Month: February 2021

Concept & Objective 

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I decided to created a wearable that represents the feeling of love and/or gratitude. I made a little heart shaped necklace that sits above your heart. To activate it, you must wear a finger piece and place your hand over your heart. It lights up when you show that you feel moved or “touched”.

Process

 

 

First I put together the circuit.

The conductive fabric connects to pin A3 and GND.

I then traced out a case made out of cotton in the shape of a heart.

I then sandwiched the two heart shape pieces onto the circuit and sewed them together.

Finally traced out the spots where I needed to cut the cotton out so that the conductive fabric could be visible.

The finger piece is made out of of the same cotton and conductive thread.

 

Parts List

• Felt
• Cotton
• Conductive thread
• Thread
• Circuit Playground Express
• Conductive Fabric

Reflection 

The main thing I would like to continue working on for this project is hooking it up to a portable battery as opposed to having it plugged into my computer, as well as making it a bit more portable itself and not as bulky.

Also, next time I make a ring, I should instead use an elastic fabric that hugs the finger because the cotton just slips off.

Inspiration

My greatest inspiration for this piece came from “Iron Man,” the first movie of it’s series. Where Tony Stark’s partner Pepper, places his spare life saving device is a case surrounded by the words “Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart.”

References

Favreua, J. (Director.) (2008). Iron Man [Film]. Paramount Pictures.

 

The Hangover Shirt

 

Concept & Objective 

Hangovers are rough, and if you have ever experienced one, you know the feeling of waking up full of regrets, with a major headache and an increased sensibility to loud noises.

To help you get through it, I present to you The Hangover Shirt. You can activate it by pressing a button and lights will get activated from loud noises. So instead of yelling everyone to be quiet, let your passive-aggressive shirt tell them!

Process

I started with a prototype of how the shirt will look like.

To test the circuit before sewing I used the alligator clips and from trial and error, I found a sound level that would react to only loud noises.

Since the wearable is meant to communicate with others, I decided to add another light to make it more noticeable.

For the code, I decided to use digital values of HIGH and LOW for the LEDs. This allowed the lights to be brighter and shut down completely when the environment is quiet.

Here’s a video of how I tested the lights using a YouTube video of Steve Carrell yelling: testing-lights-video

The Sewing Process:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to glue the paper over the lights to diffuse them a little bit.

With the help of a plotter, I got the lettering in vinyl.

Parts List

• 2 LED Lights
• Conductive Thread
• 2 10k resistors
• CPX micro-controller
• Micro USB cable
• T-shirt
• Paper cut into a circle (I used an Aeropress filter)
• Glue gun
• Vinyl for lettering

Circuit Diagram

Final Product

For a quick video of how it works: img_8567

Reflection & Next Steps

Overall I had a lot of fun doing this project. My sewing skills definitely need to improve, this is where I had the most trouble. But hopefully, I’ll keep practicing and getting better.

I was debating whether to use lettering for my shirt or not. I was worried that the use of a phrase will weaken the communicative powers of the lights. In the end, I decided to use it since the lights and the lettering complement each other and it allows the t-shirt to speak on its own with no verbal explanation.

If I could revisit this project again I would maybe a switch rather than a button since it was a little uncomfortable to keep the button pressed for the lights to work. I would also sew the lights in a more creative way maybe adding more LEDs to form a circle. I think I would also add a protective layer for the conductive thread, I had to wear a shirt underneath so there won’t be any contact with the skin.

Of course loud sensitivity is not only for hangovers, this t-shirt can also apply for migraines or just for keeping a quiet environment to allow rest or even meditation.

Resources & Related Works

Resources for the prototype image:

Blank t-shirt template front and back. (2016, November 21). VectorStock. https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/blank-t-shirt-template-front-and-back-vector-11384899

Related Works:

VersaMe has a wearable for kids who are starting to speak and it acts as a word counter. This is related to my work since it interacts with sound as an input from the environment.

