Author: Vermont Urbanovich

Concept

For my open project I wanted to work with detecting stress through through galvanic skin response as well as finding a way to incorporate my dog into the project. The person would wear a shirt that had the main electronics on it, and the animal would have a bandana with a patch of conductive fabric. The glove that attaches to the shirt would act as the sensor, with the inside having conductive strips to sense stress (sweat). When stress reaches a certain threshold, the motor in the collar begins to vibrate, gently reminding them to do hug their pet and de-stress. When the person hugs their animal, this would act as a switch which turns off the motor and resets the system. The shirt and bandana have a futuristic aesthetic to tie together the technological parts.

Objective

Working from home and school work can be stressful and people often do not notice how much their stress level might rise. According to the NIH there is some research showing that pets can help reduce the levels of cortisol (a chemical related to stress) and can help people relax. Knowing that the neck is a sensitive part of the body, I wanted a motor to be the subtle nudge so that stress is a private thing rather than a public thing. It can be more stress full to realize the people around you can see that you are stressed. By encouraging people to interact with their pet and relax with a creature that loves them and doesn’t care about work or school, it can be a healthy way for people to take breaks and spend more time with their animals.

Parts List

• Conductive fabric
• 220 Ohm resistor (x2)
• 10k Ohm resistor
• T-shirt
• Motor
• Conductive thread
• Lipo battery
• Wire
• Red felt
• Red fabric
• Yellow fabric
• Cotton Thread
• Velcro
• Metal studs

Circuit Diagram

Circuit diagram can be found in drive.

Process

Due to not being able upload photos of process they can be found here.

Final Project

I was only able to finish the bandana for my dog, and only just started the shirt and glove.

Reflection & Next Steps

This is honestly a case of time mismanagement and thinking something is simpler that it is. Having three separate pieces that work together and involving those pieces in a way that is not only practical, but functional as well was very difficult. I very quickly steered away from LEDs because I wanted this project to be more personal and for the wearer, but it led me into working with components I have had minimal success with in the past and that I had never put together like this before. I lost a lot of time to figuring out how I wanted it to work rather than actually putting it together. I definitely will be finishing this project on my own time because I think it is such a neat idea, but it has deffinitely taught me to never underestimate how long something might take you.

Resources & Related Works

Cyberpunk 2077 – Samurai demon’ bandana | Spreadshirt. (n.d.). Spreadshirt. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.spreadshirt.com/shop/design/cyberpunk+2077+samurai+demon+bandana-D5d3933d413615129eaed54f3?sellable=kaMrljXXrVt1yrLLobY2-610-41

Farnsworth, B. (2018, July 17). What is GSR (galvanic skin response) and how does it work? imotions. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://imotions.com/blog/gsr/

H. (2020). Interested sensors. E-textile swatch exchange. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/interested-sensors/

INUPATHY. (2020, October 15). イヌパシー. 愛犬の気持ちを心拍から読み解く. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.inupathy.com/en/

NIH News in Health. (2020, April 6). The power of pets. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2018/02/power-pets

Sensoree. (2021). GER mood sweater. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://sensoree.com/artifacts/ger-mood-sweater/

ZOLNAR. (2021). Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.zolnar.com/

Concept

The emotion I chose to express with this wearable is anger which is represented by red light. To activate the wearable one would cross their arms, and the wearable would subtly glow red. Since crossing one’s arms is a defensive gesture, I decided the the wearable should be a form of soft armor. I was particularly inspired by Pinkabsinthe’s fabric spaulders, which are very much decorative rather than functional. The spaulders use a ring with a metallic component that completes the circuit when one’s arms are crossed. The ring creates a bridge between two patches of conductive fabric found on strap above the elbow. ANGMOUR is modern armour for modern problems.

