Distance sensitive jacket(Prototype) – DIGF-2016-001 (Winter 2022) Intro to Wearable Electronics

Distance sensitive jacket (Prototype)

prototype

Introduction:

The wearable is a kid jacket/raincoat with pockets and a hoodie. I will sew conductive thread and fabrics throughthe jacket to connect all the circuit parts to each other. Components are Lilypad LEDs, a neopixele stripe, iron buttons, small battery pack. I’ve tried to design a special space for each component and cover them not to touch bare skin and also design away so the battery could be charged without removing from the jacket.

Concepts:

The aim of the design “Distance Sensitive Jacket” is to keep a constant physical distance between parents and kids, especially when they are in crowded places like a playground or a mall or even public areas like camping or the airport’s passenger section. As we know if we don’t watch our kids even for a moment they might go somewhere out of our sight and then we have to search for them with lots of stress and fear. My concept is to design a wearable that has a non-stop connection with both parents and kids so any time the kids exit the safe distance zone from their parents the gadget with the parent will alarm and notify them to look for the child at the moment. Also, the kid’s wearable starts flashing colourful lights so parents are able to recognize their loved ones faster among others.

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How to function:

The design use the infrared capability of the Circuit Playground Express for making the connection between two parts of the wearable(the toddler jacket and the parent’s alarm part, which is another Circuit Playground Express).

I decided to use a DIY switch as a starting point to start the circuit, for this purpose I used a metal button and set pull pin block to Make it work. So by connecting DIY switch to the A1 port on Circuit Playground Express and also to GND the circuit is ready to start. Before the circuit starts the pull pin is set up for the A1 port, and by closing the button which in my design it is located on the pocket the pin A1 status changes to “Down”, which is the start of sending signals via Infrared.

By starting sending signals, whenever the other Circuit Playground Express (which I call the second Circuit Playground Express) is in the range all warning and glowing and flashing stop.

Inputs are A1 pin connected to DIY E-textile switch ON or OFF to start the circuit. infrared Receiver.

Outputs are: Infrared transmitter, play sound, strip Animation, stop sound, RGB light on or off, console log.

The scenario is to have a number or variable which each time infrared chooses a number and transmits it, the receiver will take this number and reacts. While interacting, both boards send and receive signals at the same time and create a cycle to stop the warning lights and sound.

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Also for each transmit and receive cycle a fixed number is set so each time in transmitter and receiver boards this number will be set as default and if no signal is received by the board then the board will react to this fixed number and starts the alarm actions. I used a pause block to let the code check if a signal is receiving or not. In future I will try to use the javascript “delay” or “wait” function for a better result.

USED COMPONENT:

During the proposal assignment for this project, I found that insulation is really important and critical when we are working with more delicate, sensitive and uncovered components like a conductive thread. working with uncovered components increased the chance of having a short circuit.

So I decide to make strong insulation in my circuit. After exploring different materials I found a craft string that has a silky texter and round shape which makes it a good choice for use as a cover for the conductive thread.

First I fixed the Circuit Playground Express on a piece of fabric, then I made my circuit with hand-crafted, insulated, conductive thread. The circuit has two DIY switches that I’ve used 2 metal bottoms to make them.

I’ve embedded a Neo Pixel LED string in the edge of the jacket. I’ve made some holes to make individual LEDs more visible.

In addition to the LED string, 2 lily Pad LEDs are embedded on the jacket’s hoodie.

Also as I’ve used the inferred function of the Circuit Playground Express, I needed to use two circuit playground Express controller in my design(one of them embeded in the jackets sleeve and second one would be with parents).

Process images:

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