VersaMe. (2016, October 18). VersaMe Launches the Starling, the World’s First Word Counter for Babies. PS Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/versame-launches-the-starling-the-worlds-first-word-counter-for-babies-300346233.html

Another wearable that I found that uses sound as input is this tuner for your wear watch. It allows musicians to tune their instruments and is easy to carry around.

Summerson, C. (2015, January 28). atHandTuner Is A Wearable Instrument Tuner For Your Wear Watch, And It Works Really Well. Android Police. https://www.androidpolice.com/2015/01/28/athandtuner-wearable-instrument-tuner-wear-watch-works-really-well/

Concept

Mine is called “WatchGhost”, which could refer to a watchdog, and it seems kind of Halloween vibe. Basically, it is a wearable ghost that uses an external switch to create different vibes/light colours, expressing different moods. It is a digital badge embedded in a sweater. When I wear it normally, it is in its default state. The ghost’s eyes and mouth are light green, indicating that I am chill and nothing happened. But if I feel irritable or someone is too close to me, I will enable the external switch, which is embedded in the bottom left inside of the sweater, so that the lil ghost flashes a warning red light for 5 seconds. The red little ghost can be seen as an expression of my attitude and a visualization of my “negative” emotions, also a way of communicating with the outside/others. As long as the demon red light is not triggered, the ghost is always a friendly green ghost. Besides, the little ghost could also be regarded as my electronic wearable pet, and I can bring it anywhere. From another perspective, the colour-mood is watchghost’s own expression; it becomes angry only when I oppress it or pinch it.

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Objective

In fact, this project can be said to be a self-protection system for a lonely person during the pandemic, and it is also a process of pleasure. What I want to convey is the concept of visual emotion expression and portable pets. When the wearer is alone, I hope the user can entertain herself, knowing that she is not alone. Moreover, when the wearer is outdoors, red light sources can be used to express rejection. This will be a relief or comfort to a sensitive and isolated person like me.

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Process

At first, I had other two ideas about wearable badges, one is to express a crush on someone and the other is to smile. But later I decided to build a more personalized one, that is more related to my current state.

pre-test#1

pre-test#2

After ideation, I modified the code we learn from previous lectures and started by setting up the initial connection with alligator clips and then adding conductive fabric pieces, which went smoothly! Then, I sketched some circuit diagrams and the embedded position/order of each component.

Also, I tried to use different materials to diffuse light and finally decided to use a dry wipe, which is nonwoven fabrics.

Prototyping… Sewing…

test#3

test#4

test#5

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Final Project Images

WatchGhost demo#6

WatchGhost demo#7

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Parts List

• Circuit Playground Express
• USB (A) to Micro (B) Cable
• Conductive Thread
• Nonwoven Fabric
• Normal Thread
• Plastic
• Felt
• Sweater
• Other Materials (Alligator clips, Tape, Sewing needles, Scissors, Glue, Tissue, Dry wipe)

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Circuit Diagram

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Reflections & Next Steps

The ideation part is essential. If the ideas could be expanded with multiple solutions, the best one would be correspondingly found and the rest practice process will be much smoother. However, it is not enough just thinking, we will still encounter many troubles in actual production, such as the inability to accurately determine the position when sewing components. Therefore, it needs to be marked in advance every single time, which could save a lot of time. I so regret not doing that this time, because I felt I could skip that step. Although the recording process seems a little cumbersome, it is worth it. I am sure that I will make the process video into a vlog as a souvenir. Furthermore, as a raw/immature artist, sometimes I am just not that confident to express some personal stuff and deep topic, yet a project letting us explore ourselves gives me the outset. The entire process is definitely enjoyable, and I believe such kind of exploration will be continuous. Regarding the expectation of the course, I hope to keep exploring various interesting things, integrating sounds, lights, electronics into creative wearable forms. Last but not least, some keywords mentioned in lectures need to be further explored as well, and there are some related fields such as responsive environment, tangible media, etc., which can be considered as the direction of my future studies.