Objective

My goal was to create I visual representation of anger or discomfort that can be used in situations where physical signs might be missed. Though the light is not particularly noticeable in the daylight, a bystander would easily be able to see by one’s facial expressions and body language that one is unhappy. In low light or even darkness, these cues become hard to read or notice, but the red light becomes very noticeable. ANGMOUR acts as warning sign of one’s discomfort or frustration to bystanders or people one interacts with.

Process

Final Project

Parts List & Circuit Diagram

•  220 ohm resistors (x5)
• 3V battery
• Red LEDs (x5)
• Conductive thread
• Conductive fabric
• Metal tape
• Craft Foam
• Black Acrylic Paint
• Thumb Tacks (x12)
• Thread
• Fabric (Grey, Dark Grey, Black, White)
• PLA Fillament
• Copper Tape
• Hot Glue
• Super Glue
• Felt

Reflection & Next Steps

I am very happy with how this prototype turned out. The spaulders are comfortable, light, and don’t restrict movement. I greatly enjoy the form and the colour of the spaulders, and they are easy to activate. If I were to move forward with this concept, there are some things I would change or improve. I would: make ring base smaller to fit my finger, use reflective fabric rather than metal tape and sew in into the spaulder scales, replace foam with felt as it is more durable, use LED strips or EL wire/tape to create a brighter and more even light, make the belts more adjustable to fit different people, and make the battery pouch tighter (sometimes the contacts don’ touch the battery and the circuit doesn’t work).

Overall, I am happy with the concept and may take in further on my own time or in future projects.

Resources & Related Works

Exploration

Following along with the ideation activity, I made some simple sketches. The goal of these sketches was to come up with ideas that would be exciting to me or inspire me to investigate further. I challenged myself to consider different inputs and outputs, referencing some of the technologies discussed in the intro lecture. The idea that stood out to me was sparked by the prompts poncho, lonely, and write. I was particularly attracted to the idea of a poncho one would use to feel less lonely, so I expanded upon that concept.

Concept

Working off of the idea of loneliness, I thought if would work well for a poncho (a big cozy loose garment) to be a piece of clothing that brings comfort. Building off of some of my previous ideations of clothing that glows or changes how it looks based on a certain variable, I thought it would be interesting for that variable to not be related to the wearer, but another wearer (similar to the CuteCircuit hug shirt). How the poncho works, is it would detect the wearer’s current emotion and then send that emotion to the connected poncho. The connected person’s poncho would then light up in a pattern displaying the other person’s sent emotion.

The tech this idea is based on is not entirely new. The hood would have a camera activated by button in the seam. When the button is pressed while the hood is up, the camera takes a picture of the wearer’s face, analyses it using AI, and then sends the chosen emotion to the connected poncho through the internet (this would probably be done by connecting it to a phone). The connected person’s poncho would receive the data on a separate circuit, with acts as the on switch for the LEDs, lighting up in a pattern representing the “pal’s” emotional state. This would stay on for a fixed period of time or until a new emotion is sent.

Objective

Clothing and fashion is a form self expression. Though it has functional elements (keeping oneself warm, public decency, etc.), what clothing one chooses and how they mix and match pieces makes a statement about the person wearing them. I want to expand that expression beyond just the person wearing the clothing to allowing someone they care about to express through their clothing. It would bring the person you choose as your “pal,” whether they be friend, family, or lover, into the lime light. It also would help to close the distance between to people that want to know about how the other is doing. It would be a way to prompt conversation or planing to get together between the two people. And circling back to the idea of loneliness, the poncho would be a way to feel less alone, to feel connected to and directly affected by another living breathing person that you care about.

Sketch

Prototype

Camera trigger switch, owl decal in default “on” state.

Emotion displayed in order of appearance: happy, mad, sad.

Material Mood Board

Similar Works

Glow, A. (2018, November 2). Google AIY robot companion. Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://makezine.com/projects/google-aiy-robot-companion/

CUTECIRCUIT. (2020, November 23). The HugShirt. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://cutecircuit.com/hugshirt/