to make them touch each other in role playing games ;-)

Thank you for your attention!

@Rainycat http://rainycatz.wordpress.com

http://Rain Ashford 2012