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Resources & Related Works

Iaconesi, S. (2010). Wearing Emotions: Physical Representation and Visualization of Human Emotions Using Wearable Technologies. 2010 14th International Conference Information Visualisation, 1-7. doi:10.1109/iv.2010.38

Signoretta, E. (2020, August 21). Wearable Electronic Badge. Retrieved February 12, 2021, from https://www.open-electronics.org/wearable-electronic-badge/

Vega Edge. (2019, March 01). Retrieved February 12, 2021, from http://socialbodylab.com/vega-edge/

Concept:

The concept I have come up with is the expression of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed caused by loud surrounding noise through an interchangeable circuit, which in this case is a scarf. When I was in high school a few years ago, I encountered many people who had a hard time dealing with stress from loud noises of the environment their in. I also found that they had a hard time expressing this issue and letting people be aware of this problem which is why I wanted to create a wearable that would alert others about the noise volume.

Objective:

My objective and goal of this assignment was to program the circuit to graph sound when the switch is on. When I first tested it out and experimented with different codes, I found it very interesting how the number of LED lights on the CPX correlated to the sounds of its surroundings. So, I thought that this is a great way to bring light on the impact noise has on someone’s mood in a way that is convenient for the wearer. I have also incorporated pieces of Velcro which makes it simple to take on and off- an important element when looking at the practical factors of wearable technology. I also put a lot of thought into creating something that is interchangeable because certain items of clothing may not be able to be worn annually.

Materials:

 

• CPX
• Conductive Thread
• conductive Fabric
• Needle
• Thread
• Felt
• Mini-USB
• Velcro
• Scarf

Process:

After coding the circuit to turn on to react to surrounding noise, I transferred the file onto the CPX USB file and tested it out with alligator clips. Then, I threaded conducting thread into a needle and wrapped it around the A3 pin (Power) and sewed it into the felt fabric following the circuit diagram.

Additionally, I cut two small rectangles and two narrow strips of conducting fabric and sewed that onto the top of the CPX with one strip vertically. Then, I followed the same process but with the Ground pin but sewed the last narrow strip vertically so that the two pieces slip into each other and stay put without having to physically keep the circuit closed. After, I took normal thread and sewed it along the other pins to secure the CPX onto the felt. Then, I cut the top portion of the whole circuit, folded it, and sewed it along the bottom where the mini-USB would go through with normal thread.

Finally, I cut the remaining pieces of felt around the circuit once more and placed Velcro around it. The opposite pieces of the Velcro were then pressed onto the circuit and put on the scarf.

Circuit Diagrams:

Final Photo:

*Scarf with circuit off

*Scar with circuit on and with loud music playing

Reflection and next step:

Overall, this assignment was very fun and after seeing the end result, I was very satisfied with the outcome because I have never done anything remotely close to coding and working with circuits. In the beginning, I was pretty confused with how to carry out my idea because sometimes troubleshooting did not work but after experimenting many times on the Make Code platform, I was able to successfully make the CPX do what I intended it to do. One thing I hope to do better in the future is getting a better understanding of how to program the circuit into doing more specific things and applying different colours. Finally, I think it looks pretty well put together and I am happy with the idea I came up with because I was able to use past observations to make a wearable that is relevant to many people.

Reference:

Prior, O. & Yoyo (2021). Digital Switches & Buttons Overview [Online Lecture]. Retrieved from https://canvascloud.ocadu.ca/courses/1271/pages/digital-switches-and-buttons-overview-20-minutes?module_item_id=113950

Concept

The wearable that I have created is called showUP. This device is for individuals that suffer from anxiety. The wearable has 2 different modes that show how the person wearing is feeling. As someone who has struggles with anxiety, I know that sometimes it is hard to express yourself when feeling anxious. ShowUP, helps the individuals express anxiety to those around them, without having to tell them physically.

When the person is happy/calm, they can turn on the yellow light by just doing the blue snap fastener. However if the person is feeling anxious, they can do the pink snap fastener and the bracelet will glow in purple colour.

Objective

ShowUP, will help anxiety patients get the help that they need. Most of the time, anxiety is ignored as people label it as overthinking, overstressing, nervousness etc. Through this wearable device, not only I intend to make people aware of anxiety disorder and its consequences, but also help normalise the stigma around it.

Process

Idea: This idea started out as an anklet speed tracker. However, I realized that the requirements of the assignments need for the device to be able to express a feeling/emotion. Hence, I thought that I would like to express what I feel a lot, anxiety.

Initial Sketches: I had decided that I wanted to create an accessory for my wearable. I was debating between bracelets, belts and earrings. Bracelet was the best choice for my intended purpose, expressing the state of mind.

After deciding what I wanted to create, the next part was how I am going to make a bracelet that looks fashionable and  job. I mapped out the circuit and the flow and made some sketches of how the final product would look like.

Circuit: Once I mapped the circuit, I played around with the makecode and tried to make the CPX function as per my needs using alligator clips. After few tries the functionality of the device was perfect.

Designing the Device: Designing and maneuvering the circuit was fairly easy as compared to designing the exterior of the device. I had never worked with texttiles and hence I was a little hard to wrap my head around it and get used to it.

Final Project

Reflection

Overall I am happy with the outcome of my project. If I were redo it I would make the bracelet a little smaller, and more aesthetically appealing. Additionally, I would like to practice a bit more with the sewing and textiles in general, as I believe, due to inadequacy, I did put too much time in figuring things out.

Additionally, I would like to introduce the showUP, device in various different forms like earrings, necklace, etc. Also, I would like for the product to have various settings indicating levels of anxiety/serenity.

References

60’S inspired color Changing “Mood” Bracelets. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2021, from https://www.myroadtohappy.com/collections/60s-inspired-color-changing-mood-bracelets

How mood rings work. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2021, from https://bestmoodrings.com/pages/how-mood-rings-work

Dancing Belt

My expressive wearable is a belt that detects the wearer’s dancing. Reinforcing the benefits of dancing for the human body, the belt measures continuous movements to determine that the wearer is dancing, and rewards them with positive sounds and neopixel lights. When the wearer is still, it encourages them to move with pressing sounds and lights.

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Parts List

• Circuit Playground Express
• Linen pillowcase (any thick, white fabric would do)
• Conductive thread
• Non-conductive thread
• 2 pieces of conductive fabric
• Long piece of fabric (I used a pre-existing fabric belt)

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Concept & Objective

Happiness + Motion = Dancing. My concept for this wearable was inspired by the experience of dancing with my friends pre-COVID. When we’re out together (as an introvert and someone who’s quite shy), I sometimes forget to just enjoy the moment, have fun, and dance with my friends. This led me to imagining a wearable that would encourage me to, essentially, be happy and have fun!

Therefore, my final concept is a belt that detects the wearer’s ‘dancing’ and encourages continous movement when they are still. With this concept, I aim to promote happiness, movement, and fun for the wearer and to suggest the mental and physical benefits of dance.

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Process

1. Brainstorming: I kicked off my brainstorming with a similar exercise to what we did for our Speculative Wearable assignment: by listing various emotions, then the everyday items that we wear. After this, I (initially) decided to create a dance-detecting skirt. (More on this later)

2. Research: Next, I conducted some online research about dancing as a healthy form of movement! 

According to Danceworks, it’s pretty ‘impossible’ to dance and stay in a bad mood, because the act of dancing itself is an exercise. Exercise releases endorphins, which reduces the perception of pain and increases positive self-image in our brains. Therefore, dancing makes us happy. According to Greatist, these are some other benefits of dance:

• Improves agility and flexibility
• Improves balance and coordination
• Improves cardiovascular health
• Improves muscle tone and strength
• Maintains and builds bone strength
• Aids in weight loss or maintenance
• Improves memory and cognition
• Improves mood
• Reduces stress levels
• Provides an opportunity to socialize
• Boosts self-esteem
• Is easily adaptable to meet your needs
  
  3. Initial Interaction Flow: After deciding on my idea, I created a flow map that helped me understand the inputs, outputs, and the overall function of my wearable better.

4. Initial Sketches: Then I made some quick sketches! Here are the initial drawings I created based on my original skirt idea. I intended it to have LEDs sewed along the top that would light up with movement.

5. Idea Shift: After some initial reflection and planning, I decided to change the direction of my project to be a belt instead of a skirt. This would allow for more ease of wearing (rather than having to put on the same skirt each time they go out dancing, the user can wear a belt with anything, anytime) and more inclusivity (it can be worn by anyone who wears pants, skirts, trousers, and more).

6. Inspiration Photos & Initial Sketches: After deciding on a belt, I gathered some inspiration photos to decide how/where to place my CPX. In the end, I decided to place it in the center as it would allow for the most secure hold – and the wearer would be able to see the neopixels easily.

7. New Sketches & Flow: As outlined in my sketches below, the switch of the belt is activated by putting the belt on. Looping the end of the belt through the belt buckle would make the conductive fabric on opposite sides of the belt touch, activating the switch. (Please zoom in to see the detailed steps regarding input / output and what happens while the wearer is using the wearable.)

8. Circuit Diagram: I created a circuit diagram of how I’ll be sewing the conductive thread (the dotted lines) to connect A1 and GND to the conductive fabric pieces.

9. Putting everything together: I’m terrible at executing hands-on projects, so I spent a lot of time testing out how exactly I should make my wearable. This is the pre-existing fabric belt I used for this project — it was too long for my waist as it was originally a coat belt, so I cut the end of it to fit.

I fastened the belt around my pants and held the CPX at the center, trying to figure out how to sew everything together. Then, I tried placing different types of white fabric on top to see how the neopixels would be diffused. I also determined that the cord of the CPX would loop around the side of my waist (see below).

With the belt around my waist, drawing black lines with a pen helped me determine where to place the conductive fabric so that they align perfectly when I buckle the belt.

Before sewing the conductive fabric on, I tested the alignment of the pen lines by taping on some pieces of non-conductive fabric.

Once I was happy with the placement, I cut out the conductive fabric to fit on the belt, and sewed them on.

Then I placed my CPX in the center, and cut out a small slit on the side to pull my cord through. This would hide the cord underneath my belt, but leave a gap to have it ‘poke out’ to connect to my CPX.

Next, I sewed conductive thread through both A1 and GND, and continued it down each sides of the belt. One sewing ‘path’ connected A1 to one piece of conductive fabric, and the other connected GND to the other piece of conductive fabric. It’s not pictured here, but to stabilize the CPX a bit more, I also looped non-conductive, regular thread through another hole in the CPX and sewed it through the belt. Here is how I tested whether the switch was working: Alligator Clip Test

Lastly, to cover up my conductive thread and CPX (and to make the belt a bit less flimsy), I wrapped a cut-out piece of linen pillowcase around the fabric and secured it, leaving only the belt buckle and conductive fabric exposed. The pillowcase was thick enough to make the belt more secure, but transparent enough to let the neopixels show through.

10. Makecode: Of course, I was simultaenously working on the code for my wearable. After many iterations, this is my final code.

• The wearable’s switch is activated by A1. If the switch is turned on, the neopixels are set at red. At start, it plays the sound ‘power up’.
• If the wearer is still for 1000 ms, the wearable plays the sound ‘wawawaa’, telling them to move.
• On each shake, the neopixels on one side turn green one by one, playing the sound ‘ba ding’ until it reaches 5 shakes. This indicates a series of movements that add up to ‘dancing’. At this point, the wearable plays the rainbow animation with the sound ‘magic wand’.
• In each of these steps, if the wearer stops moving, the ‘wawawaa’ sound will play.

 

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Final Images & Videos

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a video of how the switch of the belt is activated. (P.S while I was fastening my belt, the conductive fabrics started touching and the wearable detected that I wasn’t moving — hence the ‘wawawaa’ sound playing while I’m still adjusting) Video 1

Here is a video of how the belt tells me to start moving, and how each shake leads up to the ‘continuous dance’ indication. Video 2

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Reflections & Next Steps

If I had more time and resources, I would have wanted to use a different material for my wearable. The fabric of the belt was quite flimsy as mentioned before, and I suspect that it might have contributed to some slight glitches that appeared in my switch once in a while. Maybe the conductive thread wasn’t sewed tightly enough, or it got loosened because of the soft material! I would also like to program a way of detecting music as well, if I had the chance to revisit this project.

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Resources & Related Works

Eckelkamp, S. (2020, November 20). Why Dancing Is Amazing for You Even If You Suck. Retrieved from https://greatist.com/health/benefits-of-dance

Kohler, C. (2019, September 11). 7 reasons why dance makes you feel so good! Retrieved from https://www.danceworksdenville.com/single-post/2019/09/11/6-reasons-why-dance-makes-you-feel-so-good

UserGuest. (2019, February 17). Introducing WELT belt: A Smart Wearable for Health-care. Retrieved from https://www.techbeamers.com/introducing-welt-belt-a-smart-wearable-for-health-care/

 

 

Parts List

• Circuit Playground Express
• Felt
• Conductive Thread
• Thread
•  Two red LEDs
• Two 220 Ω Resistors
• Two Tich Buttons

Concept & Objective

The concept for this wearable is to display if someone wants to be approached or left alone. The wearable is meant to be worn as an armband that is lit at all times when on the wearer. It will display either a green smiling face or a red frown which is changed with the digital switch. The idea was inspired to help people with depression and/or anxiety to display what they are feeling and if they are comfortable with being approached. The smile allowing others to approach and the frown to ask others to stay away. If one displays the smile (with the switch on the right side) but feels uneasy at the approach of certain people they can tap on the red “X” and it will display the frowning face for 5 seconds. Similarly, if the switch is on the left, it will display the frown and change to the smiling face for only 5 seconds when the red “X” is tapped.

Concept Sketch 

Process

To begin, I used the digital switch that I created when following the digital switch workshop to experiment and find the best way to apply my LED’s for the frowning face. As the circuit is circular I could display the smiling face with just the LEDs on the Playground Express itself, the only additional LEDs I needed were for the red eyes. First, I experimented with a series circuit on an Arduino breadboard so I did not need to sew anything on the fabric. When attempting this I noticed that two LEDs became bright and the others were a lot dimmer. This is pictured below.

After using the Arduino, I went back to my trialled switch and had sewn a single LED and resistor to the CPX on another pin. As this method worked I decided to attempt a parallel circuit for my lights as parallel circuits evenly distribute the same amount of power to each LED. The full process is shown below, including my sketch of the final circuit and how it turned out.

Trial Circuits:

1 LED

2 LEDs with Resistors

Final circuit sketch:

Final circuit:

While working on the trial circuit I also started experimenting with the different ways I could encase the code in MakeCode. I trialled using functions with if statements that were called with another if statement, I also attempted using the buttons on the Playground express to control if the smile or frown would be ‘permanent’. With these methods the lights started to blink alternately without any command from the switch so decided to use the if statement with several conditionals to control the lights of the circuit playground express. Along with the if statement I created three basic functions, two of them were to show the face and the last one was to contain the pauses and wipe animations. These functions controlled only which lights were on and no other setting, in doing this it decreased the size of my “forever” function and was easier to maintain. The end result is if the switch is on the right, then the circuit will automatically show the smile and the opposite for when it’s on the left. Some other fun features I added to the lights is that when the digital switch is activated it will first play the colour wipe animation provided in MakeCode that wipes the lights with either blue or grey and then shows the face that is meant to be shown.

Final Version of Code 

Video demo of wearable being worn!

Reflection

In high school, I only learned the theoretical parts of circuits and so being able to recall the information that I once learned in the past and to be able to apply it to something I make is a lovely feeling. During this assignment, I realized I spend too much time playing around with the code on MakeCode instead of actually trying to establish a good circuit foundation for the code to run on. I learned how important it is to draft and redraft the circuit design before actually sewing anything down so that it won’t cause any problems later on. In the future, I hope to incorporate the different functionalities of the circuit playground express and also try and see how far I can take a parallel circuit using the board. I would love to experiment and see how many LED’s can the circuit playground take in a parallel circuit.

Resources 

The only resource that was used within this project was a link to understand the amount of voltage each coloured LED takes as the Circuit Playground Express has an output of only 3.3 V.

Crowell, Gary. “The Forward Voltages of Different LEDs.” CircuitBread, 2 May 2019, www.circuitbread.com/ee-faq/the-forward-voltages-of-different-leds.

Parts List

• Circuit Playground Express
• Conductive thread
• 2 LED
• Cotton
• 2 resistors
• Non conductive fabric
• 4 small pieces of conductive fabric

Concept + Objective

The idea or concept for this wearable, is to have it glow when activated manually and is meant for dark spaces. The mood that the wearer will have is either feeling spontaneous (like at a party) or fear/cautiousness at night. The idea was inspired by safety vests that helps drivers see bikers or walkers at night. Safety vests, however, aren’t an ideal choice in fashion, and recently I’ve noticed that head bandanas/scarfs have increased in popularity so I decided to play on that idea. The main purpose of this wearable is to reassure the anxiousness in both drivers and people who need to go out on walks at night. People who go out walking are especially vulnerable and so when they are worried when crossing the road that a car might hit them, they just need to switch the lights on to let others know where they are.

Process

So I began with experimenting how many lightbulbs I could do in series and at first, I couldn’t light up any of my light bulbs at all when I used two LEDs. I realized that it was because my circuit didn’t have enough Volts to have both of them, even without a resistor (the circuit had 3.3V while the blue LED needed 3-3.2V) and I used the orange ones (which I had planned on using for the final product) instead. In the following video, I recorded a video of the lightbulbs and you can see one flashing more obviously than the second one.

And then I compared it to if I just attach one light bulb instead, which is much brighter and more visible. I had to consider that I would be diffusing it and that this was supposed to be seen from far away, so I decided to attach only one LED. In the video below, the light on the left is the singular LED compared to the one on the right(isn’t very visible), which is from the image above. The green light is just a part of the circuit playground express.

I then planned out my circuit and used crocodile clips to map out the physical one.

I sewed the switch so that one end was secured onto the fabric and the other is loose. That way the switch is only activated when I fold the scarf and the cloths touch one another. Another thing I did was using the built in buttons (A and B) to activate the Neopixels on the circuit for extra light. Below I attached some photos, I couldn’t upload videos for some reason so I just took some screenshots of the video and uploaded them as photos.

When I press Button A once, it lights up until I press Button B

Image of when the switch isn’t activated, Button A isn’t pressed

Switch activated (see next photo to see just the LED)

Final Product

Reflection

This is actually my first time sewing something. I’ve learnt how to sew six years ago but truth to be told, I don’t remember anything whish is also why my circuit was so messed up and why it didn’t work several times. I think that using LED was a lot harder than it was to use Neopixels and it took me three days to realize that button A and B only worked on the Neopixels and not on external LEDs. I also learned how valuable sketching on the fabric beforehand is and how much I underestimated the distance I needed for each parts. Going forward I would like to incoporate more LEDs and experiment with parallel circuits.

References

“Night Light.”Adafruit, https://makecode.adafruit.com/#.

Rembor, Kattini. “Buttons.” Learn.adafruit.com,  https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-made-easy-on-circuit-playground-express/buttons